WEBVTT

METADATA
Video-Count: 1
Video-1: youtube.com/watch?v=bI0GYWGGnEI

NOTE
MEETING SECTIONS:

Part 1 (Video ID: bI0GYWGGnEI):
- 00:00:00: Meeting Call to Order, Flag Salute, Compliance Statement
- 00:44:48: Roll Call, Approval of Minutes, High School Report
- 00:48:14: Superintendent's Report: Attendance, PILA, AI Policy
- 00:53:54: Winter Sports SEC All-Conference Awards Presentation
- 01:09:50: Young Writers Contest Winners and Recognition
- 01:16:22: UNICEF Club Presentation of Fundraising Check
- 01:22:18: Governor's Educator & Service Provider of the Year Awards
- 01:58:16: School Four Awards and Assistant Principal Recognition
- 02:03:43: School Three Awards & Early Learning Center Awards
- 02:20:52: District Student, Administrator, Community Excellence Awards
- 02:31:26: Recess
- 02:36:17: Budget Update, Summer Projects, and Agreement Signing
- 02:38:24: Remarks by Citizens on Agenda Items Only
- 02:38:56: Resolution on Personnel and Board Action/Policy
- 02:41:19: Resolutions on Purchasing, Business Services, and Finance
- 02:42:26: Remarks by Citizens on Any Issue - Mr. Mike Mong
- 02:46:42: Superintendent Response to Public Comment
- 02:47:02: Remarks by Citizens - Ongoing and Meeting Adjournment


Part: 1

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B. 1 2 3 Please rise to salute the flag. United States, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. Thank you everybody. Uh thank you everyone. Good evening. The time is now 7:12 p.m. Welcome to the April 15th,

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2026 Belleville Public Schools Board meeting. Please join me in the flag, which we did already. Uh, Miss Ikeo, please read the statement of compliance. >> Uh, good evening. Notice of this meeting has been provided in accordance with the Open Public Meetings Act, NJSA 10-4-6,

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by the board secretary. A written notice was posted in the office of the board of education filed with the township clerk and sent to the designated official newspapers at least 48 hours in advance of this meeting. This noted this notice stated the date, time, and location of this meeting and to the extent known the

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agenda to be discussed. The New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend meetings of this board except where specifically exempted by law at which business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon. In accordance with the provisions of this act, the

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board of education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having same advertised in the ledger or NJ advance and the Bergen record. Also, notice of this meeting has been mailed to the members of the board, the burough clerk, all elementary schools, the middle school, the high school, Hornblower, Early Childhood Center, and

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posted on the district website. Also, this meeting is being televised via the district's YouTube and Facebook pages. >> Thank you for that. Miss AO, can you please call the role? Trusty Garrow >> here. >> Trusty Gillis >> here. >> Trusty Manoz >> here. >> Trusty Pachco

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>> here. >> Trusty Santana >> here. >> Vice President Dr. Majia >> here. >> President Leon >> here. >> We have a quorum. >> All right. Thank you. Can I please have a motion for the approval minutes of March 18th, 2026 for our close session and public session?

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>> So moved. >> A second, please. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> All right. Thank you. Uh, moving along, we are now have our high school representative, Jasine Sepa, to give her report. >> Good evening everyone. I hope everyone

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had a wonderful spring break. Welcome back. Firstly, I would like to congratulate all students and staff for receiving recognition for their outstanding achievements tonight. In old news, congratulations to Ray Chowuri and Whisper Todros. Ray Chowri has been

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named valadictorian and Whisper Todros has been named Saludiatoran of Belleville High School's class of 2026. Both students have outstanding futures ahead of them as they will attend Stanford University and Princeton University respectively with full ride scholarships.

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Congratulations to the winners of the 2026 Mr. and Miss Bellevo pageant, Tofi Abu Baker and Isabella De Palma. The pair will go on to represent Bellevo at events, parades, and other occasions. Last month was women's history month and to celebrate the MLL department and

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women's empowerment club at BHS welcomed assemblywoman Carmen Morales and Deputy Mayor Naomi Deena for an inspiring presentation. The presenters shared their life stories, struggles, and achievements. This was especially meaningful as the presenters were Latina

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and shared a similar background to most students at Belleville High School. This presentation highlighted the importance of women holding high positions as it inspires young women to pursue their ambitions as well. Belleville's baseball team is having a great season so far with a record of 5 to1. The girls flag

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football team has also had an amazing season with a record of 3 to one with captain Ross Amadovar leading the charge with over 10 touchdowns throughout all games. Please support Belleville sports teams at their upcoming games. In new news, Belleville student government

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organization in collaboration with the senior class will host a bingo night on April 30th featuring amazing prizes such as Bruno Mars tickets, electronics, Legos, and more. Belleville High School students and their families are welcome to come compete for a chance to win.

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Ticket sales will begin on Monday and tickets will not be sold at the door. Belleville Public Schools is organizing an animal shelter drive from April 14th to April 24th. They are asking for donations of essential food, bedding, and supplies for pets in need. You can

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make your donation at any Belleville public school. The Rubber Ducky organization will host an opioid awareness 5K walk/run on May 2nd. The funds will go towards educational services for students, teachers, and parents in our community. Additionally,

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they have partnered with multiple organizations that provide resources for those struggling with mental health and addiction. Tickets are $50, including a t-shirt and buffet lunch. For more information, visit the Rubber Ducky Organization's Instagram page. Check out

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Belleville High School's website to access monthly newsletters of school news, information, updates, and events for our students, staff, and teachers. Thank you. >> Thank you for that wonderful uh report, Jasine. Uh we are now moving along to items to be presented by administration.

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Starting off with superintendent report, Dr. Eric Alonso. Good evening everyone. It's great to see everyone here. So, as you all know, we're celebrating a lot today. There's a lot of great accomplishments here. I would first like to welcome you all back from spring break. I hope that you were

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able to catch some Z's, rest a little bit, decompress. Uh our student, our staffs are back now full force as we get into state testing season. And the amount of work that's been put in behind the scenes and in the classrooms has been amazing. I hate to be that guy, but

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again, I'm going to encourage you all. Attendance matters. You know, our students can learn if they're not in the classrooms. And you know, little sniffles is not a good reason to keep our students at home. You know, before the pandemic, we send them home much more than that. So, our attendance

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numbers are better than last year, but we can still do better. There's still room for improvement. So, I highly encourage you, please, you know, reach out if you're having difficulty getting into school for whatever reason. myself, the administration, the staff are here to help you. So, that is something I definitely want to echo as we get into

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testing season, which is in May. Uh, you've received information through emails and you'll be continue to receive information moving forward. So, I would like to also highlight the governor's educator of the year and educational service provider of the year. They're all amongst you here. So,

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I want to acknowledge all of them for being here and the great work they're doing. It is a very special time of year as we're getting into the second half the stretch of the of our year. To give you all an update on our PILA students, we had our field trip to NJCU. Uh

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President Aivbo who's here with us today was kind enough to host them and it was such an amazing experience for our students. They got to campus. President Ali was standing at the door waiting for them and we actually held a conf we actually held the meeting in his

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conference chambers. So in the president's suite they were having the conversation. He sat down just like one of them and just told them about his life story was able to connect with them. Um again being a first generation Cuban American and you know showing them

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that there's so much more to life. The students had a great dialogue with him. It was just uh great to see them having a conversation and asking questions is how did you get here? What do you recommend I do to get into college? Can I still apply to NJCU? Just questions that uh who better to hear from the

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president himself. So it was a great experience for our students. We concluded the trip going to Cortitos which like the one here in Belville they have one on campus which is awesome. Also great coffee. Highly recommend. But um this coming month we are going to be

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going to Caldwell University and same thing administration is going to host them over there. They're going to give them that experience, the Caldwell experience also and that is part of our mission that was promised to them a few months back of giving them additional experiences and opportunities because as the two gentlemen that were here, the

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two students spoke a few months back, they were very limited on the experiences they were having. So it was great to see them come up and really advocate for themselves. Alo as part of our mission moving forward to ensure they get these opportunities. So Caldwell is the next stop and then from there we'll see we have a couple small

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business owners who are you know real staples in town in the community in the county who have offered to come in and speak with them as far as the entrepreneurial perspective as well. So we're not only tackling higher ed we're looking into the entrepreneur side starting your own business and we have

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some uh military service personnel that are also going to be coming in and speaking to them about the armed forces also. So really trying to give them the full wraparound approach of life outside of Belleville High School. So it's been a great experience. We're looking forward to it and we're dwindling down to the last few months. We're trying to squeeze in as many trips and experiences

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as we can. Uh we had our aspiring leaders meet also. We've been meeting monthly and the work that's been happening aspiring leaders has been fantastic. So this last session we had a full-blown AI session as far as tool

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sets um ethics best case uses and scenarios and our aspiring leaders are actually working in tandem with the board on uh creating the AI policy because as you know up until a few years ago AI wasn't even a thing. So having policy and regulations to guide our

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educators and our students and our families is critical. So having boots on the ground, aspiring leaders who are leaders in their classrooms is essential for that stakeholder buyin and in tandem with the board that is uh that is truly what we are looking to see. So we're going to be looking at other policies.

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We're looking at different uh case scenario usage and it's really just giving those educators the platform to really grow, expand, and excel. And also they're on our radar. We want to build this grow your own model. That's what we're doing. I've had a couple towns reach out, couple colleagues actually

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asking how they can get this aspiring leaders program going. So, it's catching momentum quick and we have a great cohort. We have about 45 staff members that are there, which is about 10% of our certified staff. It's a great number. So, kudos to them for the work we're doing. We're meeting actually

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twice this month because there's so much to do. So, they're piloting programs for us, initiatives. There's a lot going on there and the fruits of the labor will be seen as we get into the end of the year and into the incoming school year. So, that is as far as a superintendent's

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update. There's going to be a lot coming in the last few months, but please please let's not uh let's not slow down. Let's keep this momentum going and there's great things ahead. Belleville excellence. Thank you. >> Thank you for that report, Dr. Alonso.

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We are now moving along to uh to acknowledge our 2025 2026 winter sports SEC all conference awards. >> Dr. Mary, you want to come on down? Hello everyone. Uh, just so everyone knows, I know some of I saw a couple of the athletes. Where's Sean? I saw you.

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Welcome. How we do? >> Hey, it happens, brother. But I know a couple a couple you guys, you know, I saw you guys coming in. Yeah, but you weren't wearing a uniform, so I wouldn't recognize you that quick. Right. So, some of our athletes, as you can see, they're playing other sports, but I'm happy they made it here. So, I know some of the other coaches are coaching as

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well, but we had a great winter season. And what we're going to do is we're going to call up the allconerence team first, and then what I'm going to do is please stay because if you're a first and second teamer and and you had over a 3.5 GPA, you made the uh SEC all academic team. So, I'm very proud of

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that as well. So, please stay. All right, we're going to call up girls bowling first. So, girls bowling, we have first team all conference, Raichel McFarland, where are you up there? Okay, we'll get everyone

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together. >> First team of all conference, we have Zoe Aroy Yab, I'm sorry. Stay up here. Okay. First team all conference, we have Daisy Rodas. Second team all conference we have

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Roselyn Amadovar and second team all conference we have Emily Anna Scavage right now what I didn't tell you guys and I didn't want to embarrass them but please stay up here you're looking at the 2006

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American American Division SEC champions. That's not it. The 2006 Essis County Champion and Raichel was the individual champion of Essis County. >> 2026, guys. I'm sorry. There we go. All right, G. Want to take a picture?

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Parents, you can come up. Yeah, you might want to slide down. >> That's what I would do. Good advance. >> Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. There you go. >> Where's What's his name? Where's >> J?

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Good job. Don't leave, girls. All conference. All conference. We have >> boys bowling. Second team all conference. We have Antonazov. Second team all conference. We have Shawn Walsh. Multisport athlete. He

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doesn't change. I like it. And honorable mention all conference. We have Gabe Guzman, another multiport athlete. Good job, bud. >> Parents, you want to come up and take pictures? Okay.

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Boy. I got the coaches. >> Next we have girls basketball. Second team all conference. I'm sorry. Isabella Cortez Alonzo. Where is she? Second team all conference Elise Vasquez.

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There she is. I knew and I believe I saw her as well. Honorable mention all conference Alexa Palmer. There she is. Parents, if you want to come up and take a picture, they're good, huh?

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They're coming. They're coming. >> Oh, Alex, you're supposed to come get it. You should watch. >> Next we have wrestling. And I saw coach Pizzy and coach Dele. You guys come up here please. Wrestling.

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First team all conference. Gerard Fer, I saw him. There we go. First team all conference. Kier Bald Verona. >> Little substitution on the microphone. Thank you. First team all conference,

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Lorenzo Tiani. Second team all conference. Rally Fernandez. Very proud of this guy right here. One of the guys that progressed the most to us. Second team all conference. Hayden Lamari. Where is he? My man.

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Second team all conference. Jaden McDaniel. and second team all conference Keith Gley honorable mention all conference Ethan Mora >> better take that hat off before you come up here for a picture Ethan

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>> 87 kids, man. I do love it. There you go. Parents, if you want to come up and take a picture, you're more than welcome. Thank you. >> It's all right, man. I could I have my coaching yelling.

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>> I couldn't I missed that actually >> Jeff. I got you. But it's nice. This is what I'm most proud of. All academic Last but not least, I'm going to call up

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our academic all academic team. I'm going to call up all the kids from all the sports. Uh about a year ago, the athletic directors and I uh on one of the executive committees, we decided to kind of mirror what uh college sports does and we created an allconerence um

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academic team to try to leverage the academics and athletic playing field. And we decided that what we're going to do is we were going to say any student athlete who gets a 3.5 GPA during the season is on the all academic team.

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So, first I have girls bowling and everyone's will come up here together. It probably be a lot, but let's just try it. I want to see what everyone, you know, I want everyone to know it's it's everyone doing it. Raichel McFarland, girls bowling uh all academic team. We

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also have Zoe Aroyab. Oh, another bowler, Daisy Rodas. And another bowler. I know Roslin's not can't be here today, but Roslin dovar girls. Stamp here. We're going to get all the sports. We're going to stand up here. Get all the sports together.

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Next we have um um sorry we still have girls bowling. I messed this one up. Yeah. Emily Anniscavage. Where are you? She's a volleyball player too. I can't believe I forgot that. But I made it. Here you go.

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Next we have uh boys bowling Antonazoff. All kind all academic team. Sean Walsh. That's it, bro. You're racking it up. Girls basketball. Isabella Cortez.

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Alonso. Girls basketball. Elise Vax. Where is she? I saw her. And finally for wrestling, Gerard Farah, Kier Bald Verona, Hayden Lamari, >> Jaden McDaniel, And well, I got to check that one. No,

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I'm kidding. I looked at him, but good job, Jaden. Keith Gley. There he is. >> Yeah. Want me to check it? No, I'm kidding. You know, I love you, brother. Good job. >> Keith,

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good job, man. And that's our winter sports SEC Hawk academic team. Congratulations, everybody. Very proud of you guys. It is. Let's give a round of applause for our athletes one more time. Round of applause.

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So up next we have our young writers contest winners. Administrators will present the award. Please come up. Young writers contest. Good evening everyone. A few of our high school students won a young writer's contest. Students wrote a short story

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about a mystery case. These students were selected based on their creativity and a strong storytelling um for their excuse me for um and strong storytelling skills. Congratulations to the following students.

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Jaden Berentos Eve Franco. Congratulations, Jordan Armstrong, Nicholas Hernandez. >> We made it. Isaac Leman, Jay Van Mahas, Thomas Crawl,

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Congratulations Melanie Landon, Jacob Carlin, Angelica Palanco, Alisandre Mucha, Cal Samson, Emanuel Gonzalez, Sergio Boza, >> Megan Tuisin,

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Joel Tacori, Ramos Ibrahim, >> Sophia Amistoso, Veronica Dawoud, Ziana Gilbert, Dior Gazama, Raquel McFarland, John Edwards, Leslie Benas,

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Maya Estri, Jacob Yay, Samantha Nunees, And last but not least, Kiara Ortega. >> Congratulations to you all. Go that way. Everybody shoulders. Shoulders. Thank you.

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>> Thank you. >> Thank you. All right. Next up, we have uh Donna Canel, who is one of our our staff members here at the high school. Um, Miss Canel started the UNICEF club, and the club is

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on their way up here to present a check to UNICEF. They've done a lot of fundraising, but I will let their president of their club speak a little bit more about it rather than having to have you listen to me. All right. So, come on up. Good evening everyone. My name is Donna

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Canel and I work here at Belleville High School and I am the advisor for the UNICEF club. So, we're going to have our president of the club. She has a few words to say and then we're going to present a check. Good evening, members of the board of

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education, administrators, families, and fellow students. My name is Daryl Row, and I have I've had the honor of serving the Belleville High School Unive Club for the past three years. I joined this club sophomore year, and I wasn't exactly sure what to expect. The club was newly formed, and I just wanted to

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make a difference. Over time, that idea grew into something much bigger. Through our work, we support UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund, an organization that provides children around the world with access to clean water, nutrition, healthcare, education, and emergency

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relief. As a club, we've organized fundraisers like chip sales, candy, popcorn sales, and our annual raffles. These may seem simple, but they took a lot of teamwork, consistency, dedication from all of our members. I've seen

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firsthand how hard everyone has worked promoting our events, and just showing up every single day pushing to reach our goal. Every dollar we have raised represents not just money, effort, but it represents effort, commitment, and genuine care for others. But the UNICEF

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Club is so much more than fundraising. It's community. It's a space where people can walk in and feel comfortable. When the lunchrooms get overwhelming or someone is just having a rough day, our door is always open. It's a place to decompress, to laugh, to come chill,

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vibe, and just talk to um our counselor. We or you could just sit in silence. We've also had the opportunity to connect with others in our school community in meaningful ways such as spending time with Miss Canel's neurody divergent students. And those moments

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have been so powerful for me. These reminded us that there is no real difference between us, just opportunities to learn from one another. Experiences like this don't just help others, but they shape us, preparing us to be more understanding and more inclusive and more aware as we step into

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the real world. Today, we are proud to present our donation to the UNICEF club of $1,000. This donation represents year of hard work and the belief that even as students, we can make a real impact in the world. As I prepare to graduate, this moment means a lot to me. Being

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part of this club has taught me leadership, responsibility, and the importance of just showing up for others. Not just when it's easy, but when it is needed most. I hope that this is just the beginning for UNICEF club. And the future members continue to grow,

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not just in size, but in purpose and impact. Because this club will always be more than a club. It's a family and a door will always be open to anyone who wants it. Thank you to our advisor, Miss Canel, our members, the board of education for supporting us and giving

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us this opportunity. Room 155 is always open to those who need it. Thank you. That's above my So to save Mr. Roads a few steps, we'll start reverse order. We'll start with our governor's educator of the year awards starting from the high school,

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middle school, and then we'll go numerical 10 n all the way down. All righty. Sorry, Steve. You're last. Oh, no. Miss Demikov is last. All right, Mr. Rose, thanks for saving me the steps. I did get my 10,000 in already, though. I'm

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good. All right. Good evening, everybody. Uh, tonight we have the opportunity to honor our governor's educator of the year for the high school. Uh, I got a little story about uh our our educator of the year uh for the high school this year. When I got to the high school in 2017,

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um I at the end of my first year, we had four math teachers retire. And as a as a first year principal, I'm sitting there and I'm like, I don't know how I'm going to find four math teachers to fill these spots to make sure that we can make sure our students are getting the best

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education possible. So, I get all the resumes I can possibly gather. I get through I I hire three people and I've only got two resumes left. And one of them is from someone who's living in Colorado saying that they're going to move to New Jersey soon. Now, this was

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before Google Meet was a big thing. It was before Zoom was a big thing. So, I I I called this person. I said, "Listen, would you mind getting on a Skype call?" It was the first Skype interview I've ever done. It was the first time I've ever tried something like this. Was absolutely blown away by by what she was

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able to offer to our students. I I was really very nervous that she wasn't going to end up here in New Jersey by September, but she said, "I promise I'll be there. I'm definitely coming. I'll be there." Uh and and we are absolutely thrilled that Miss Al Snyder did make it here to Belleville and has done an

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absolutely phenomenal job with our students. Miss Snyder puts tremendous amounts of care and effort into every lesson she plans. She truly works to to meet the needs of the students, meet them where they're at, and grow them to where they need to be. So, Miss Snyder,

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I am absolutely thrilled to bring you up here as our educator of the year. Thank you. So each year um one of the things that that I do in terms of nominations for this this next uh aspect of the award the educational services professional of

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the year is I ask uh their colleagues to to nominate uh them and say a few words. So this year our educational services professional of the year is Stephanie Flores. Uh, unfortunately, Miss Flores couldn't be here tonight, so I do want to give her a round of applause, even though she couldn't be here, right?

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Okay. And, uh, so, Miss Miss Flores is one of our case managers. She does an absolutely phenomenal job with our students. She works very well, very closely with our community. Uh, she ensures that our students needs are met on every front. Uh, she puts a

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tremendous amount of effort and we are truly lucky to have her here. So congratulations, Miss Flores. >> Mr. Jetty, come on down. Admins. bring this down to my height and the height of our Belleville Middle School's uh educator of the year. Trust me,

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you'll see. Uh good evening everyone. My name is Mario Pedro. I am one of the assistant principles at Belleville Middle School. I'm here today on behalf of Mr. Giai, our school principal, to recognize an exceptional educator, Marta

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Deietro as Belleville Middle School's 2526 Governor's Educator of the Year. Marta represents the very best of what education should be. passionate, dedicated, and deeply committed to her

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students. Along with her bestie and sidekick, Miss Sibilia, they both create a classroom environment where students feel supported, challenged, and inspired to succeed. This recognition is not just

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welld deserved, it's a reflection of the difference she makes in our school community each and every day. And on a personal note, I love messing with her because it's so easy and she's so so awesome. So ladies and gentlemen,

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congratulations Marta and thank you for everything you do. Come on up. pictures. >> Pictures. You want your picture? There we go. I'm not that much taller than Mr. Pedro.

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Just a little bit though. Uh I'm Mr. Mr. Campion. I'm one of the other assistant principles at Belleville Middle School. Uh, and it's my job to uh discuss Miss Robin Bellow. For me, it's hard to summarize Miss Bellow's influence on our students at

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Belleville Middle School on a daily basis, but I'm going to try my best. Robin began her journey at Belleville public schools 28 years ago, starting as a bus aid before transitioning to her current role as power professional. When I think of Robin, I think to myself,

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there's probably only one person who walks around the building more than me, and that's Miss Bellow. You can find Miss Bellow usually on the third floor of the basement, but you'll no matter when you're walking around, you'll also see her on the first floor or the second floor.

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When Robin sees a student in the hallway, she always greets them with a good morning or good afternoon. Even though she's never been in a classroom with that student, she takes the time to get to know the student, what's going on with the student, why they're possibly in the hallway. So, it's like having an additional administrator just

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questioning the students, where you going, where you headed, and then usually I'll be walking by and she'd be like, "Mr. camp. The effort she puts in every day is evident. We see it every day. Her care, her understanding, and her passion for

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pushing every student to excel to the best of her abilities. Service professional of the year is just not a title for her. It's a reflection of the lives that she's touched, the confidence she built, and the future she helped shape. Congratulation on this well-deserved recognition. BMS would not

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be the same without you. Come on up, Miss Bellow. Thank you so Jesus. Amen. How's it going? >> 10, right? >> Good evening. I think at the last board meeting I might have lobbyed for us to

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go in reverse order. So, thank you. That was awesome. Um, I'm very excited to recognize this year's governor's teacher of the year, Miss Alexa Veno. She's a preschool educator whose work is perhaps the most important two years of a

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child's education. I know we have a difference of opinion, what grade is most important, but I will tell you that the second they walk into her room, how they feel about school, how they feel about teachers, how they feel about learning, those impressions are formed very early on. And so if a student

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remembers having a lot of fun in elementary school, they're going to do so much better in middle school and high school. And Miss Vanira was one of the first the first face they see in school. And I was looking this afternoon for the teachers who nominated her and the

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parents who nominated her, all of their reflections and the reasons why they nominated her. And I have no idea what I did with that list. However, I I'm just so I'm just going to wing it. She's awesome. She's fun. She's funny. She's amazing. She has the patience of a saint. Sometimes when um I'm running out

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of patience with my own children, I have to channel her and and remember that with 15 little ones, I've never seen her complain. I've never seen her I don't I don't I could go on forever about her, but um you know, there's a lot of fun in her room. There's a lot of learning in

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her room. I don't know how she does it. I'm not going to try to figure out Miss Veneer's classroom. Um, the success is not measured in test scores, but they are then later produced in other grade levels. It's measured in the first attempts, the small breakthroughs, the steady development of confidence, and

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how much they love school. That work demands patience, as I've said several times. And day after day, Miss Venro amazes me. She amazes other staff. Everyone walks past her room and goes, "I just don't know how she does it." and she has 15 kids napping at once. For any

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parent around here, you know how difficult it is to get one child to nap ever. So, um, she's amazing. Tonight, I would like to recognize her and thank her for her patience, her persistence, her love of the students and the children. She always treats them like

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her own. And if you saw these two little adorable, her niece and nephew were here earlier. And it must be a trait in the family because they were patient, they were listening, they weren't crying, they weren't complaining, and they were very excited to celebrate her. And she has a lot of family here who are

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Belleville products and her mother who babysits and does the daycare for many, many teachers in the district. So, thank you to the entire Venero family. And uh please join me up here for your flowers because probably everyone wants me to stop talking and your certificate so we

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can recognize you. And then after we take a picture with you, the whole family better get up here. This is yours. Sorry, Mr. Pugley and I apologize on behalf of the flowers. All right, I'm going to try to stick to this

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speech and not wing it and go, you know, off the road so that we can move on. Our service professional of the year is Miss Brenda. She's the school nurse. She could not be here today. So, of course, I tricked her and told her that she was had to write a thank you speech, which I will read later. It's very brief. Our

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school nurse serves as both the medical expert and the steady presence. She is also the head nurse for the district. So, she's always busy, not only helping our students. She's also providing support to all of the other nurses around the district. On any given day, she manages anything from routines to

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boooos to urgent health needs, and she reassures all of our students, our parents, and keeps everyone calm and patient in case of an emergency. Miss Brenda builds trust with students. She has her nurses helpers that come in and help her every day. She is the first

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person a child turns to when they are heard and that is not an easy job. So she did write a speech like I said because I told her she had to since she couldn't be here today. So she says, "Thank you everyone at school 10 who took the time to vote for me for the service professional of the year. Unfort

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unfortunately she has a previous engagement and I'm not able to be here tonight mainly because she doesn't want to be up here with me picking on her. I am truly grateful for your support. It is a privilege to be part of such a special school community led by amazing principal, brilliant students, and a

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dedicated staff like Miss Fee. So, please join me in congratulating Miss uh Delizio. She's not going to be up here, but we're going to She's watching us from home. Yay, Miss Delysio. Good job. You have escaped being on stage for

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another year. is >> good evening everyone. Uh for school nine, our governor educator of the year is Miss Zelica Asavdo Budor. You know what, Zula can come down. I I want to speak with you standing right

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next to me. Come on, step right. Come on. I know. This this award is a testament to Miss Asdo Budar's excellence in the field of education. Mrs. Asdo Budar's commitment to nurturing creativity and inspiring our students through art has been truly

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remarkable. Her innovative teaching methods and unwavering support for our students is truly appreciated. Thank you, Zulea, for your tireless efforts and dedication to our students. Your passion for education shines through in everything that you do and we are grateful for all that you bring to

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school 9. Congratulations. All right. Our educational service professional of the year for school 9 is Mr. Michael Mion. Come on up, Mike. Come on up. Come on. Somebody else take the pictures. >> He said I can't come up. I got to take

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the picture. How you going to take the picture and be in the picture? Mr. Mion's passion for mathematics education and his dedication to helping students succeed have made a significant impact on the academic growth and progress of many students at School 9. Mike's innovative approaches to

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intervention, collaboration with teachers, and support for student learning have made a lasting difference in the lives of our students. Congratulations, Mike. Thank you. See you. Good to see you. She's He's not here. So, I'll take it with me. Thank you.

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Good evening, Dr. Alfonso, members of the board, and distinguished guests. Tonight I have the distinct pleasure of presenting Miss Suzanne Rivera as school number eight's governor educ educator of the year. Miss Rivera is a hardworking, dedicated, and compassionate educator who

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consistently goes above and beyond for her students. Every day she advocates for their needs, ensuring that every child feels supported, valued, and capable of success. Her ability to connect with students and foster both academic and social growth truly exemplifies excellence in education.

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Beyond the classroom, Mr. Vera is a true team player. She was always willing to lend a helping hand, collaborate with colleagues, and step in whenever needed to support the school community. Her positivity and professionalism make her a valued member of our staff. What many what many may not know is that Mr. is

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also a has a wonderful singing voice and generously volunteers each year to perform at the school 8 holiday tree lighting. This not only showcases her talents but also reflects her deep comm commitment to our school community and her willingness to bring joy to our students and families. Miss River's

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impact extends far beyond daily instruction. She builds meaningful relationships with her students, families, and families creating an environment rooted in truly in trust, respect, and high expectations. Without hesitation, we recognize Miss Suzanne Rivera for her excellence in

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education, her unwavering dedication, and the students and community of school number eight. Congrat Congratulations, Mr. Rivera, on this welldeserved honor. Please come up. And unfortunately, our educational service professional for school rate, Mr. RV Flores, is unable to make it

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tonight. So, I am going to accept this. Yeah, I know. All I could say is we're going to miss his smile because I've never seen the man not smile. And uh when he told me he wouldn't come, I said, "Well, we're really going to miss you." But um just real quick, anybody who knows RV over the years knows he's a

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truly positive uh presence everywhere he goes. He's a great advocate for the kids, and we're sorry he wasn't here tonight. But Arvy, if you're listening, congratulations. All right. Good evening everyone. Uh just it is truly an honor to be here to recognize our 2526

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teacher of the year here at school number seven, Miss Linda Nicodemi. Give her a big round of applause. Linda is the definition of a dedicated professional educator. Someone who consistently places the growth of her students and at the center of everything

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that she does as a highly skilled math instructor, she not only builds strong academic foundations, but she also instills confidence in every single student that walks through the doors. And if you guys are wondering who turns the lights on at school number seven,

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it is most certainly Miss Nicodemi. She is there before the sun rises every single day. And if I pull into that parking lot and I do not see her car, I immediately text her because she's never not in. So she is one of the people that

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comes to work every day and motivates our children to be the best individuals they could be. So, with that being said, beyond the classroom, Linda creates meaningful opportunities for students to shine. She coordinates the spelling bee

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at school number seven. She loves that bell ding. And she also promotes a lot of outside events, our poster contest, our women's Bel Belleville women's club poetry contest because she wants our

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kids to get experience and to be recognized for all their great accomplishments. She is selflessness. What truly makes Linda separates her from everything else is her willingness to go above and beyond for her students. Whether supporting her students or

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collaborating with colleagues or stepping in when needed in any capacity, she embodies the very best of the profession because she always shows up and shows out. Linda is truly the heart and soul of school number seven. We are

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incredibly proud of you, Linda, and we are honored to have you as part of our family. Please come up and be recognized. away from. And now for our educational service professional of the year, Miss Stephanie Incarnation.

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Okay. As our diversity health and wellness counselor, Stephanie brings compassion, dedication, and a steady presence to school number seven each and every day. She provides our students with the tools they need not only to be

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successful in school, but also in life and to build confidence and resiliency. Stephanie is a has a unique way of connecting with students. Her conversations are thoughtful, meaningful, and leaves a lasting

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impression which each person she speaks to. She always keeps students grounded, supported, and moving forward in a positive direction. And if you're ever looking for in school, you will not find her. She is supporting students. She is

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checking in with students. She is making sure that everybody is exactly where they need to be emotionally and mentally, even myself. Stephanie consistently puts students first and serves as a trusted, inspiring

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presence in our building. She uh we are incredibly fortunate to have her as part of the school number seven family. And if there's any room I sneak away to, it is Miss Stephanie's room. So, I appreciate everything you do for our

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school and myself. Congratulations on winning this year's award. Very much appreciated. How are you? Okay. Good evening everybody. I am Marian Gilligan from school five and I am very happy to be

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here tonight to present Miss Erin Perry with the governor educator of the year award. Erin, can you come down? Come on, Erin. It's truly um it's before I start, I just the way I usually do this is I gather up all the the nominations and I

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try and take the words from colleagues and mesh it with mine. So that's what I'm about to read is the way your colleagues describe you. One of the greatest gifts I've ever been given is is to become principal of school number five with the teachers I taught with. It

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truly is. So when I talk about Erin, I knew Erin as a as a teacher um when I taught at school five and now I know her as a principal and whatever I say in here, it's just that she keeps getting better and better. It's truly a pleasure to recognize someone who brings so much

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heart, energy, and dedication to our school community. Colleagues describe Erin as caring, dedicated, and incredibly artsy and creative, deeply passionate about teaching, and always willing to support those around her. In

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her classroom, Miss Perry strikes the perfect balance between humor and academic rigor, creating an environment where students are engaged, challenged, and excited to learn. She works tirelessly each day to make learning interactive and meaningful, ensuring

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that every student feels like they're winning, that they're successful. Beyond the classroom, Erin is the organizer behind our sunshine club where she goes above and beyond to make sure every staff member feels valued, challenged,

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I'm sorry, supported, valued, and celebrated through both the joyful and the challenging times life brings to us. She never forgets anyone. She has the pulse on the school and what everybody is going through and makes sure she

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addresses that. Erin helps plan events, keeps us organized, and somehow always knows just what we need sometimes before we even do. In fact, just today I was in a meeting and Erin came in and she couldn't get to me because I was talking. So, she got a big piece of yellow paper and wrote something I

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needed to remember which I forgot and she held it up to make sure I saw it, put it on my desk. I'm like, "Okay, you know, that's Erin." I never saw anybody who has a pulse on the building, even she knows what I need to know. So, it's really amazing. Um, it's a it's a it's a

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gesture that captures how she cares about everybody. Miss Perry Perry consistently works to lift others up and brings joy to our building. Uh, in the words of Miss Cook, it's time to celebrate you, Aaron, tonight. So, for all of these reasons and more, I'm honored to present Miss Perry with the

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Governor's Educator of the Year Award. If I can get it. >> Thank you. Amen. Hallelujah. for our educator service professional of the here. Miss Tiffany Cook could not be here tonight, so I'm going to just say a

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few words because if anybody needs to be honored, it's I I think we would agree it's Tiffany Cook. Um, again, it's an honor to recognize someone whose presence truly makes a difference in the lives of students and staff each and every day. This year, Miss Cook serves as our school social worker. Last year,

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she held the role of school counselor. Tiffany's colleagues describe her, as do I, as a pleasant, warm, and genuine individual whose energy brings such a positive vibe to the entire school community. She has a remarkable ability to connect with others, delivering

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lessons with clarity and kindness, and creating space where students feel safe, heard, and understood. Miss Cook's approachable and compassionate nature makes it easy for students to open up, and she encourages those in need with both ease and skill. And no matter what

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role Tiffany is in, she crosses the lines and assists wherever she needs to. I've seen her stop children in a hallway who seem upset. I've walked by the lunchroom and and have seen her wiping down tables. Her actions consistently reflect her

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deep care for others. Her presence is impactful, her kindness is genuine, and her ability to connect with others is truly transformative. So on behalf of Miss Cook, I accept this award for her tonight. Thank you. >> Good evening everyone.

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There we go. First, I want to thank the board, Dr. Alfonso, for allowing me to work in this district. Uh, this district is an absolutely fabulous district. We have a lot of great families and students and my staff.

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I would like to first acknowledge Miss Dalton, which is our educational service professional of the year. if you would like to come down real quick now. Miss Don is is amazing right? Um and I wrote a few brief things to say about her, but instead of me reading off

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a script, I just want to say how important she has been to me as an assistant principal at school 4. We have had some I won't say battles. Uh but she's helped me extinguish a lot of fires within the building. Uh when things happen, uh we

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call her and say, "Well, Miss D, where you at? Where you at?" And sometimes she's just Johnny on the spot. She comes up with so many different strategies. Uh she leads professional development. She's going to different professional developments and she does everything she can to help our school, our students.

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Um, she's the calming voice to a lot of our students that have a lot of different situations going on at home and in the classroom. And I just want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart and from our staff. And I want to acknowledge you tonight. Thank you. >> Thank you. Maybe you

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Uh, the next person I want to call down is Miss Steinwa. She is our governor's education editor of the year. Now, before I get started, Miss Ariana's going to get me. Uh, I was trying to

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come up with stuff to say, so I had staff members coming in out the office all day, and you just kept on popping in the office, just messing everything up. >> Sorry. However, she does so much for our school. Um, she's been in the district for a long time. When you talk about the standard

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of an educator in our district, Miss Stein Wer is her. Um, what doesn't what doesn't like you do everything. She brings pastries in the morning. Um, she's the head of the sun sunshine club. Um, she motivates teachers. She always has a a bright

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smile on her face every time she comes in the building. um she helped so many students and so many staff members that when we were trying to come up with things say I every staff member has so many positive things to say about you um I could have wrote a book now Miss Dinard like me I

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share schools from school seven and four so she also has the same experience she's been around the community so long that she has well she knows where the bodies are buried and who killed them uh >> I don't want to say it like that but she she knows the history and she knows the

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vision that we have for the school and she's such a great person. I am humbled to present this award to you. >> Thank you very much. school for staff. Everyone please come up. We are a family. Sorry, there's

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ready to All right. School three. My name is um Mr. Puglia. I'm the principal at school 3. Buzz. Buzz. >> I'd like to call up uh >> what? Buzz. Buzz.

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>> All right, I'd like to call up Mr. Mike Cerelli and Miss Sarah Dorso. Come on up, please. All right, I'm going to start with um Miss Sarah Dorso. She is our governor's educator of the year. Sarah is

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incredible. She's positive. Her students love her. You walk in her classroom at any time, they're all engaged. They're all thriving. Mr. Corso. I'm not even reading this because Mr. Corso takes on district initiatives. Always has a smile on her face. Every morning when she

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comes in, we're hearing stories about her sons and their sports accolades. Um, she's a jack of all trades. She's a wonderful person and we really appreciate everything that you do for our school. So, congratulations. >> All right. Now, Mr. Mike.

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Um, Mr. Mike is our educational service professional of uh the year at school 3. Um, Mike is always somebody that you can count on. He he keeps our our building safe, clean. I mean, he he is such a hard worker. He brings a positive energy

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to our building. He's always smiling, never complains. Well, mostly never. And and if you if you come into our building, if anybody wants to come to school 3 at about 7:00 in the morning, uh you'll hear him serenating the halls

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with little Frank Sinatra. Uh so congratulations, Mike, our educational services professional of the year. Much deserved. Appreciate you. School three, do you guys want to come up? Families, everybody, or just uh the families? >> Just the families. Okay. All right.

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Well, I guess school four did better. I say how it is. It's fine. That's pretty baby. Oh yeah. Congratulations. Good evening everyone, members of the board of education, Dr. Alonso. I'm

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truly honored to be able to stand here before you tonight and recognize our amazing governor educator of the year for 2526 for Hornblower Early Childhood Center and that's Miss Briana Kovich.

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>> Come on down, Briana. >> I want you standing right next to me. >> Thank you. >> Okay. >> And that's Arthur. Yeah. >> Briana's first child. Can everyone hear me? I feel like it's going in and out. Okay, good. All right.

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Oh, I have to put my glasses on. Give me a second. >> Okay. So, once again, it's truly an honor, truly an honor to stand here before you tonight to recognize an exceptional educator, colleague, and member of the Hornblower Early Childhood Center

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family, Miss Briana Kovatch. Brianna is quite simply an amazing preschool teacher. If you have ever had the chance to walk into her classroom, you just immediately

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feel it. The perfect blend of the first time school experience for our young learners. It embodies the creative curriculum, exploration, creativity, belonging,

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and just an ultimate nurturing environment. Beyond her classroom, Briana is a force of positive energy. She is always ready and willing to lend a helping hand to her colleagues,

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the staff. It's no surprise that she serves as the head of our sunshine committee because Briana truly brings sunshine wherever she goes. Whether she's organizing something like a baby shower, celebrating our teachers at

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during teacher appreciation week, simply lifting someone's spirits, recognizing paraprofessional day, Briana makes our school a happier place. She is deeply committed to our families

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at Hornblower as well. She is a part of our preschool, excuse me, preschool parent university. She brings creativity and joy to our already established school traditions from organizing things

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like the heartwarming Polar Express. Oh my god, I cried the whole time. Polar Express and our first time tradition that we made this year, hornblowers first singalong. I said, "I want to do

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something. Let's do this." It was brought up at the HSA meeting. By the way, she's present at every single HSA meeting, which takes place at 8:00 PM. So, she dedicates her time to that. And when the idea came up that we want to

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have parents in for sometime like a something like a holiday singalong, a holiday uh you know giving type of experience. We came up with this spring singalong. Brianna took it and ran with it and oh my gosh it was such a great

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success. It really was. And that is so so much because of you. Brianna is loved by her students, appreciated by her parents, respected by her colleagues, and deeply valued by me,

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her principal. Her warm dedication and unwavering positivity embody everything we strive for to achieve at Hornblower. Brianna, congratulations on this well-deserved recognition, and thank you for all that you do every day. We are so

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fortunate to have you and we are incredibly proud of you. I am truly grateful for you and all that you do every day for our young learners as well as our staff. So, thank you so much, Brianna.

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>> There you go. Who cares? I got it. even though she isn't here. >> Okay. So, before we take our picture, I would also like to recognize Cordishia Artist. She is not here tonight.

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Cordishia is our social worker on our PERS team and that's our preschool intervention team. And when I say team, that word that the the the title team is truly tagged to her name because she

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exudes what a team player is. Cordishia is that person who is always well willing to lend a hand. She has a caring and understanding approach to problem solving and the true meaning of what it is once again to be a team player. I

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admire a quality in Cordishia that sometimes we don't always see just, you know, throughout everyday life. That's her ability to really listen.

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To listen when people have something to say, to advocate to others and to take into account the perspective of others when problem solving, troubleshooting, and addressing issues that come up

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on a day-to-day basis. Cordishia has the ability to see through a lens that brings about positivity and change for the better in the life of our students and also in the life of our staff members. So although she is not

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here tonight and we're going to Miss Cordishia because she's leaving us on Friday for a very good reason. She's going on maternity leave, but we hope it's not too long because she cannot be replaced and we will miss her sorely. But we wish her all the best as she

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expands her beautiful family. So, thank you, Cordishia. And now we're ready to take our picture. >> Oh, your plaque. >> Sorry, the plaque. and certificate. >> There's two of them.

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>> Oh, thank you so much. >> You're so welcome. >> Thank you. >> Yes. Take Amen. Amen. Amen. I'll take sure I'll Okay, I'm staying up here for another couple minutes.

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I am very happy to celebrate and recognize another amazing member of our Hornblower Early Childhood Center family. When I say dedication, when I say heart,

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when I say true teamwork, I am talking about an amazing individual. And that individual is Miss Jessica Lori. Come on, Jessica. Let's go. Jessica is our head custodian at

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Hornblower. Stay here. I'm not done. I'm not done. Jessica is the backbone of our school. Truly the backbone. There is absolutely no task that is too big, too small, too

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unexpected that she cannot handle and accomplish. When something needs to get done, Jessica is already three steps ahead of it. She makes it happen with precision,

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pride, and a smile. Jessica is the definition of a team player. I know I'm saying it a lot, but I feel very grateful because I have a lot of team players in my building. Jessica is always there. She's always dependable.

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She gives 110% in whatever she does. What truly sets Jessica apart is not just what she does as head custodian, but it's how she does it with care, with compassion, and with incredible

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attention to detail that keeps our school safe, clean, running smoothly every single day. She's an exceptional role model for our other amazing custodians who are under her guidance and toutelage.

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Jessica just doesn't maintain our building. She helps create an environment where our students can grow, learn, and thrive. That is no small task in a very, very busy early childhood center. She's kind, she's thoughtful,

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she is meticulous in her craft, and she is deeply appreciated by every single person who walks through our doors. It is my honor to celebrate you, Jessica, not only as hornblower staff member of the month, but for to be the

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district staff member of the month for April. We appreciate you and we are so grateful for everything that you do. Thank you. Thank you, Jessica. Good evening again.

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I want to recognize a student from school 4 named Catalina Ruez. Come on, stand right next. Before I get started, I want to first thank the parents. She is the pride of school 4,

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and you are doing an excellent job raising her. It is an honor to recognize Catalina. Catalina is the definition of a well-rounded student. Whether she is leading as a member of a student council or exploring new technology and ideas with the computer club, she approaches

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every opportunity with enthusiasm. What truly sets Katalina apart, however, is her character. She is a dedicated role model who consistently makes positive choices throughout the school day. In the classroom, she is a kind and respectful student. She gives 100%

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effort to every task, never settling for what's not good enough. She takes true ownership of her learning and always asks thoughtful questions and seeks clarity to ensure she masters whatever new topic she is presented

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with. Catalina, your hard work, curiosity, and leadership have not gone unnoticed. We are incredibly proud of you and we're proud that you're representing here school 4. Thank you. Come on.

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All right, ladies and gentlemen, we have two more awards. And it seems like an award ceremony, but we have a lot to celebrate here in Belleville. So, up next is our administrator of the month award. This administrator has been about to receive this award a long time

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coming. She is boots on the ground day in and day out. Rolls up her sleeves. Before even thinking of asking her for help, she's there. Before you think you need something, come on, Jeff. before you think you need something,

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she's already doing it. Uh she is dayto-day, she's micro, she's macro. She led probably hands down one of the most impressive ReadAcross Americas I've seen in all my years in education. And um it's just a small small

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testament to the work that Miss Heather McIntyre has been doing. Miss Heather McIntyre, please come on down. All right, I promise I will be very short on this. Um, so good evening everyone. Um, thank you for the recognition. Uh, 19

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years ago I started teaching my my teaching career at in a first grade classroom at school 4. Um, and over the years I've been lucky enough to work with and learn from so many of you um, here tonight. Um, but for me it always comes back to our Belleville students.

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Being Miss Mac to them is and always will be my favorite part of this job. So, thank you for the recognition. All right, last but absolutely not least is our community excellence award. And this award is given to uh a member of

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the community either local or broader community who's had an impact on Belleville and President Asable from NJCU. We are we know each other from a few years back and I reached out to him when we had our students who were no longer in Project Adilante and I wanted to

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create a meaningful robust comprehensive program for them and just troubleshooting ideas. cuz I was like, "Well, you know, what do you think we should do?" He said, "Well, you're bringing them to NGCU, right?" And I said, "Well, can I?" He said, "Absolutely." So, he cleared the schedule. He's like, "Let's make it

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happen. Do you need transportation? What do you need?" And it was just all hands- on deck. Him calling me to check in to see what we needed for our arrival over there. And once our students got there, as I mentioned previously, the superintendent report, it was like one of the guys just hanging out with the

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students. The students did not, they first came in and it was impressionable. It's the president's chambers and you know big uh conference tables etc. And he just made it seem like it was home 10 minutes in. He is a son of immigrant parents. He is a perfect example of the

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American dream and what we aspire and push our students to become. There's no obstacle too big. There's no hurdle too large to overcome. He came into NJCU when they were under an immense deficit and in a matter of a couple years

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cleaned that place up where they've increased their credit rating about three times over. Uh he's also president of our one of our top wrestlers out of Belleville who mom might be in the back sitting maybe, maybe not. But, uh,

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real quick, what really, uh, sealed the deal when it came to giving Andy this recognition, besides his humility, is the fact that he goes above and beyond what anyone would ever expect. So, not only is he

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constantly checking in to see what he can do for Belleville, when the time came, he approached our students and said, "Hey, do you guys know what the KIPP program is?" And the students weren't really sure. And for those of you that are not familiar, KIPP is an exam that you could

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take, kind of like an AP test, but it's abbreviated. You don't take a course with it, and you get college credits for it. So, our students are fluent in Spanish. He said, "Why? You don't need to take a Spanish class. you need to save your money and we need to be smarter with our money. So he offered to

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pay for all of our PIA Institute students KP program completely is sponsored by NJCU. So our students are currently in the process of preparing for that and I want to thank President Sibo for bringing it up and also for volunteering and truly being hands-on

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and making sure that our students are going to have the opportunities that they deserve. President Sibo, thank you. Good evening everyone. Um, thank you for the special recognition uh to superintendent and members of the board and uh you know it's a beautiful night

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to be here in Belleville uh on display what makes this community so special, so remarkable and so worthy of emulation uh across our state. Uh every single day I get to set foot on a college campus that

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is reflective of my lived experience. I'm the first in my family to be able to pursue a lot of things. The first to go to college, first to go to grad school, the first uh but determined to not be the last. And every single day that I

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set foot on that campus, it's a fervent reminder of the promise of education, the barriers that are often too persistent, uh the recognition that talent is universal, but opportunity isn't always. uh and that we have a

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collective obligation and a collective responsibility to one another to usher better things for the young people that entrust us with their lives and their journeys. And so, thank you uh for this special recognition, but more importantly, thank you for letting me share time and space with all of you

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this evening and see what makes Belleville so extraordinary. Thank you and God bless you. >> Thank you. Thank you. That is it for our awards presentation. It only took about two hours. So, we're not doing too bad here. All

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right, the time is now 9:01. We're going to take a quick recess. Can I have a motion? >> Can I have a second, please? >> Second. >> Thank you. Uh, all in favor? >> All right. I

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>> We are now in recess. All right. Can I please have a motion and return back from recess? >> So move. >> Can I have a second, please? >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> All right. We are back from recess. Uh we are now moving on to the report from our business administrative sports

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secretary, Miss Ikeo. >> Thank you, President Leon. Good evening. I just wanted to take a moment to provide an update on the 2026 2027 preliminary budget that was presented at our last meeting. Since that time, we have received approval from the executive county superintendent with no

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changes required. This is an important milestone in the budget process, and we're pleased that the budget was accepted as submitted. As we move forward, the next step is the public hearing, which is scheduled for April 29th. The public can expect that that budget presented at the hearing will remain consistent with what was shared

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at our last meeting. The numbers will be exactly the same. In accordance with state requirements, the district will advertise the budget in advance of the hearing. The budget will be published in the following newspapers. The Bergen Record on this Friday the 17th, the Ledger on Monday the 20th, and it will

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also appear in the Belleville Times on April 23rd, next Wednesday. Additionally, the budget will be made available for public public inspection in accordance with the NJSA18A22-12. Members of the public may review the budget in person at the board of education office during regular school

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hours by contacting my office in advance to schedule an appointment. We will ensure that all statutory requirements related to the advertisement transparency and public public access are fully met as we move towards public hearing and final adoption. Uh we are currently working with our buildings and grounds team along with

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our principles to develop a comprehensive list of summer projects across the district. As part of the process, we are prioritizing safety related items first to ensure that our buildings remain safe and secure for students and staff. We're really fortunate to have highly skilled uh members of our buildings and grounds

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maintenance team uh w within our district. So, because of that, we're able to complete a lot of these projects inhouse and we don't have to outsource a lot, which is both cost-ffective and responsive to building needs. We will continue refining this list in the coming weeks and look forward to moving on these projects forward over the summer. And I just want to give a

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special thank you to Alex Pearelli and his negotiations team. And congratulations to all involved in getting a signed memorandum of agreement on tonight's agenda. That concludes my report. Thank you. >> Thank you for that, Miss Ikeo. Uh we are now moving along to remarks by citizens

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on agenda items only. Can I please have a motion to open? >> So moved. >> A second, please. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. I don't have anybody here on the list, but is there anyone in the audience that would like to speak on agenda items only? Hearing none, seeing none, uh, can I

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please have a motion to close remarks by citizen on agenda items only? >> So moved. >> A second, please. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> All right. All right. On to resolution uh on personnel. Uh the personnel committee

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met on 4:13 uh this past Monday uh discussing various uh personnel uh issues. Uh we are now going to have a uh can I please have a motion for items on personnel 71

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to 724? >> So moved. >> Can I have a second please? >> Second. >> Miss Ikeo, please take the role. >> Trusty Gar, >> yes. >> Trusty Gillis, >> yes. Trusty Moz, >> yes. >> Trustee Pacheco, >> yes. >> Trustee Santana,

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>> yes. >> Vice President Dr. Majia, >> yes. >> President Leon, >> yes. >> Um, on to board action, board policy. Uh, the governor's committee met on 413 as well. Uh some of the things that we discussed

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uh we repainted the high school gym. Uh we discussed playground hours of availability. Uh signage will be coming discussing it'll be open from dawn to dusk. Uh and we also uh have a EV

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charges update possibly reading going on the 4:15 agenda. Uh, moving along. Can I please have a motion to approve resolutions 91 through 9:22 as recommended by our superintendent, Dr. Alonso? >> So moved.

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>> Second. >> Correction through 923. I have a old sheet here. Okay. So I can I please have a motion to approve resolutions 91 through 923. >> So moved. >> I have a second. Please >> second.

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>> Miss Ike, please call the role. >> Trusty Growl. >> Yes. >> Trusty Gillis. >> Yes. >> Trusty Mos. >> Yes. >> Trusty Pacheco. >> Yes. >> Trusty Santana. >> Abstain from 9.1. Yes to everything else.

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Vice President Dr. Majia. >> Yes. >> President Leon. >> Yes. >> Moving forward, we're on to now resolutions on purchasing and business service as recommended by Dr. Alfonso. Can I please have a motion to take action on resolutions 101

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through 1024? >> So moved. >> Can I have a second, please? >> Second. >> Miss Ikeo, please call the role. >> Trusty Gar. >> Yes. >> Trusty Gillis. >> Yes. Trusty Moz, >> yes. >> Trusty Pacheco, >> yes. >> Trusty Santana,

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>> yes. Vice President Dr. Majia, >> yes. >> President Leon, >> yes. >> On to resolutions on finance as approved as suggested recommended by Dr. Alfonso. Can I please have a motion for approving items 111 through 114?

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>> So moved. >> A second, please. >> Second. Uh, Miss Ao, please call the role. >> Trusty Garrow, >> yes. >> Trusty Gillis, >> yes. >> Trusty Menoz, >> yes. >> Trusty Pacheco, >> yes. >> Trusty Santana, >> yes.

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>> Vice President Dr. Majia, >> yes. >> President Leon, >> yes. We are now on to remarks by sentence on any issues. Can I please have a motion to open? >> So moved. >> Can I have a second, please? >> Second.

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>> All in favor? We are now open for remarks by citizens on any issue. Can I please have up first? Mr. Mike Mong. Good evening. Mike Mon, president, Belleville Education Association.

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I was I would like to start by saying congratulations to all the governor educators of the year award winners. Um there is no greater honor in our profession than to be recognized for a job well done by our fellow educators,

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the true professionals. I am truly humbled and grateful. Interestingly enough, although I stand here as a recipient of the award, I have not been able to service my students for over six weeks. In fact, 12 other of my

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colleagues have also been restrained from servicing their students because our superintendent, assistant superintendent, and board of education made the poor decision uh to assume the worst of a situation before educating themselves on the facts

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first. This Monday, all five teachers interviewed returned to their classrooms after the investigation yielded no wrongdoing on the teachers part. In fact, this was declared a management

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issue concerning inequity within the district's school buildings. As for the other two teachers, one was interviewed by the investigator yesterday and the other will be interviewed next week. I am certain that the investigation will yield the same

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conclusion that there was no wrongdoing on the teacher's part. Let's now talk about the impact this professional this unprofessional decision to needlessly place seven teachers on administrative leave for over six weeks had on the

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students and parents, staff and taxpayers in our town. First, the students and the parents. We have success. You have succeeded in disrupting the continuity in education in four classrooms, therefore hindering

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further progress of those students. In turn, you deprived other struggling uh I'm sorry, you've deprived our struggling student population of the services that are needed for their academic growth by using the interventionists to cover the classes of

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those teachers who were wrongfully suspended. As for the staff, you have lost the trust of the staff in your ability to lead and protect us from harm. The morale has bottomed out and we now see you as the wolf rather than the

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shepherd. And for the taxpayers, not only was it an exorbitant amount of money spent on this wasteful independent investigation, but seven teachers were home for over six weeks receiving full salary while

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teacher coaches and interventionists cover their classes, depriving our students of their services that they normally provided. The BEA strongly recommends that the superintendent, assistant superintendent, and board president

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exonerate all the teachers placed on administrative leave by extending a sincere apology to them for the stigma you irresponsibly placed on them for wrongfully placing them on administrative leave. You also owe the students and the parents of the students

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in those classrooms a heartfelt apology for the disruption of their education. Lastly, but certainly not least, you owe the taxpayers of Belleville an extensive explanation of the cost incurred with this senseless and fiscally irresponsible decision.

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We teach our students and children to take ownership of their mistakes and admit when they were wrong. You all should be an example to our Belleville students and hold yourselves accountable for this grave mistake.

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I would like to know for the record that there was no findings or finalized investigation yet. So, we do not have confirmed information regardless of what we had just heard. All right, moving along. Can I please have up next uh Miss Tina Newton?

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She's gone. Okay. Uh, is there anybody else in the audience that would like to speak up on any uh any issues? No. All righty then. Can I please have a a motion to close remarks by citizens on any issue? >> So moved. >> Can I have a second, please?

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>> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. Uh, we are now moving on to agenda item 13, items, remarks, and committee reports. Uh, though we didn't have anything tonight on curriculum. Uh, Miss Gillis, can you please uh give the report since we did meet on this past

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Monday? >> Um, well, we met for the governor's meeting on the 13 and during the meeting, we discussed how Strauss has begun updating our policies, which we also have started to review. And we also began working on the grading grading

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system and initiating discussion about providing additional support for our multilingual learners. That's it. >> Thank you for that, Miss Gillis. Is there any other trustee that would like to give a remark or any committee report?

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>> I would like to give a quick uh comment. So, not only was our preliminary budget submitted and it was impeccable as per the words of the county BA, I also want to give a very quick acknowledgement and shout out to Miss Ikeo. We were the

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first district in the county to submit it. We were also the first one to receive it back finalized and clean. So that is a huge undertaking considering the large transition administration plus the monstrosity of our budget plus

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trying to balance it with the fiscal restraints that we've had and the reduction in state aid as well. So Miss Ao, thank you for all the hard work and the countless hours. It is absolutely recognized and acknowledged. Any other trustee?

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No, I just uh also want to jump off uh what m Dr. Fanso just said. uh the work that we just put in. Uh you know, they've been working very hard on on this budget. And uh when you uh consider what some of the other neighboring districts are going

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through in terms of claiming deficits of 10, 15, 20 million and also possibly riffing at least 70 uh teachers and staff. Uh the work that we put in uh it's a testament to how the hard work of

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Miss Ikeo, Dr. Alfonso, Dr. Valia. Uh, so I speaking for myself, but I think the board feels the same that we're we're very proud of the work that you put in and uh, you know, I just wanted to give everyone their kudos for that. >> All right. >> President Leon, can I just say

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something? >> Sure. >> Uh, just really quick because the the budget is is certainly not like a one-man project. Um, although it carried uh quite a bit of it. Um, I just want to say that although we did receive a reduction in state aid, we actually received additional preschool expansion

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aid money and um, you know, that's definitely a credit to Mike Vargas and his team. Um, he fought hard for us and he got us three additional preschool classrooms for next year. So, I'm very proud of him and his team and his work. Um that brings us to 100% of our

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preschool universe will be served for next year and there will be no more waiting list in Belleville for preschool students. Um on top of that, because we have extreme space constraints, he worked really hard with outside providers and got us two additional classrooms in Sandy Lane and another

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additional classroom in um a church down the street. I think it's called My Little Playhouse. Mike, is that right? Am I saying it right? Okay. So, uh, Mike was a huge part of this budget process. Um, as well as all the administrators, it took so many hours of conversations and meeting. So, um, certainly team

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effort, although I do appreciate your kind words. Thank you. >> Anytime, Miss Ikeo. Uh, with that being said, uh, congratulations to all the award winners tonight. It's a beautiful thing to see. It's great that Dr. Alonso and and the admin, uh, recognize, uh,

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our staff and and the entire district. Uh, with that being said, can I please adjourn this meeting? Can I have a motion to close today's meeting? >> So moved. >> Can I have a second? >> Second. >> All in favor? I. >> All right. Thank you very much. We are meeting again on April 29th for our next

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board meeting. Everybody have a good night.