##VIDEO ID:FRS2es1IL5k## e e e e e e e e e good evening all to those who have not yet had the pleasure of meeting my name is Mark tarany and I am the student representative to the board of education but without further Ado I'd like to get along with the report for this month they say no news is good news and there isn't too much for me to go over this week and as such I just wanted to touch base regarding the recent events and happenings of CHS first and foremost today was the first interest meeting for class representatives class representatives will be a group of students about five each grade that will help monitor what happens at CHS and take in the different views and different opinions of students across the school and report them back to myself so that I may more uh I may better represent them to the Board of Education we had a decent turnout with about 50 students repres uh signing up for the form and around 20 students coming to the actual meeting we will hold another meeting next week before the board meeting and I will bring up any points that were brought up there uh furthermore Mr jenero um and the superintendent ambassadors team met on the 9th of October and I can happily conclude that the meeting was a success in many ways the group had inducted multiple new members including myself for this year and were successful in facilitating discussion about the school allowing for students to voice their opinion on certain matters such as homecoming and School events events we at CHS have also been very successful in recent events such as our open house or homecoming dance our open house especially numerous clubs and activities reported High interest numbers the open house um was attended by eighth grade students from woodro CCMS and other charter schools and uh we can report that we had a fairly decent decent turnout this year school spirit has also been a large focus of the student council and recent and with the recently successful Spirit Week we've seen a rise in school spirit uh but we are still working harder than ever to maintain our Clifton community and to cap this meeting off I would just like to touch base regarding some future events um that are happening in this upcoming month of October such as the two last two football games of the Season both away games at pcti and East Orange as well as um the Halloween extravagance that will be hosted at CHS on October 23rd for young children uh to come trick or treat and have an enjoyable Halloween evening that is all for this week and thank you so much have a a great evening thank you so much Mark Mr jagaro superintendent report I think exciting and devastating at all at the same time so to share a quote life is like a roller coaster it has its ups and downs but it's your choice to scream or to enjoy the ride and this quote serves as a metaphor that encapsulates the unpredictable nature of life the importance of personal and professional perspective and resilience it's a reminder that life is full of highs and lows victories and defeats Joys and sorrows and acknowledges the inevitability of facing both positive and negative experiences so tonight I'm going to take us through Clifton's roller coaster ride over this past month so at this time the long line and waight is over we've taken our seats our harnesses are securely fastened and the conductor starts the ride and we begin with an update on Dr roosi over the course of the past several months we ended each update on Danny stating that we're all eager for his return just last week during a phone conversation with Dr roozi I jokingly expressed that there if there was a most excited for his return award I would be the recipient and it's with great pleasure and excitement to report that Dr roozi also known as The Wolverine has made a remarkable recovery and will offici returned to work on Monday November 4th uh as this will be my final meeting serving in the capacity of Acting Superintendent I did want to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to Dany for recommending me and to the board of education for approving me as the Acting Superintendent in his absence again I'd like to extend a heartfelt thanks to the entire one Clifton Learning Community for their trust support and confidence in me it truly has been an honor serving this capacity I do however look forward to returning to the best seat in the house now next week right there in the back row uh for the next part of our roller coaster ride we begin the ascent on What's called the LIF Hill and that's the initial climb of any roller coaster and it's with an update of the proposed expansion of the I learn Pake Arts and Sciences Charter over the course of this past week there's been a lot of chatter and social media platforms and even within our community specific to this proposed expansion of the iearn charter school that would serve as a 400 student High school to be located here in Clifton on Hazel Street last week at the final zoning board uh hearing for this topic I took the opportunity to speak and advocate for our district this courtroom was packed with supporters from the charter schools it included members of their Board of Trustees parents and even school-aged children that were literally bust to City Hall to show their support many of which held held and raised signs and imployed in unison as my statements or object did time and time again but my primary focus of being there was not only to address and provide some clarity to the misrepresentations that were included in testimony previous meetings but also to demonstrate that this supposed need to expand this Charter is unfounded and will be a detriment to our community I spoke about the perceived lack of transparency that existed throughout this process because neither the Board of Education Commissioners or any Community stakeholder who did not live within a 200t r radius of this property that's less than the length of a football field in all directions were informed of this proposed expansion until it was later reported in the news already well into the process sure the posting and notifications were listed in the newspaper uh which is an outdated and inadequate method of communication and while it was compliant with law this approach does little more than meet the bare minimum in informing our community about this expansion demonstrating the lack of trans transparency additionally this particular Charter has previously demonstrated unclear and misleading communication regarding their intentions while leasing three former uh buildings in Clifton from the dicese of Patterson with the most recent uh deceptions being post on social media that this will be another Clifton High School and even as far as they will be sponsoring a Clifton tricker tree event uh I further explain that the most significant impact on the community primarily stems from the funds allocated to Charter Schools Charter Schools divert crucial funds from public schools potentially causing budget shortfalls that could diminish the quality of education for our students uh with a proposed enrollment of 400 students at a 90% per pupil cost of $199,000 this could result in a substantial Financial impact of $6.8 million that's equivalent to five tax points on our local budget this would further reduce the revenue available to support the Clifton public schools on top of the over $25 million that we already contribute to Charter Schools and pcti tuitions so in simple terms expanding Charter Schools strains Public School budgets can potentially lead to the the need to raise local taxes but it reduces our public resources ultimately the zoning board justly denied the Charter's request to expand based on several criteria and in upcoming meetings we'll be providing our community with a comprehensive rview on how detrimental a charter expansion in our city would be to our one Clifton Learning Community the students the staff next on our roller coaster ride we reach what's called The Summit the top of the LIF Hill it's the highest point of a roller coaster and it's really the most exciting part because it's with anticipation for what the Thrills you're about to experience this is the typical time where the uh the daring ones raise their hands just to add to the experience and it's last month our Summit comes from an update on a therapy dog initiative on Saturday October 5th our favorite four-legged furry friend and the face of Team Chewy was invited as a guest to appear live on NBC's Today Show after a successful and impactful video was aired on NBC Kids a few weeks prior so at this time I'd like to take the opportunity to share this clip that continues to put Clifton and the amazing things that we are doing on the map at the national level Sam where's the sound you got no sound hold on a sec there we go sorry but this is uh hold on a minute I don't know why we're not getting sound let me try the other video that I have queued up as well okay well there we go we in the clion public school district in New Jersey I'll start it over take long for for students and also for this four-legged friend me Chewy the therapy dog chewy is a one-year-old golden dle he's our District's first ever therapy animal first introduced last year in the Clifton Public School District in New Jersey it didn't take long for chewy to make the grade he already has some 300 classroom and other school event visits under his belt or paw shall we say he makes everyone feel like more calm and a little less anxious and he releves a lot of stress that I'll have like before a big test or something and now the hypoallergenic Pooch is back for a second year our kids would say he is the OG he is a legend within the community anybody excited to be back in school he just up my day make it feel L acting school superintendent Mark jenero is Chewy's Handler he says the therapy dog underwent training and is used for a variety of reasons when it comes to students emotional wellbeing and mental health anything that to think of that will help motivate Inspire our students to reach academic behavioral success and he has been our secret weapon to achieving those goals might get kisses I'm sorry about that he is nice to people he likes to come give people Comfort when they're upset and no matter where he goes I really like petting him if everybody's having like a bad day then like Tre pops up the ches a calming presence one of the tools the school district and others across the country are using to help kids cope research shows the use of trained therapy dogs in school settings can help improve things like a child's confidence attendance and more you just see the difference that chy makes dayto day when he comes to with us I've worked with a few students now some students who uh may not be performing as well academically or struggling socially even behaviorally and having Chewy be a part of their lives offers them an opportunity a positive connection with the school he's got some friends there making a difference one wag at a [Music] time and we are so happy to have chewy and his Handler assistant superintendent of the Clifton School District Mark Ando here you saw him in the Peace Mark thank you for bringing this joy into our lives this morning all thank you for having us he's so calm you're just give him a bone he's been lying here so quietly the whole time he's going to show star a few tricks yeah exactly talk about the impact right it's not just this one school district now it's spreading uh well it's spreading just within our school district at this time uh we went through an army of one which is going to evolve right now immediately to an army of three uh with unanimous support of our Board of Education most importantly our superintend of schools uh with the end goal to have one therapy dog in every one of our 24 buildings and it's actually improving attendance right so you don't have to worry about attrition and kids you know having a hard time and they can from attendance look at this sweet boy human name attendance anxiety depression uh we work with him for social groups social skills things of that nature uh last year alone chy has visited over 300 classrooms events including football games cheer events he can come back anytime thank you so much for being here and thank you to chewy we'll be right back that's always a [Music] thank you very much Sam and again I'd have to give a shout out to uh Sam the rose for joining me on the adventure to New York City uh but last month I did reference the naysayers within our community some even within our own staff who do not necessarily support this initiative and suggest that this investment of the program is a waste of our resources I hope just based on that video and the Testaments from our students that they see how the positive impacts that this has on our students and our community as a whole I would be remiss if I did not take the moment to once again thank and recognize the Board of Education Commissioners Dr roboy and the vast majority of our one Clifton staff and community members for their unwavering support of this initiative we have done so much already with the best still yet to come uh but unfortunately specific to the analogy of Clifton's wild ride this past month uh there cannot be UPS on a roller coaster ride unless there are Downs just two days after being on top of the world after being having an appearance on the Today Show on Monday October 7th our district was Gravely impacted by the tragic news of two untimely passings Joel Martinez a CHS student and Jennifer Lucas one of the if not the most beloved principal this district has ever had to say that this was a low on our roller coaster ride it was devastating it would just be an understatement Joel Martinez was a beloved Son brother Uncle cousin and a friend who began his education in Clifton at school 17 continued at Christopher Columbus Middle School and most recently attended Clifton High School as a freshman tragically his time there was cut short as he was diagnosed with stage four cancer last December and after bravely battling the illness for nearly a year jel passed away on Sunday night October 6 at just 15 years old and despite the unfairness of his shortened life Joelle remained full of humor resilience never once allowing the cancer to break his Spirit he fought courageously always driven by his love for his friends and family uh losing a student at such a young age is something that one could never truly be prepared for and Jen this one's for you as a sports fan the loss of Jen on both a personal and professional level to me is compared to the loss of Tom Brady to the Patriots Derek Jeter to the Yankees and Michael Jordan to the Bulls she was our captain she was our MVP and while the Pats the Yanks and the Bulls have all moved on after losing their star player have even achieved some success these teams will just never be the same just as our one Clifton team will never be the same same without Jen over the past week There's been an outpouring of condolences newspaper articles social media posts and heartfelt stories from those who are closest to Jen and as the Acting Superintendent I had the unfortunate responsibility of sharing the news with our administrative team as well as the entire community and tonight I just wanted to share with our community the story that I shared with our team a story that I feel truly captures and reflects the caring loving person Jen was and how shall be be remembered I had the opportunity to speak with Jen just days prior to her passing enduring what would be our last phone call our conversation carried on with the usual warmth and familiarity despite her having labored breathing and shortness of breath and sometimes difficulties finishing sentences she never lost that sense of humor she laughed at every one of my poor dad jokes and even made some of her own we spoke about her health she gave me up updates on her treatments and daily procedures and was most thankful of the care that was provided to her on a daily basis by loved ones we spoke about the district most specifically how much she misses her students and her staff her colleagues we've talked about some of the changes that we wanted to do to the DC safety patrol trip and how she planned to continue to fight that good fight because she wanted nothing more than to come back we spoke about our personal lives our families our friends chewy even updates in Star Wars universe but what I remember most about that conversation is even in her current state of health she said to me Mark I'm worried about you I know that balancing two positions has been stressful and challenging are you okay and even with her end being only a few days away she continued to care and worry for others prioritizing their well-being over her own that's exactly who Jen Lucas was and should be remembered she was the embodiment of what it meant to be an educator in every sense of the word devoted compassionate and committed to inspiring others she didn't just teach from textbooks she imported life lessons that reach well beyond the classroom walls and in her passing I truly believe that she has left us with one final profound lesson and that's that life is too short so choose kindness cherish those around you and never take a single moment for granted because we never know when someone's time will come to an end and it is in that uncertainty that we are reminded of the importance of living fully appreciating each moment and treating others with love and compassion Jen's Legacy will live on not only in the minds of those she taught but in the hearts of everyone whose lives she touched the loss of Joelle and Jen represent the lowest and the scariest point of this clipton roller coaster ride it's that part where you want to get off the ride and just scream but however even in the lowest and most challenging point on the roller coaster ride we must recognize and embrace that the next climb is inevitable and that the highs become even more exhilarating After experiencing the lows referring back to the original quote life is like a roller coaster it has its ups and downs but it's your choice to scream or to enjoy the ride and this quote highlights the value of perspective resilience and positive attitude in facing life's uncertainties it shows that we have the power to choose how we respond to find Joy even in these challenges and hard times what we learn from the setbacks and in the Heartbreak and appreciate the lessons hidden within difficulties by maintaining a positive attitude individuals can navigate life's roller coaster with Grace and determination this quote reminds of that a uh us that life its unpredictability is a natural part of the human experience to appreciate the journeys that happens and encourages embracing both ups and downs and that's exactly what the students and the staff at both CHS and school to have done as I mentioned before losing a student and staff member is something you can never fully prepare for yet our students and staff chose to show and demonstrate incredible resilience continuing to move forward in the face of heartbreaking losses of Joelle and Jen because moving forward with with resilience is exactly what they would have wanted that's exactly what the students and staff at CHS and school 2 as well as the entire One Clip and learning community has done while always knowing deep down despite all of the Heartbreak our Clifton roller coaster ride will bring more UPS again in the future so on behalf of the entire one clipton learning community we extend our deepest condolences to the friends and families of Joel and Jen our hearts and thoughts are with everyone affected by their lost during this incredible difficult time May the Cherished Memories you hold bring you comfort and may you find strength in the love and support that surround you please know that we are here for you and there's anything we can do to provide support or assistance please do not re hesitate to reach out and finally I'd like to share that the staff at school 2 as well as members of the school Tu bur Community will be hosting a memorial vigil in honor of Jen on Wednesday October 30th at 6:30 p.m. at school 2 and that concludes this month's superintendent report thank you Mr jenero next up we have an overview of state and local assessments and District highlights by our assistant superintendent of curriculum Miss kusich good evening Commissioners ladies and gentlemen once again it is a pleasure to be here this evening to present to you data my least favorite part of these data presentations are the state mandatory reports but this one's a little more fun because we get to talk about our local data as well and that's where I really think that the proof in the pudding of what we're able to do in our one Clifton Community for our students lies this evening's presentation will have an overview of the mandatory reporting of State njsla student learning assessment the dlm which is the alternative assessment for our uh very small percentage of of our special needs students it is not for all of them our local assessment data and our district actions the njsla assessment is an assessment of language arts and math language arts grades 3-9 and math in grades 3 through 10 as well as end of course assessments for Algebra 1 geometry and Algebra 2 this assessment is measured on five levels from level one not yet meeting grade level expectations to level five exceeding grade level expectations this assessment called njsla was formerly known as the park assessment and then adjusted very slightly and renamed as the New Jersey student learning assessment as we can see here across all of our grade levels the vast majority of our students fall into levels 3 through five for language arts in mathematics the vast majority of our students also fall into levels 3 through 5 in Geometry it's 50/50 between level two and level four and we have our science scores where our students are spread across the levels the njsla assessment ments Encompass all students meaning students new to the country or special needs students in some of our more severe classes are represented in those total averages we are not allowed to remove those students to present you data without those students included so that is everyone we do have the dlm for only 1% of our special needs students the DM or dynamic learning map is a more Hands-On assessment administered to some of our most severe non-verbal classrooms and even if students do well on this assessment they only 1% can count can be counted towards proficiency under how the esa act measures school districts in 40 different areas in DM we again see our students at all grade levels from 3 through 8 and grade 11 how they perform but this is again a snapshot of 1% of our most severely uh needy special education students now we'll be moving on to our local assessment data starting in kindergarten which is the foundation of everything and that Foundation starts with foundations what we see here is our foundations program is a multi-sensory phonemic awareness and systematic multisensory phonemic awareness instruction program it is part of the Wilson Reading Intervention which many of our families ask for for students who have dyslexia we utilize foundations as the foundational core for teaching reading in grades K through three and we can see here on the right on the left hand side of the page that our students in grade K in foundations have gone from 40% proficiency to 82% by the end of the year thanks to our teachers diligently implementing this program with Fidelity it is a short 30 minute block every day of the week providing systematic phonemic instruction to develop reading skills we do modify it slightly for our English language learners but this goes across the board for all of our students we then give double doses for students in basic skills on occasion and double doses on a regular basis for many of our special needs students to support their reading and literacy development on the right hand side of the page we see the growth of our students in other major markers of literacy which include high frequency trick wordss rhyming words and letter naming fluency now we have the same data for first grade looking at our first grade literacy card as well as the foundations data and what we see is that based on our basic literacy skills which include phonemic awareness phonics vocabulary reading fluency and comprehension our students show growth from the beginning to end of the year and we look at their guided reading levels where our most of our students average out around the level of B at the beginning of the year increasing to level F by the end of the school year and once again on the right hand side we see the growth in from foundations from 55% proficiency at grade level to 82% by the end of the year and in second and third grade we see the same growth through the use of Foundations which is that Wilson based intervention very similar to Orton Gillingham our star reading summary shows growth typical growth from year to year this is now comparing students in 2223 to students in 23 24 but we see that they're maintaining a high level with a slight increase year-to-year and we see that same unified score increase in Star reading which is our online measurement of student reading proficiency from grades three through five from the light purple to to the dark purple that steady line of growth across and in grades 6 through 8 a similar visual display of that data as relevant to sixth through e8th graders in literacy we try to balance paper and pencil literacy with technology in ker 2 our students use Raz kids to read books online and improve their fluency in grades 2 to 8 we have Mayan reader and Accelerated Reader as well as the full AR 360 platform this year students in 22 23 to 24 school year arcade 8 students read 46,7 194 books that was a 37,1 75 book increase from the previous year these are paper books online books It's a combination of all books but one of the things that really pushed this initiative was our book vending machines thanks to grant funding and support from the board we've been able to put book vending machines into every Elementary School including the Calas and those vending machines are used as an incentive to get paper books into children's hands and the number of paper books that that children go after in those book vending machines is just astounding so I've just reviewed our major data literacy highlights our literacy highlights in technology and then we have our teacher supports to help our teachers be most successful and efficient with their use of time the day is short and there's so much to accomplish particularly in the area of literacy so we have our language arts supervisor working with a team of literacy coaches going around providing support to help teachers cut away the things that might not be quite as effective and really hone in their strategies to support our students and maximize the learning time that we do have this is our book circulation in our media centers in Middle um both high school and middle school there was an increase in book circulation now you just heard about that huge increase in Reading both online as well as in those books that kids were setting goals to win from the book vending machines we did have a decrease in our media center circulation in the elementary schools so the media uh media Specialists are going to be using um various techniques to get more books in hands that are borrowed but the exciting part is that our overall amount of reading has increased because kids were getting those books to take home with them and keep out of the the vending machines at the high school level we measure our growth primarily focused on the writing standard and from year to year in English one students went from n 91% of our students passed with a 7day or higher in the following school year our writing quarterly average was 87% of our students um passing with a65 or higher in 10th Grade we went from 90% of our students passing with a 70 or higher to 92% passing with a 65 or higher this is reflective of the shift in our grading policy so comparing our prev the year where 70 was the minimum passing grade to the 65 being a minimum passing grade is not exactly an apples to oranges comparison it's a little off because our grading scale changed and in 11th grade we see the same 90% passing with the 70 or higher in their writing areas um in 2223 to 97% with a 65 or higher in 12th grade 98% to 97% and our major highlight is that we exceeded the state average both on the NJ SLA and NJ GPA in English language arts and here we just have an illustration of those um um writing quarterly scores that we just discussed on the previous slides language arts takes up the largest amount of our curriculum but then we have math the other cor Corner pillar of our instruction what we see here are kindergarten through fifth grade local assessment data from the light green to the yellow that is our district placement to our district post test these are local assessments developed by teams of teachers which then get loaded into the linkit platform these are assessments based on what we are teaching in our schools the placement test challenges them to see where they are in what we're going to be learning and the post Test shows where they got um and then we at some grade levels we also have the endof year test but the growth that we're looking at is from the light green to the yellow and across the board our students showed growth our main focus this past year was also honing in instruction onto teacher-led small groups and small group stations for students to practice their learning here we have a multi-year growth and even with multi-year grade by grade where we're comparing different students each year we have seen growth from 2021 through 2324 before but again on our local data and now we're looking at the quarterlies for grade 6 through 8 here we have the same thing with our district placement test in the light green our students in 6 through 8 all have significant growth up through the marking period four quarterly which is the blue so here we're comparing the light green to the dark blue and you can see the growth trajectory for grade six grade six resource room and then grade seven and eight accelerated our biggest highlight in math was that thanks to Esser funding which unfortunately has expired we were able to add the touch math multisensory math program to most of our self-contained llds lldm and er special education classes um we were able to do some expansions um not just of Imagine math but also utilizing roboy in grades 2 through eight which is a handson robotics program that our students really enjoy and in math we also have our math coaches who go around helping to support our teachers math is a challenging one not all of us come out of school as strong mathematicians I am one of them and having our coaches work with our teachers teachers we have some amazing mathematical genius teachers and they're growing some really great mathematician students our main highlights in K to8 are in number recognition the basic two digit functions of adding subtracting multiplying dividing proportional relationships finding Solutions the more challenging areas that we're still focusing on are multi-step word problems performance four operations with fractions I think we all hate fractions multi- select and multi-response questions those are a challenge and that is one of the core pieces of the njsla because students have to learn to deal with that ambiguity at the high school we had um 54% of our students pass the algebra 1 quarterly um in marking period one growing to 60 um to 6 3% in marking period 3 in Geometry we went from 69% down to 43% geometry is um showing itself to be a challenge and we are going to be putting in uh to place multiple different um initiatives in order to address geometry in Algebra 2 we do we're back to our usual growth 75% passing in marking period 1 to 88% passing in marking period 3 and here we have a visual with the showing that growth from the green I'm sorry from the Navy to the Green in Algebra 1 and in Algebra 2 with that dip that was just mentioned for geometry again we had an eser based highlight that was supporting our students that unfortunately has now come to an end and that was the um almost unlimited free after school in-person and online tutoring that was available 5 days a week for our students in math from Algebra 1 through calculus um we have eliminated our tutor.com online program which was being funded through Esser we are still maintaining the Afterschool tutoring but we have gone down from 5 days a week to three um our AP students 78.9% of them scored a three or a higher on the computer science AP and 42% 42.9 score to three or higher on the computer science a in calculus 42.5 score to three or higher on the calculus ABB test and our njsla scores did exceed the state growth and now we're looking at imagine math imagine math is our online adaptive program that does correlate with our um state test scores and provides student growth and and support online it's adaptive it's gamified so unlike older worksheet based online programs this one does engage our students a little more but it can sometimes lead to frustration because we look at multiple different Pathways there are the pathways that can get assigned to a student that follow what they're doing in their um pacing guide in their classroom but there are also challenge Pathways and Remediation pathways and sometimes students are selecting Pathways where they really need to work with their teacher to identify the correct Pathway to work in so that they are getting the most um support without too much frustration overall our students grew from each Benchmark across the year with our highest growth in grade five um and I'm sorry with our kindergarten being the highest growth with 254 points of growth but we see this growth trajectory on that bottom line with the navy blue showing growth through grade8 Algebra 1 and geometry is a bit lower because students are T kind of tired of the program by high school we are replacing imagine math in grades 10 in um algebra and geometry this year we're piloting a new program um for those high school students in terms of online lessons and our students K through 12 completed 32,8 75 imagine math lessons completing 12 m941 22 problems our students in grades 3 through 12 utilized the online tutor who's a live teacher that they can access when they're in Imagine math they can help them with an imagine question or a homework question 4,200 23 times and our students utilizing the gamified mode earned over half a million tokens in grade K through 2 and in grades three plus they earned 2,466 th000 points um we were a leader in donating to charity because those points can be donate can be converted either to gamify their Avatar and buy bling for their avatar on screen or donate to charity well Clifton kids chose to donate those points to charity Now we move to science in biology we're looking at our high school scores um our marking period 1 went from 72 to marking period 3 77% proficiency um and for biology honors 71 to 76% Proficiency in chemistry we went from 76 7 to 70% and 82 to 81 in chemistry honors and in physics 67 to 69% and 94 to 97% for physics honors our science highlights were that our mechanical Mustangs finished third at the first midatlantic district Championship they qualified for and attended the World Championship where they did make it to the quarterfinals 15 out of 20 of our um students who took the biology AP scored a three or better um that is we exceed the global average um for AP performance in a three or better and six out of 10 score to three are better in AP environmental science once again exceeding both the New Jersey and the global average and our advanced placement physics students um this is an ad this is an add-on this year this is our first year this 2425 school year where we'll be taking the AP Physics Exam so sit tight for those exciting results next year now we move in to world history in world history from marking period 1 to marking period 3 we went from 85% test score average to a 71% test score average in American history 1 we we went from a 69% average to 73% and American History 2 from 66% to 82% our social studies highlights are that our Clifton mock trial team won the state championship that's really amazing that's something really good in football as Mr jaro would say but I am not quite sure I guess the something top of top the top of the top okay there we go this is our we hit we hit that state championship n um National History Day at National History Day at monor University three of our students presented very compelling topics on civil rights um and the uh two different Civil War topics they really need deserve recognition although we were not um top scorers the depth and breadth of what our students did was just beyond students um Andy chapello Anthony Rosario um received accolades from the New Jersey Civil War Round Table um and our team hosted the third annual CHS History Fair in terms of AP once again here AP US History results 93.5 of% of our students scored three or higher exceeded the New Jersey and Global averages in AP psychology 71.7% of our students scored a three or higher also exceeding the New Jersey and Global averages and an AP US Government and politics 100% of our students score to three or higher also exceeding the New Jersey and Global averages so what are we doing to support and improve instruction in those areas where we may need to grow and to maintain the areas where we are the strongest we utilize all of the data that you just saw to drive classroom instruction what we see in our data impacts our pacing every year which then impacts our local assessments we provide before and after school programs and summer school using various forms of St um State funding Federal funding and an after school Pro homework that is provided by the district unfortunately thanks to the expiration of Esser there will be fewer of these programs this this year and this coming summer but we're trying to maximize them by holding them on the most popular days ensuring that we're targeting the groups that need them the most um we have been up till now providing both inperson and online tutoring we do still have the online tutoring feature within our imagine math program um and we do provide some virtual tutoring for our students who cannot attend things like our elll tutoring up at the high school um as well as we're running out the end of the um high-intensity tutoring Grant where we have about 200 students receiving 3 days a week of online tutoring um through the month of January um and then that Grant will ran out that was also an Sesser funded Grant it was a separate Grant from eser that we received uh we're focusing on writing to maintain student progress and we're really prioritizing hands-ons and small group learning leveraging our Google classrooms and really the key piece is supporting mental health um this year we have fully integrated taken the first steps to fully integrate our PBIS and inrs programs into a full multi-tiered system of support so that we can be really addressing our students behavioral academic and social emotional needs we continue to prioritize um student mental health our students are still experiencing the co challenges will probably never fully go away but the bigger issue is that all of the screen time that our students have has made changes in their brains we have severe increases in student disregulation so it's really important for our teachers our counselors our support staff to help teachers learn to manage their emotions manage frustration and really focus on their social emotional well-being um we did thanks to this board's foresite U be able to keep the additional math and reading instructional supports as well as the additional counseling supports that we were able to add through Esser we were able to incorporate that into the current budget to keep that grow going um we continue to extend our specialized programs such as our IMPACT Program um for our 18 to 21 year olds um and we are looking at expanding our Twilight Alternative Program um as well as our Aspire Alternative Program which is our daytime Alternative Program we're going to be adding a small component of general education students to that after school Twilight program as well this year so we continue to do good things and it's really thanks to this board's support um and the careful um and Target budgeting so thank you very much for all of that um and that is all oh nope I'm so sorry um our counseling Focus forgive me I I didn't mean to skip over that but I think I covered the majority of that all of the counseling supports that we were able to do including the external Services as well as internal Services we continue to do because our students just need it so much um the virtual caling room is still out there there but one of the other pieces that we were able to do together with counseling and academics was um put calming Corners in every single preschool through third grade classroom as well as every single self-contained special ed classroom and um adaptive Furniture which is alternative seating bean bags CS other ways that children can express their movement and still be able to stay focused on what's going on in class and we've done that in every classroom in grades three through five um so that counseling social emotional and academics go hand inand for our Student Success thank you ladies and gentlemen thank you Miss kusich for that very comprehensive overview uh open up to the board for any questions of commissioner Suarez thank you president Paris thank you so much uh Janina I so appreciate um this important information and I just um to reiterate that to reiterate the highlights of growth uh especially in literacy uh for so many grades and um so thank you and to the Educators who are making that happen I have a question I'm just curious if you can provide some insight about the um njsla science cuz I noticed that the majority of students were in levels um one and two for grades 58 and 11 um if you can perhaps provide some insight as to why that is um so let the community know please yeah over the last two years the test has completely changed and at the same time we have added a completely different SC Hands-On science program that we're rolling out the first year of that program was kind of fraught with supply chain issues um and we only last year started with a science coach to help to go around and really help teachers incorporate and Implement that Hands-On program um our day is also very full the science um standards and the Hands-On Science assessment shifted as the hand the Science assessment shifted to more conceptual Concepts um and a lot of our science and social studies especially at the primary grades is really Incorporated in literacy which stemmed from the Common Core which then became the New Jersey student student learning standards and with a focus on the language of Science of so of social studies of technical subjects so it's more of a non-fiction literacy approach and we need to be shifting and finding time to add more of that Hands-On conceptual approach we do have the kits and the trainers and we're slowly rolling that out um but that's one that's going to be a challenge because for for many many many years when that assessment was more literacy bed based we were at the top that was always our highest scoring area so this is a shift in in the testing system thank you so much that's really helpful um and and please I'm only asking questions about the gaps that I see because I also want to highlight because you you shared so many great things um when I was looking at the nth grade English and language arts um and I understand that there was a minimum of 70 or higher for 2022 22 to 23 um whereas 65 are higher for passing for 23 24 yet there was a decrease in passing um what were if you can also provide some insight around so again we changed as I mentioned um in the presentation we did change the grading scale so changing a grading scale doesn't just mean that now whatever was a 6 whatever was a 70 now becomes a 65 it means that teachers have to rethink how they're um what they're scoring and how they're scoring it it's not just drop ing that level so that change in grading scale you really can't compare those two years we're doing that because it's the only data we have um but the comparison is something that you know this year you'll be comparing the same baseline from the beginning of the from last year to this year and from the beginning of this year to the end of this year thank you that's all I have back to Danny um so thank you Janina for that really comprehensive um data analys analysis and I did want to say that um that is a challenge um for a few districts that I know in speaking to some supervisors that when they do change the testing that is true because you're specifically focusing to try to work on certain skills I mean I hate to sort of say teaching to the test but in some ways it is and you're focusing on those skills because of course you're looking at the data and so you're looking at the standards so you are focusing to those standards and then I do know that when they change that it does really throw a lot of things off so um I understand that and again thank you for your um real comprehensive data review as you always do thank you and I have to say it's really important to focus more on the instruction and literacy is that Cornerstone in elementary school we will rise to the challenge of the new assessments but our teachers our elementary school teachers work so hard all of our teachers do all of our staff does but our elementary teachers in particular have to really master all the content areas manage the entire day and we've been changing our schedule um a couple of times over the last few years plus they had Co to deal with so there really our Focus has been on maintaining those literacy math and social emotional needs um while learning about the science and social studies um you know as an assistant superintendent of curricula I should be in instruction I should be talking about how great test scores are I don't think that standardized tests are the only measure and too many people look at that one day that one point in time as the defining statement about what our students are capable of doing as the defining measure of a school district and that's absolutely not true those those St those tests come from federal um laws and federal agendas not from a place of true pedagogy instruction and what's best for kids [Music] commiss Bas thank you thank you very much for a very comprehensive report uh what role can the parents and the Guardians play in helping their students improve in their performance on these assessments read read read read to your children read to your children with your children have your children read to you make reading and literacy more important in your household than that little rectangular screen and it's okay if you're reading the Kindle app on that little screen but it should be reading reading reading take your kids to do fun things talk to your children listen to their answers respond to their answers respond to those thousands of questions and try to provide them a little Nook a corner a special chair a place where they can do their homework maybe it's a little tent that you just put a drape your apartment is small you drape over your kitchen table and now they have their little learning tent underneath but make a corner a spot someplace that's their special Learning Place it might be in their bed with a special learning pillow that they just put their books down upon but we want to have our children have a specific place where they can sit and do their homework as calmly as possible and we do minimize our homework but the read read read read should be a daily thing thank you uh commissioner Brak thank you Mr President geometry is is that mandatory is that mandatory to graduate from high school you need to have um the three maths to graduate from high school it doesn't necessarily have to be passing the geometry um but you do need to take an assessment all the way through 10th grade and it can be Algebra 1 Algebra 2 or geometry the disparity is pretty significant so even with a 65 or better it's saying 43% in mp 3 is that right 43% In Mp3 so I I was just concerned but again looking at you remember we did have that shift in our grading scale at the same time um our Focus has been on algebra algebra is the one you absolutely positively have to have to graduate from high school your second your other maths can be any other math geometry needs to become a focus um as much as algebra but non-mandatory thank you very much any other yes commissioner me here so I love how we did bring that up because I recently had a professional development where we talked about the shifting of grading P um policies and passing grades can you briefly explain to the general public what the positives and benefits are of our shifting from 70 to 65 um so over the years we have had this conversation um the most recent I think was when Mr HDA really worked um the high school principal worked with his staff um the majority of the districts in the state of New Jersey have a 60 or a 65 as their minimum passing grade Clifton has had a 70 as the minimum passing grade for and we're only one of a handful of the 600 districts in the state it's maybe a dozen that had that 70 what that did is it gave it put our students on an uneven playing field because a student would come from another District come here they'd be passing at a 65 but now all of a sudden they're failing because our is a 70 it was an undue burden on our students because that grade you still have a bell curve of performance and most colleges also fall in that 60 to 70 range so the 70 was giving an undue burden on our students this helps our students feel that they can succeed it gives them the opportunity to be kids and still pass a course and it helps overall with just our passing rates as a district it's not to pass kids on it's to help kids show what they can do in a way that everyone else around them is doing it instead of making them feel that they are failures because they may have experienced a few more challenges thank you very much and I believe if I'm not mistaken um there there are also impacts in their ability to get scholarships and that colleges do adjust for what your minimum passing grade is so this is this all by lowering that passing grade that also put our students in a better competitive line with um attaining certain College scholarships that's beautiful thank you so much anyone else oh commissioner kova um you mentioned the the tutoring in grades 9 to 12 was going to be available because we were sunting some sort of funding um do we have anything available for K to8 so every school has some small amount of an after school homework program um we only have our own pool of teachers to tap for that um so in the schools you know every school has at least a few people after school available for tutoring um from Tuesdays through Thursdays you're going to actually see names showing up on the agenda now this is something that we're without in the absence of the eser funding we do need to um you know reduce the number of days and reduce the number of weeks so we're starting you're seeing names showing up now and the tutoring will go on after school through um April or May depending on how many students are taking advantage of it how many teachers are doing it at each school um in most cases K to2 that's too long to stay after school it's not necessarily going to help that primary grade child it's already a long day and then staying after for another hour is not necessarily going to reap gains 3 through five you'll have a little better um for certain students a few times a week 6 through 12 is where you really will would see the most bang for your book because they're just their stamina their attention is just a little greater than those primary grades um and I saw the recommended areas are Focus now is that something that gets attacked this year or is that something we put into the R into the curc so this was the data from last year we're looking at last year's data because we're also looking at last year's njsla scores so that local data was already looked at by our curriculum teams this summer so when they made adjustments for pacing for this year for September they made adjustments for the areas of need and the areas of strength um in both pacing minor changes in pacing as well as um in our benchmark assessments particularly for language arts and for Math and in language arts our teachers learn about that especially at the elementary level and the Middle School level and what they what it's called the teacher read first memos um and the content supervisors give these memorandum to our teachers to read at the beginning of the year hey we got rid of this don't do this anymore but add more of this this is our Focus you know really dive in we know your day is full so these are your non-negotiables for example in a primary grade classroom your non-negotiables every single day are foundations your math program and something that we called Second Step which helps teach students how to regulate their emotions those are the non-negotiables in the curriculum that comes from our data and those adjustments are made over the summer on those long lists of curriculum people working in the summer and throughout the school year that you see on the agenda now you also mentioned that um the students are doing very very well with programs where there's gamification um I'm assuming because that's where they use it they play games all the time um but has there been any thought giving into integrating that into the teaching method methodology and structure in class and somehow gamify the classroom for those desired so a lot of our teachers do things like jeopardy games and all kinds of classroom incentives at the same time we're trying to balance both online and Screen learning with paper pencil speaking back and forth lecturing style learning small group centers and so forth centers appear like a game um so we do some of that but we also need to be training our students to be able to function in a world that where not everything is a game so it's it's a it's a difficult balance um and sometimes we do better at it than other [Music] times okay thank you okay um thank you very much uh Miss kusich for again very comprehensive report and uh some great plans for our future thank you for your time and hard work putting that together for us and thank you for your support of the whole curriculum Team all of our supervisors teachers Paras everybody from in the entire District we can't do it without you it takes all of us to do this thank you [Applause] I'm unless there's some disagreement from my colleagues I'm going to do a little change in the agenda because it's getting late and we do like to try to get the public recognition part at least done by 8 o'clock or so so unless there's any great opposition I'd like to move um uh to uh public rec recognition to our next slot over and we'll do board committee reports after that then so can we start with online there's no one in the virtual waiting room motion to close second there's no one you said no one okay uh so motion by commissioner Brak second by commissioner canol well commission M I'm sorry um now we like to open up to the public that's here does anyone like to speak please uh approach the podium oh I do have something to say I'm sorry I forgot a very important thing um this portion of the meeting is open to the residents and non-residents of Clifton for the purpose of addressing any subject matter pertinent to and or directly related to the operation of the Clifton Public School District residents and non-residents are requested to sign the register provided for this purpose and to State their names addresses and subject matter comments are limited to five minutes per person issues raised by members of the public may or may not be responded to by the board all comments will be considered and response will be forthcoming if and when appropriate the board ask that members of the public be courteous and mindful the rights of other individuals when speaking specifically comments regarding students and employees of the board board are discouraged and will not be responded to by the board students and employees have specific legal rights supported by the laws of New Jersey the board Bears no responsibility nor will it be liable for any comments made by members of the public members of the public should consider their comments in light of the legal rights of those affected who are identified in their comments and may be aware and be aware that they are legally responsible and liable for their comments would anyone like to approach the podium this evening good evening board board president Paris board members and the one Clifton Community my name is Ed Hernandez from Wayne New Jersey at 7 Bonita Terrace Wayne New Jersey 07470 and I would like to take this opportunity to speak about someone I'm proud to call it a friend and a colleague Judith B bassford who is running for re-election for the uh fifth time here in Clifton as the owner of a compliance organization I first C crossed paths with the Judith several years ago and became clear that we share a common passion helping people improve their lives Judith was instrumental in assisting me with the school related issue involving my son and from that moment our friendship blossom in fact I was so impressed by her dedication and integrity that I let her I later hired her to work with my com at my company since then I've closely followed Judith's involvement with the Clifton Board of Education and what stands out the most about her is that she never takes an easy path her commitment to what she believes in is unwavering even if it's something sometimes means being being misunderstood judah's passion combined with her Decades of experience in education governance and Community advocacy makes her an ex exceptional leader she has not only served the Clifton Board of Education but also the pay County School boards Association giving her a deep understanding of the challenges faced by public schools her dedication to special needs advocacy and public education is demonstrated through her long-standing service and the numerous Awards She's received including the highly respected njsba School Board member of the Year congratulations with Judith's extensive background in administration leadership and compliance she is well prepared to tackle the most pressing issues in our schools her ability to support and Mentor others coupled with her strong ties to the Clifton Community make makes her the ideal candidate to Foster unity and create and create positive change a vote for Judith bassford is a vote for someone who will always prioritize the needs of students families and the community thank you thank you just to quickly add really quick she stepped up to the plate when I needed someone my son was actually bullied in my own County she didn't have to do that she stepped in and I I will always thank you for that because we just moved into the area we didn't know anyone and she just went in all the way so my son is performing at a very high level his confidence is up and he actually playing football at this time he's doing things that I would never think he was going to do so thank you Judith for stepping in so thank you board thank you president thank you thank you sir anyone else wish to approach the podium this evening forgive me I'm going over five minutes Zane jaim hackbury Place Clifton but tonight I claiming my residence as school too Mr jgo thank you for your heartfelt words to say it's been a rough start to the school year at school 2 is an understatement October 7th 2024 will forever be a sad and painful day to remember we are all still grieving in different ways and at different times of the day every event at school this year we will be feeling the void left by the passing of our princip Jen Lucas we would be remiss if we didn't first thank Central Administration for their intentions and support for us during this time we recognize that this has never happened in the clipon district no acting president has P principal sorry has passed away during a school year school leaders were making decisions on the Fly and we know that but it made it a little bit confusing on that Monday when chewy Teddy and Cody Kobe came to visit us that same day the children did not know what was going on and they were thrilled to see not one not two but three dogs in the school and yes we've got to pet them bringing a brief smile to our faces but the students had no idea why they were visiting and when the dogs left we were left with the task of reigning in a bunch of very excited students not something we could handle that day I think it's S Fair to say that elementary teachers use different teaching styles than middle and high school teachers we are their second parents we Comfort we nurture and we speak to students differently last Monday after we were told the devastating news and it was a gut punch because we did not know the severity of Jen's health so it truly came as a shock we were only given until 9:00 a.m. to stay in the teachers room to process and pull ourselves together then we had to put our game faces on and return to our classrooms with the children at that moment it would have been best to send in as many Subs supervisors andary staff to cover us for the classroom in the rush to provide the much needed emotional support an opportunity was missed to balance the faculty's needs with those of the students who were still unaware on that day ironically 10 years ago today Peter salano stood in our teachers room to console The Faculty at school 2 over the passing of our colleague Diane Gala again we were given a brief time and then told to gather our students and return back to work I don't wish this scenario on any school or anyone and we know that every situation will be different but please keep this in mind and have some foresight God forbid if this ever happens again the next day October 8th after the parents were notified and the News was shared with their children the dogs were a welcome sight to the students they along with the counselors who roamed around doing check-ins offered support and tried to comfort Us in dealing with our new reality again it was difficult to express our true emotions with the counselors in front of a class of young minds waiting for us to finish our conversations and also listening in on our conversations that day our death was present for the students we were focused and we were dealing with the emotions of those children while we still were trying to cope with the loss of one of our own the internal pain continued yet we handled those hard questions and we suppressed the grief we knew that the counselors were there after hours and available for us but by the end of the day everyone was so drained we just wanted to go home ganina we want to thank you for coming to school on Wednesday and addressing the staff Jen always respected you thank you for sitting in the faculty room with us looking Us in the eye and just listening to us thank you for explaining that you too were not aware of the severity of Jen's health and that you only found out the news after us while the grief within our school community felt overwhelming so too has the outpouring of support from all over the district we would like to thank the other elementary schools that reached out to us to Erin zamura and Helen uh Heather Rolo who came in and walked into our classrooms and said how are you to the maintenance department that visited us and went into Jen's office and had a moment of silence the sympathy cards from the patrols from other elementary schools you touched our hearts it's a true Testament to what a wonderful person Jen was and how she touched so many lives we need a couple of personal shoutouts first and foremost to our nurse Dawn and our school counselor Lisa heiner as trusted friends to Jen they truly absorbed the emotional shock firsthand Jen's wishes were to keep her health quiet and she did not want to be the father of gossip as difficult as it was they honored her wishes and we pestered them we were all over them looking for pieces of information although in reality it I think it was just pieces of hope that we were looking for how they held it together is beyond me they were true friends to the end and thank you da and Lisa for being there for Jen Lisa Hiner thank you for being being our personal grief counselor you were there for us you had resources available for us and you had two loving arms to hug us to Janet colano what can I say about this woman on Monday when she heard the news she paused her day and drove straight over to school too she came out of retirement to help us out and to support us We Are Forever grateful for her presence and could never reciprocate the kindness that she has displayed to us humbly all she has said is just be kind to each other and support each other and that is what we're trying to do but our unsung hero in all of this has been our assistant principal magar rotillo the other night when I was trying to find some comfort in my memories I scrolled through all of my text messes mesages with Jen they were kind of long but they brought both they brought both smiles and tears we always texted each other during board meetings as I was scrolling I came across the text last year on the night that Maggie was appointed and it was simple yet meaningful I'm so glad Maggie is joining us the courage that Maggie summoned to face all of us in the faculty room is to be acknowledged her leadership her Poise her professionalism and her compassion was clearly demonstrated to anyone who entered the building although she was personally grieving through all of this she demonstrated strength as she dealt with every phone call from administrators the parents Jen's family and US teachers as people in the district were finding out the news some were coming over to express their condolences Maggie greeted all of them on top of everything else let's run a school shall we we have told her privately that she is doing an amazing job but we wanted to say it publicly as well I've heard her say to other teachers what can I do for you what do you need overnight she secretly went into all the rooms and placed extra boxes of tissues on all of her her desks just keep doing what you're doing Maggie is what we are saying to her she has also said I'm not Jen and I could never be Jen no one could ever be Jen Lucas she was one in a million I'm sorry but how fortunate for Maggie that she has had the opportunity to work and learn from Jen and who better to carry on Jen's work at school to and continue her Legacy i' like to finish with this Jen had repeated Expressions she would say listen it's for the kids it is what it is we do great things here be kind to each other and lately it was give each other Grace you may not know what someone else is going through she did just that for us we are asking the same from you this year please give us Grace as we navigate through this year without our beloved Miss Lucas but with Mrs W at the helm thank you for your time I'm sorry I went over thank you good evening everybody first of all I'd also like to give my deepest condolences to the families and friends of those impacted by the loss members of our community it's a true tragedy and true loss to the district this is the last Board of Education meeting before the upcoming general election so I'll take this time to Showcase my candidacy to those watching and to the citizens at home who will hopefully I hope vote on November 5th my name is Elias ragdale I'm number four on the ballot this November and I'm running to be a part of this Clifton Board of Education for the past three years I've served as Clifton student Union's president and in that role I worked with the administration and this board on numerous issues and initiatives um a little bit more about myself I'm involved with the town I'm on the civil rights committee up I'm a part of Clifton against substance abuse I am a lifelong member and volunteer with the Clifton Boys and Girls Club um and I'm ready to take this step up to serve my community I started at Clifton School number five and ended in June actually at Clifton High School I'm running for the Board of Education because of a deep genuine love for this city I believe that any Community is built on the foundation of its school system and the school system of today will determine the future of Clifton I want to work to keep schools number one in Clifton and I think that the Board of Education could use new ideas Young Voices new voices forward initiative thinking and my unique perspective that's one of also of the reasons I'm running for the Board of Education because being so recently from the high school I think I can bring that unique valuable experience to this board of education being so young but experienced I have actually been a part of many of the programs and initiatives this board has taken recently I have a genuine passion to serve at this high level and I hope that the community will help me to do that on November 5th you have three votes for the board of education do not forget that there will be early voting at the main library and of course on November 5th polls are open between 6:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. once again I'm motivated and I believe that the school systems of today determine the Clifton of tomorrow and I hope that the community will trust me to be a part of this positive mission to keep our schools number one my name is Elias Raga once again I'm number four on the ballot you can reach me on social media at simply my name and I'd be happy to speak with anyone thank you so much thank you li thank you see uh first off my condolences uh on behalf of myself and those on my side of the avenue on your terrible losses that uh it's clearly the Imp Miss Lucas had and um just sorry um I'm Chris tomato I'm an actor writer podcaster with 15 years experience in media and communication and for the past eight months it's been the privilege of my life to serve Clifton as a city council member for those who may be watching unfamiliar with me I ran for Council in 22 and uh I was unanimously appointed by our current Council to fill councilwoman Lauren Murphy's seat after her tragic passing earlier this year and I'm currently running in this upcoming election on November 5th to keep the seat for the next 2 years and to finish out the term to the parents out there watching I'm proud to join in your ranks I am a new parent myself this past June my incredible wife Lily and I became firsttime parents to a healthy vibrant and beautiful baby boy named s and becoming parents to little baby s was the single best thing that's ever happened to Lily and I it's made our lives better in every conceivable respect with the exception of our sleep it was difficult to make the decision to run for office because I knew the baby would change everything those precious moments playing on the floor with him holding him reading to him teaching him about his toys and the rooms in our house feeling the warmth of his first smile and uh absorbing that magical moment a few weeks into his life when he looked up at me with his big beautiful blue eyes I could tell for the first time that he wasn't seeing a shapeless blur but he saw me his dad looking at back at him with love and he knew in his little growing brain that I was his dad and he was my son all those precious moments and so many more what kind of deranged psychopath would want to run for office when I could have more time to spend with this beautiful boy if I simply stepped aside I'm here because I'm the only candidate in this year's race who will have a child going through this school system in the not too distant future school is a critical piece of our intricate Municipal tapestry for every child in Clifton it's why all of this exists it's why all of you are up here but for the other two-thirds of a child's life outside of the classroom is spent at home that home is in the city of Clifton the great words of the playwright Arthur Miller who has so much wisdom to share with us in uh the play All My Sons a character tells his mother there's a universe of people out there and you're responsible to it I'm not a career politician I'm not looking to climb the ranks to a county seat or the state legislature I'm a Clifton guy through and through I chose Clifton to plant roots buy our home raise my family my being on Counsel is a privilege one I cannot take lightly or for granted and I started asking myself what kind of city do I want s to grow up in to go to school in when s isn't in school should he be afraid his house is going to flood do I want him scared living in a place where home invasions are on the rise do I demand the absolute best from my city and School District in terms of proactive communication so that we know what's happening we know when roads are closed we know when there's an emergency doesn't every family deserve the comfort and dignity of knowing they're able to raise their family in a place that is safe vibrant and proactive if you don't know me you still have time to get to learn what I'm about before November 5th you can reach me at Chris for Clifton gmail.com or call or text at 201448 7963 but even if I haven't yet earned the benefit of your trust I ask you to trust in a father's undying love that is my North Star and it is driving me to make Clifton a great place to raise my family and for you to raise yours to the students and children watching tonight you deserve the best from your leaders and you haven't been getting it you deserve individuals who lead by example treat their colleagues and constituents with respect and who will listen to you even if you're too young to vote thoron Wilder once said deep down there's something Eternal about every human being that something Eternal is your voice all the unique and special qualities that have combined within you that make you who you are you and your families are vital and important pieces of our diverse City Fabric and your voice matters if there's one thing I've learned in my short Journey on Council so far it's that every decision you make in life will make your community better or worse so don't ever tell yourself that you don't matter we are one Clifton all connected Bound by Community respect and love and I hope everyone out there will consider giving me a shot at a full term to finish the work I've started I look forward to getting to know more of you regardless of how the election pans out because I'm very proud and excited for my son s to be a Mustang God bless you and your families don't ever hesitate to reach out Chris tomato number four on the ballot thank thank you good evening it's nice to be back here at the mic so I've been a teacher for 41 years so I'm also a union leader but I'm concerned and I really want to thank Mark for standing up uh against the high school by I learn because they're a very notorious charter school so the other concern that I have is Project 2025 it proposes significant changes to public education I am extremely concerned project 2025 supports policies to expand school choice options such as private school vouchers and charter school funding this approach will divert funds away from traditional Public Schools like the great School here in Clifton this this will exacerbate resources and disparities here resources may be redirected from public schools which serve as a diverse student population potentially exacerbating inequities in the education system we have already spent $25 million out of our budget for charter schools here in Clifton and if that other high school that we're fighting against 6.3 million that's going to be 10% of our budget who's going to lose our students here it'll also be the end of the Department of Education which will limit the federal government government's influence over local schools and lead to inconsistencies in educational standards across the states project 2025 includes recommendations for revamping curriculum standards by limiting certain topics such as diversity Equity inclusion this could limit discussions around important social issues and somewh it may exclude essential parts of our American history or contemporary issues potential uh politics of education project 2025 outlines policies that increase political influence over education let's remember Betsy DeVos with proposals to reshape curriculum and teaching materials this might shift the focus from student centered learning evidence-based instruction to more ideologically driven content potentially limiting academic free Freedom limitations on the teacher autonomy it includes suggestions for increased oversight on what and how teachers can teach along with potential for stricter regulations on classroom discussions this raises concerns that teachers professional judgment could be compromised hindering their ability to create inclusive and responsive learning environments what's also troubling is that vouchers undermine accountability to parents and taxpayers as you know private and for-profit schools that receive taxpayer funding also um the teachers have no autonomy on how they operate they can pick and choose which students they want which students they'll turn away excuse me these schools don't have to follow academic standards their teachers don't have to be certified they don't have to hire qualified teachers and they don't have to disclose financial decisions to the public protecting public education in the United States is essential to ensure equal access to Quality learning opportunities for all of our students regardless of background or socioeconomic status public schools are a Cornerstone of our democracy cultivating informed engaged citizens who contribute to our society they help bridge economic and social divides by offering a free education that provides Foundation skills and knowledge to all public education also promotes diversity inclusion and Equity preparing students to thrive in a multicultural World finally it empowers communities driving Economic Development and supporting social stability by creating an educated Workforce we need to stand together to not have any more Charter Schools we can't afford it it's going to ruin Clifton Public Schools giving all that money out and it's not fair to the great public education we have in Clifton thank you thank you anyone else wish to speak seeing none motion to close motion second motion by commissioner bassford seconded by commissioner brunc we'll move on to board committee reports commissioner brenc could you do both the facilities and finance please as chair thank you Mr President facilities committee um commenced on October 1st start time was 3:30 p.m. end time is 3:57 p.m. Eastern Standard Time those present were myself commissioner siano commissioner Kenova president Paris Mr shahada Mr Maldonado Mr Marion Mr kapashi Mr oito and Mr Watkins referendum update epic gave an overview of what has taken place thus far in the referendum and what is taking place throughout the rest of the year the switch gears for school 28 wooder Wilson and Columbus one of two have been delivered and in the proc process of being energized switch gears for TW school 12 and 13 are not expected to arrive until January despite all this all buildings currently have heat the Columbus Auditorium project is ongoing with duck work in installation currently in progress b& updates Administration discussed the following ongoing and completed projects within the District School 17 ero Platinum boiler replacement the ero Platinum boiler replacement project that School 17 has reached completion this project aimed to enhance the school's heating efficiency and reliability especially in preparation for the colder months the administration confirmed the new system has been fully operational and tested providing improved energy performance and reduced maintenance needs District wide filter replacements for the rtu and un Event Systems as part of the district's routine maintenance and seasonal transition in into the heating phase new filters are currently being installed on all rooftop units and univent systems there's a proactive step to ensure that the HVAC systems are functioning at optimal levels improving indoor air quality and ensuring consistent temperature control across all school buildings during the upcoming winter months boiler inspections and maintenance all boilers throughout the district have undergone through inspections as part of the annual maintenance cycle these inspe include firing up each boiler to check for leaks performance issues and or operational Readiness special attention was given to systems connected to the new univent installations ensuring seamless integration and preventing potential malfunctions during the heating season School number eight gym roof replacement the replacement of the gym roof at school number8 has successful has been successfully completed in addition to the roof work flashing around around the roof was installed to match the newly upgraded Windows ensuring both aesthetic alignment and structural protection the administration noted that this Improvement addresses long-standing concerns about leaks and temperature regulations in the gym area enhancing the overall facility for both students and staff new business is a stadium project pre-bid walkthroughs have been completed and the project is expected to go out to bid by the end of this month Turf maintenance a Committee Member inquired about Turf replacement schedule Administration explained that Turf typically lasts 10 to 15 years but we conduct annual safety tests to ensure students safety Additionally the turf is receded each year as part of its maintenance does anybody have any questions I'll move on to I'll move on to finance this this meeting occurred on October 1st 2024 started at 5:00 p.m. ended at 5:15 those present were myself commissioner Mahia president Paris Mr uh Mr jenero Mr shahada Mr uch you are all present referendum Financial update the administration discussed the remaining funds in the referendum the administration reviewed the status of the remaining funds from the district's referendum these funds which were allocated for various capital Improvement projects the administration discussed potential areas where the funds are used to address due to unforeseen repairs that have emerged since the referendum's initial planning phase a careful review of budget projections and priorities will guide the final decision on how to allocate the remaining funds to ensure that all projects align with long-term strategic goals of the district Mr shahada stated that he is comfortable with the remaining funds for the referendum and he will do his best to ensure the remaining monies are spent wisely as he and his team have done throughout the entirety of the referendum excuse me audit briefing Mr shahada informed the committee of the district's reg regularly scheduled annual audit is set to commence on October 7th he provided an overview of the audit scope which will involve a thorough review of The District's financial statements internal controls and compliance with relevant regulations Mr sh how to express a high level of confidence noting that the district's financial management practices have been consistently strong and he expects the audit to once again yield a near perfect result he anticipates delivering a formal audit report to the board upon its completion which will likely highlight the district's adherence to financial policies and procedures as well as any areas for minor Improvement does anybody have any questions thank you you hey thank you commissioner BR actually Mr President I had so you mentioned you mentioned the remainder of the the funds for the referendum but aren't those aren't those already set to be spent like we already projected what those are going to be those projects no yes and no so the money for each bid package is allocated and a small portion of it was um in allowance so if the bid package was 34 million we'd have two or three million in the event there was unforeseen changes that needed to be done as best as that's you know unseen or something breaks something always breaks uh so right now we're we're close the issue that we reached out to our attorneys just to be on the safe side is if um God forbid we do run out of money what happens uh so we are at asking while the contractor is asking us now for an extension for bid package I believe three because some of their stuff is stuck on a boat somewhere in the sea and the the switch gears still aren't here here the project was slated to be I think it was 24 months uh they're requesting an extension for until the summer of 2025 and they initially wanted $3 million for that extension for for Time and Labor uh we are fighting that and we are trying to knock that down as much as possible so you guys will have some number and I would say by November mid end of November beginning of December after we finish negotiations so that would be in addition to what we already had set apart for the no so uh to my knowledge and that's why I reached out to the attorney I think once the $168 million is done the project stops uh the taxpayers only approved $168 million for this project so we would have to close out the project get all the documents which takes years and then we would have to go back with our own budgeted money and make any additions that were missed in $168 million and I do just want to tell this board that I know it's going to sound extremely ignorant but $168 million when this was passed is not the same $160 million that today the pandemic inflation has completely rocked us everything went up tenfold so that's why we are really um penny pinching with the contractors uring to get that money to stretch is is much as we possibly can so all the original bid packages that we put together when it passed were there any things that we had to forego due to financial reasons uh no so everything that was voted on that you guys initially put out I believe it was the end of 2020 beginning of 2021 is still encompassed in this project but we did think that we were going to have a little bit of extra cushion in the event that something goes wrong um which we still do fortunately you know Al Marion our director of Special Projects has been phenomenal working with the contractors and epic uh to ensure that the money is going as as far as it possibly can but you know things that cost $10 now cost back then cost $50 now so you know where it's getting smacked from all angles yeah thank you anyone else okay uh next uh residency security and Technology commissioner Santiago please thank you president Paris The Residency security and Technology committee the meeting took place on Tuesday October 8th 2024 and began at 5:04 p.m. in attend from administration were Mr Jenaro Mr doctor miss zenola Mr Mountain Board of Education members in attendance were myself commissioner kova commissioner siano and president Paris Mr doctor explained that since the last meeting four additional Clifton students have been deemed non-residents and have been removed in addition domicile investigations have commenced and the department has 3 weeks to complete over 700 investigations prior to October 15th deadline as of the time of the meeting approximately the 11 students have been deemed non-residents Mr Jenaro discussed the concerns of the Clifton Police Department concerning pay rates for special police staff for events a meeting is being scheduled with cilin Police Department to discuss further Mr Nola shared that the drill of the month for September went very well throughout the district and it was the first opportunity to see all the school all the schools have the new announcement system in working order the district will be holding an emergency planning meeting to discuss various aspects of security and planning for the district finally miss explained that some of our students shared their thoughts on potential improvements to security through a classroom assignment those ideas were sh shared with Miss anola who will assess the ability to implement some potentially effective ideas Mr Mountain explained to the committee that he has looked into possible Avenues to increase sell service within some of our schools the initial conversations with the phone companies were positive and as specific plans are designed they will be brought back to committee the meeting adjourned at 5:58 p.m. any questions thank you okay thank you commissioner Santiago uh commissioner bassford could you please read the booster club and HSA meeting minutes please my pleasure uh the booster club uh committee met on October 9th at 6:30 uh via Google meets uh present from the um clion Board of Education commissioners president Alan Paris vice president uh Dr Lucy Dany commissioner Tanya Suarez and myself from the administration Tom Mali Mark jenero Ahmed chahar Ahmed ah hamda um agenda items was policy regarding sponsorship Mr shahada informed the committee of an immediate halt in all placement of signs banners and sponsorship materials at any event held on board property he explained that such materials um must be vetted to ensure that they comply with board policy and be address and excuse me and align with the district's Mission he also noted that a formal policy would be drafted to address these matters uh but until then all promotional material must be paused after nearly an hour of discussion the committee reached consensus moving forward a board approved approval process will be established when advertising request will first be submitted to the assistant superintendent of business for review and compliance with District standards and then forwarded to the board for consideration athletic recognition Mr Malley informed the group that through the newly formed Athletics collaborative we will work on ways to recognize D1 2 and three athletes commissioner Paris noted that the Board of Education will recognize students and staff quarterly buses to special games Mr shahada explained this Memo from earlier in the year regarding coach buses he detailed the potential cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars discussion ensued on the need for such buses on long trips it was determined that if the groups wanted coach buses they could pay for them similar to the way safety patrols does uh spirit wear and fund uh fundraising Mr Maly asked that all fundraisers be sent to him before being advertised so that he could ensure proper uh appropriate verbiage he also explained that the Board of Education City Council and other staff should not be emailed for SNAP rais donations uh online vendors were were sought after the athletic department has won or will share the contact information end of year dinners discussion ensued on recommendation for venues to host end of year um dinner celebrations consensus stand at Stadium Mr shahad explained that the process of purchasing uh concession stand items and how the proceeds will be divided recommendations were all were made regarding the variety of food and the possibility of bringing the kitchen back to a cooking form some members volunteer to clean the some members volunteer to clean the area the area commissioner bassard myself recommended to hire to hire someone to organize staff and supervise the stand like we had done in the past new business discussion on avoiding conflicts conflicting events and tips for um newer booster members will also discussed the meeting ended at 7:27 p.m. any questions commissioner Brak thank you Mr President the the informed of the committee of IM Meo on placement of science Banner or sponsorships or materials has has there been issues lately at at the stadium or or or something of that nature we we just passed in August policy 7510 to describe the the use of of policies that the Ba's office will will be going over this for for any use of facilities or something of that nature is that correct Mr Shada that is correct and we have had a handful of signs go up and as I promised the board we are cutting them down uh I get them I put them in Mr jeno's office and then if the team or whomever wants them they can come pick him up uh from his office at any point uh I I I told the the booster club committee that signs will not go up they're going to stop until we get something in place so there is a proper mechanism in place that my office can review it then I can formally recommend it to the board um Unfortunately they were put up the next day which aggravated me a little bit so we we we took them all down excuse me Mr brunic I think he was confused with the uh 751 years said oh 20 I I don't remember because I've never heard of an issue with the sponsorship or whatever so these these sponsorship that happen at at let's say a football game or whatever if if they're part of the booster club right that they're they're sponsoring something let's say um I don't know Vinnie's Vinnie's Crab Shack or something like that you know so what's the issue what's the issue here the issue is um why why we wholeheartedly respect what the booster club is doing for our students it is still board property and we just want to ensure that the stuff that is being placed on there is in in Good Taste and is in alignment with the district's Vision goals and Mission we don't want something where it's um the local bar is sponsoring our soccer team or football team you know we want to make sure that it's it's tasteful and that it's not going to offend anybody and it's not any political speech or hate speech so that's why I'd like to vet it first to ensure that it is in compliance with um you know what the board wishes would be we so has were there some distasteful like that's what I'm asking for no there were no distasteful signs at this current juncture however the directive given to the booster clubs and the administration was no signs where to go up at all until we can get a formal policy in place we have a policy first reading on the agenda today for that purpose because there was no policy on the books pertaining to sponsorships can I finish my statement thank you um 7510 I believe you mentioned Mr brunak was for use of facilities it did not address signage at all and so um that's why we discussed it in the athletic committee because the boosters are the ones that actually put up the signage that was what we discussed wholeheartedly in the committee meeting specifically political advertisements this policy 7 7510 specifically political the use of fac school facilities is strictly prohibited for the purpose of political advertisements or or all ity correct that that policy spe speaks specifically to if um a local church wants to host an event and then you know they're putting up a presidential candidate sign that is different than the the nature of the policy that is being recommended tonight for the board to review for the first reading number eight no sponsor shall be permitted to assign its user of facilities permit to another individual entity without written permission of the board's without the board's business office so it doesn't Encompass that is that right it's separate has it ever been an issue in anybody's 10 year here Dr Roberto you said it's never an issue until it's an issue I received uh many many of complaints um regarding signage going up and people just not knowing how they got there and I was kind of curious as well so they would go up I would go to the the venue the next day they'd be gone then next night they'd be up and I'd go the next day and they'd be gone uh So eventually we we figured out how they were getting up and how they were been taking down but which is the reason why we think that there should be a policy specifically outlining the procedures for this to ensure that we don't have anything going up that is going to be discriminatory hateful or or causing AR Ruckus and disrupting the educational process that we're you know we're trying to teach kids ultimately here so we just want to make sure everything's kosher yes vice president Dr Dan you like to yeah I I do want to say that there are um you know some districts that I know though that do that be just in the case that you know again they want to approve anything that goes on the property so um I think my district like a few years ago they started I mean we used to be able just to put up posters within the school and advertising things and now everything has to go through a process of actually getting initialed and you know it's just so again the fact that it's not an issue until it is so I can see that just from you know again living in that culture being in that culture so I think it's just trying to be like a proactive stance I I don't know if there's like what specifically is there that maybe you're objecting to that we could look at I just when is enough enough that's my point like at what how much oversight does there need to be if if there was something that was scandalous you know i' I'd like the public to know that and that's precisely why we need this and there was nothing that was scandalous however I am uh I I like to be proactive rather than reactive before something goes up and then we're all in the hot seat I'd rather get ahead of it and be able to determine what is going to be on our property because ultimately if something is placed on the property in poor taste myself Danny Mark and Janina we're on the hot SE we're supposed to know what is taking place in the district on a daily basis so if a sign goes up and it's saying I I can't say it because we're at a public meeting but if it says something that is discriminatory hateful whatever anything that's colorful who who you guys are going to point the finger at the the gentleman who's in charge of facilities right or the superintendent or the Acting Superintendent so before we get to that point in time it's best to just nip it in the butt now and have a proper mechanism in place that can address all of it and I I'm totally confident in this board's generosity and openness that if I present something to you guys that is in good taste that you guys will not fight it right if it's it's for the benefit of the students I don't see you guys objecting to it however I'd like to get your eyes on it before we just start placing stuff on uh if if I may say do you guys remember uh plaque gate a few months ago where it took us six months to pass a plaque so my man over there um where we couldn't even get a plaque p and that was a plaque with just your names on it so imagine if something goes up and it's it's the local bar down the street or it's something outrageous it's going to be be a massive issue I don't want to end up on the Bergen Record I'm pretty sure none of you want to end up on the Bergen Record I try to like to I like to fly under the radar so ultimately the board can do whatever they want to do if you guys want to go with this policy go for it if you don't vote it down either way we're putting our administrative prerogative and recommending this to the board to ensure that all the boxes are checked and there are no issues president Paris so save this for reading we will be going over that sponsor policy so I'll have questions then but there is a little overlap of facility or I just want to separate you know regardless of the policy somebody using our property or putting something up on our property period end of story should have permission you just can't go putting something up and then that's I just want to make that comment separate from the sponsorship policy which I'll have question are yeah we we will have some ability to discuss we have first reading coming up so there any other questions to uh commissioner bassford at this point yes commission here so I agree with both stances on it but again the question goes to show how much oversight are we going to do for this specific sponsorship how come now why now why this specific Banner is there more to it could it just be a dislike towards the specific group that they use that they don't like about I think it's a little bit more deeper than that because I've been attending football games soccer games my entire life at the stadium and there's always been some sort of sponsorship Banner always been and I think people in our booster club committee I would assume everyone uses common sense that they're not going to put something that's going to hurt the general public and they're not going to put something that's going to offend the general public um for the past I like to say eight maybe 10 years since my older sister was playing Varsity Sports at the stadium I've never seen anything that was offensive to somebody I don't know why this policy has been being placed today um I don't think it should be in place only because I'm going to assume that the people putting up these sponsorships these banners know what they're putting up no one's going to put hey this is happening no one's going to say oh well you know to be qu quite Frank in other towns they didn't know what was happening so they put you know certain political groups up and then that caused the whole stir I haven't seen that happen here I doubt it's going to happen here I understand there's you know the need for oversight and all that um but it just becomes too much we we will have we yeah we will have an opportunity to talk just on this topic in in a little bit further down the agenda so um unless you just want to do it now that's a different story I guess but but um commissioner he had to one moment uh the reason the policy exists is is being proposed that there was none and it was being questioned the apist was being questioned um through through Administration and the request really here is to give some guidance this is what our job is right to give guidance via policy to Administration to execute the plan it's not going to prevent anyone in the future from having uh uh probably won't prevent anyone in the future from having their banner up but we will have a process by which we'll be able to that Administration can review we'll have an opportunity to um to approve them we know what's going up in our facilities uh just because we haven't had it before okay we have we haven't had a lot of things before that we put put in policy but there's there's a need for guidance for administration to do that so let's can we postpone this discussion till we get little further in the specifically on this point for the first reading and then um we can get through at least our some more uh committee reports I did have one more saying um as it pertains to spare Weare fundraising and I always like to donate as much as I can to um our student athletes who do ask for you know snap rais and all that it says right here that he explained that the Boe city council and staff would not be notified or emailed about snap raise donations um I'd still like to be emailed about that you know I'd still like to donate a little bit to some of our Athletics teams um I don't know why was it to prevent you know targeting our staff so I don't I don't recall that was Mr malle's request to do that that wasn't didn't come from any board members so I guess um through through you to uh the board president to the administration can you please find out why and bring it back to committee because he just said he didn't want to know us notified maybe he was getting complaints I don't know okay but that doesn't have to do with spirit wear swag right because I like buying Swag like from from the Athletics cre and band and stuff like that those all continue to send out to board Commissioners as they do the entire stuff okay did we do H HSA no please do HSA thank you um the HSA committee met on October 15th the HSA committee um started the Google meets platform and started at 6:35 p.m. presentent was uh president Paris uh vice president Dr Lucy Dany and myself from the Board of Education from Administration Mark Jero Janita cuchel levage and building and ground representing uh the prek elementary middle school and high school levels um from the community all the HSA PTO PTA board members are representing a a multiple of buildings we had a very packed house and it was really a very good meeting um welcome and introduction Mr Jero facilitated the meeting and began acknowledging that the Partnerships between the HSA PTA and pto's and the school district strengthens the community by fering collaboration open communication and support for Student Success together they enhance the educational experience through shared initiatives events and resources benefiting students families and staff to help put uh names to faces the committee facilitated an introduction exercise exercise where participants share their names positions and affiliations the HSA Resource page uh Karina Vega assistant principal of school number 12 and Megan Fitzpatrick assistant principal of uh School number 14 presented the HSA Resource District sheet a valuable networking tool designed to facilitate the sharing of ideas on fundraising sportsware sales assemblies and more they informed the committee that monthly reminder emails will be sent prompting the completion of the HSA executive board form and will store information directly into the resource directory sheet uh review of bylaws and practice Mr jenero urged that all executive board members to review their current bylaws to ensure that they meet the needs of the board citing key areas such as appropriate use of funds and El election process for executive board members he emphasized the importance of establishing a robust system for documenting and approving Financial transactions including both expenditures and revenue Mr jenero also shared that there has been uh past instances uh where individuals were accused and found guilty of financial misconduct stressing that the best practices is to have multiple individuals review Financial finances and to ensure transparency and accountability PBS is Paula ruza uh district pbsis coordinator gave the committee an overview of the pbsis framework emphasizing the financial contributions from HSA PTA and PTO organization significantly enhance the uh uh program in each building she explained that the building based teams are urged to collaborate with their uh associations to raise funds for student and staff initiatives Mr Jenaro uh provided an an example of success of uh CCMS where the HSA fundraised specifically for non-curricular student and staff initiatives highlighting on how the partnership has positively impacted the school Community uh the next portion of the meeting was dedicated to open discussion allowing the members to share suggestions ask questions general questions and raise concerns and provide comments commissioner bassard highlighted the benefit of a in and securing your 501c3 status and offered her assistance to any other board interested in pursuing this process uh she also inquired about what the each uh organization had planned for staff and appreciation and back to school nights uh select HSA members shared their in uh fundraising ideas including uh Charlie's grocery in North Arlington was a potential vendor for a pumpkin patch event and uh the the staff I mean the p uh the HSA members from that really pushed this um this vendor they said they were excellent the size of the pumpkins were really good and they were very impressed by the products that they received um updates Mr Jero concluded the meeting by uh outlining uh future plans by for the committee key initiatives include sending a survey to building administrators and HSA PTO and PTO executive board members to gather input on preferred professional development work workshops topics to include on the next committee meeting agenda events held at uh for staff appreciation and back to school nights developing a communication system to share all HSA PTA PTO um events aiming to boost participation from uh board Commissioners and other community stakeholders the meeting concluded at 7:35 p.m. there's one correction also Jen algeri offered her assistance when um bouncing on me as a private citizen not as a board member so I just want to make sure that was corrected in the minutes any questions thank you commission bassador uh education and special education uh Dr Danny please okay October 1st 2024 meeting began at 6:30 p.m. present were myself as the chair Mr Alan Paris president miss Judith bassford commissioner Administration Yanina kusevic assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction Heather Rolo director of special services special education updates Heather Rolo Miss Rolo discussed the opening of the additional self-contained classes this year throughout the district she reviewed the New Jersey Department of Education parent survey that was sent out over the summer she provided an overview of the wisdom Wednesday workshops for small group learning for new staff on topics such as writing IEPs parent communication and other special education topics the child study teams will have professional development on IEP compliance the department was represented at the disabilities awareness Fair on 928 24 and will again participate in the Halloween extravaganza at CHS on 10 2324 upcoming cpag meeting will be held in November and later on this school year the district purchased scan markers to Pilot in middle school learning and language disabilities classes to assist students with learning action informational pilot for project impact certification and stien for job embedded coaching Yanina kusich one activity that students in Project impact participate in is the job embedded coaching where the students spend 2 to three days per week working at various job sites in order to learn marketable skills to allow them to work opportunities to allow them to have work opportunities when they graduate from the program at age 21 these essential workplace visits require power professionals to escort and monitor these students on site to ensure their health and safety this monitoring has added responsibilities since when out of the since when off of District properties the power professionals are responsible for students in their care without a teacher present several of our power professionals have a specific training certification that allows them to be job coaches the district will pilot a stien program to determine the value added from this additional certification action agenda item on this board of education agenda class-size overflow at elementary schools Janina kusevic Miss kusevic shared that the majority of the district's prek to 5 classrooms range from 15 to 22 students with only 10 out of over 260 rooms with over 26 students in the classes approaching 30 children instructional AIDS were added two classes were split two under enrolled classes were combined and two more classes will share an additional teacher since there is no room in the building to accommodate split sections action informational Pope police next steps Yanina kusich Miss kusel levich discussed the next steps as the district continues negotiations with the dicese of Patterson for possible lease of the former Pope Paul high schools site the district is undergoing a democra demographic study to confirm the initial survey results as another data point to help identify the most coste effective and space maximizing option action informational proposed expansion of Charter School school M miss kusich the Clifton zoning board is evaluating property variances for a proposal from I learn Pake Arts and Sciences Charter School to to build a High School site on Hazel Street the zoning board evaluates the land use at the same time the district has instructional and financial impact concerns about this proposal this particular organization I learn has not been transparent with the district over the years unlike a private school a charter is a public and takes per pupil funds from the local District budget without the same RCT oversight that the district must undergo from the New Jersey Department of Education this group has not yet been given the district notice of plans to expand has not yet given the district notice of plans to expand to a high school site has previously been misleading in acquiring lease sites in Clifton and is advertising this as the new Clifton High School this proposed Charter expansion plan for 400 students would be a massive blow at 6,480 th000 or five tax points just as the district finally attained full State funding action informational homework expectations Miss kusich reviewed District homework regulations which align with the national PTA Nea and Harris Cooper study recommendations of 10 minutes per grade level beginning in grade one layering in differentiated instruction depending on student needs and abilities a maximum cap of 120 Minutes at the high school level with expectations for honors and AP courses which require more rigor was discussed staff will be reminded to differentiate homework keep student commitments outside of school with Jobs family and Sports in mind the results from last year's homework study were reviewed again highlighting the recommendation that homework and large scale products projects not be due immediately after holiday breaks or periods action informational school ranking a discussion was held about school rankings in real estate listings on the websites including Niche and world news it was shared that many of these rankings look at only small subsets of the school full school report card posted on the New Jersey Department of Education report card which presents lagging by 2 years so it's old data frequently these ratings rely heavily on standardized test scores or out of context information one such example is college readiness data which looks at percentages of students in dual enrollment and AP instead of total participation numbers which in Clifton's case far exceeds that of many districts areas of focus to increase our academic quality include more robustes applying for more CTE options highlighting our data correcting inaccuracies and publicizing all the good things are important this topic will be addressed in the upcoming strategic planning process action informational meeting was adjourned at 7:30 p.m. do any of the Commissioners have any questions M Canova yeah so you mentioned in uh some of the classes that they had more than 30 kids they were split up does that mean that every class across our district there was only two classes that had 30 the over sorry of the O this was only looking at Elementary School classrooms of the over 260 um classrooms prek through five um only about a dozen had over 26 um the splits we did split um we combined a class at school 8 and split two classes at 8 one was at 30 uh the one was at 29 one was at 30 and then um the kindergarten was split under 30 but it was the largest kindergarten that we had um in the district at the time um and at school number nine we had two classes also under 30 but over 26 um we don't have any space to split them so we'll be we're right now uh seeking through the hiring process an additional teacher to provide additional supports in small groups to those two classes um but there were no classes that were except for the one class at school um eight no classes were over 30 but we were splitting a little earlier than usual because our now our average is now in that 15 to 22 range um and our students just have so many additional needs at this time so now there's no class that has 30 and above and anyone that has 26 to 30 also has an additional Aid is that correct uh in most cases yes but not all cases uh here and there we're still searching for addition you know the the staff members to fill those positions but yes oh so they are on the radar then yes okay thank you anyone else very well seeing none um policy minutes commissioner Suarez thank you president Paris uh let's see the policy meeting uh committee met on October 10th 2024 present uh was myself as chairperson commissioner Mahia commissioner siano and president Alan Paris for administration those were present were Mr jenara Mr shahada Mr rth and Miss Maggie Miller the meeting began at 5:00 p.m. items of discussion first we proposed new policy on sponsorship and Community Partnerships Mr shahada drafted a proposed policy to address the issue of the placement of various forms of advertisements on school grounds and during school events by private individuals Andor companies the proposed new policy would create a board approval process where request to place advertisements would be sent to the assistant superintendent of business for review and compliance with District standards after which the request would then be sent to the board for consideration due to the increased rise of these incidents the committee will recommend suspending the two reading requirement for a vote during one meeting proposed new bylaw on board member use of social media and public to Quorum the committee discussed the possibility of adopting a bylaw to address board members member use of social media as well as the possibility of dressing board member public decorum two proposed policies were reviewed and discussed one is a policy addressing use of social media prepared by New Jersey school boards the other is a proposed policy prepared by Mr shahada addressing both board member use of social media and board member public decorum the committee discussed both propos proposals in detail after discussion the committee recommends tabling the matter to a later meeting after receiving input and recommendation from the other board members and I I think there's a correction we're doing the first reading correct we're not going to do the double okay yes thank you commissioner as far as um what happened since our policy meeting was I got many many questions and felt that combining them uh felt a bit rushed and doesn't give us as big an opportunity to look at them and have input so I decided to go back traditional method first reading second reading so that we have some more board input in the process and um that's where we're at so we have first reading tonight of this um at this point uh also I wanted to comment on this commissioner um dorum and social media use policy the committee the policy committee um was really struggling with a recommendation so the recommendation was to come back to the full board here we are tonight and offer some opportunity for input to back to the policy committee uh on these two well there's there's two separate um policies that were sent out to you one is uh a decorum and social media policy combined into one which is a a a new new kind of policy um the other is the njsba standard social media policy uh that's enacted by a number of districts already so what I would ask now is for us to to stay focused on this particular discussion which is the policies so we'd like your input how do you want we can go around the horn if you want to do it that way or we do one yeah we could do the the one on decorum and social media commissioner brunak I mean it's very tough to control us we're we're elected officials this is my point Mr President and to my colleagues you know I I think we're already held to the to a higher standard based on based on our position we are elected officials we sign um ethics disclosures every year we we are Absolut the these are all types of underwriting and we could be charged with violations as a result of this so we already have a high standard to set so I don't know at what point who gets to determine you know the use of social media public decorum right I I I think it's expected of us and who who gets to determine what type of what type what type is is is of the Quorum that we should have what makes a determination it sounds so vague to me the items that I've seen and I've never heard this from any other boards either from any of the county committees that we've from any of the county meetings that we've gone to unless commissioner bassford or commissioner Danny who are are you know they they've been here for a long time have seen some sort of policy like that I've never seen anything like this but if you are an elected official and if you're signing off on all these ethics on all these items on on a way to to be held to a higher standard I think it's already expected as of you at it's already expected you're already expected to to hold yourself to a higher standard period end of sentence you know there's a disclaimer that we're supposed to say there's a disclaimer that we're supposed to post if it's on social media I think it's that simplistic I don't think it needs to go I don't think we need to go overboard and have a policy that might not even be enforcable accept at The Ballot Box thank you Mr President thank you commissioner Brak commissioner bassford thank you uh we there was a Lucy this there was a policy that came to this board many years ago and it was voted down I will not support this policy I have a right to My First Amendment right and I feel that that's impeding on the first men write this policy um you you we're all adults we all know how to behave we all know how to act you get mad sometimes you put things out there just because you can doesn't mean you should is a is something that I've learned in 13 years on how to how to do things like that but um we cannot dictate to each other how we behave other than on this realm just before Mr brunc you interrupt me while I was speaking I could have went back at you and really went the old Judy would have went I would have chopped you with the block but I didn't I sat back in my chair I rolled my seat back and I waited for my chance to speak and I'm using this as a I'm not trying to embarrass you in any way I'm using this as an a meaning of an example right we're all adults what we choose to do in our privacy of our homes on social media when we're outside is our own business you can't tell me how to act when I'm when I'm in the realm here we do have we we we're all respectable we all talk to each other we're all adults we thank you no thank you excuse me no no thank you we all do that but to have this policy in place and I I understand the need for it but we have to self-regulate ourselves as adults and have to before you hit the send button should I send it but I'm not going to support this policy I'm sorry I just think that it's um it uh does step on my My First Amendment rights for my voice sorry okay yeah just just to clarify though this is not right now this is not a policy that's as up for us to vote on or we were just discuss this is what the policy committee asked for feedback this is what we want to hear this is fantastic um commissioner Dr Danny you had yeah I just want to say that um I agree with Mr brunak in that you know we are under the ethics and already those are high standards and then I think you know Jud Judy I know definitely but I'm not sure Mr Kenova if you remember I mean during virtual we had some decorum what it was our years was oh was so it's okay well you know decorum in that virtual session there were some things that were debatable and you know in how we were presenting ourselves in the virtual forum and you know what it was just you could not you really could not tell board members what to do I mean that's what they wanted to do and so it was just sort of saying something like to the effect well remember that we are members of the public and we are being viewed and how we present ourselves and then that solved it but otherwise it's it's really difficult you know to tell someone that they can't you know do something wear something or you know do something or it's just really difficult thank you else commissioner M I'm also going to say it goes back to you know opinionate opinion and opinions because when you look at the policy the Quorum someone might for example I'm going to give a quick example I posted a video of me dancing Bachata and I put I love Bachata the next day somebody told me does that mean the Board of Education loves Bachata and then next thing you know I'm getting called saying I'm going to get sued all this and that and I said it's all on perception because if for example someone else would have posted that I doubt that that little you know bickering would have happened in the first place so it does go to show that sometimes it is opinionated um and I and based on the examples that they gave it's been happening it's always happened um in terms of social media that's just real life now social media has been happening for the past 10 years and it's only going to grow grow and grow and to commissioner basford's point I see it as something that's going to not only affect other board members who come in but future board members who are coming in let's say for example one day a YouTuber a blogger someone who's um works in the Press decides to run for Board of Education and then boom now they lose their job because they can't even express their feelings towards something specific in the in the corporation that they work in so all goes down to perception and also goes down to you know times are changing I believe yes there are points where accountability is something you can do but like commissioner um Dr Danny said we already have our ethics that's why we have it that's why we sign it if we were to violate that then yes we would be punished based off that um adding another policy towards this I don't see the added benefits to it some might disagree but in my opinion I don't see any benefits of having it other than suppressing other board members Comm Community leaders and future board members from coming up here and speaking their voices thank you thank you commission yes commissioner why not right we're going around the room anyway yep uh to commissioner brunak point it all comes down to the First Amendment we are held to a higher standard a much higher standard we're elected officials uh we can't say whatever we want on Facebook or Instagram or in public but if you want to you have that right to do that you could be the biggest jerk in the world if that's what you want to be that's your right um in governance we learned all of this this is the first thing you learn as you're elected don't do this use your excla um disclaimer don't speak for the board try to be nice right that's what we learn um if we had to choose one of these two which either one unfortunately after you know really thinking of the First Amendment right I would choose not the one from the Board of Ed I would choose the one that was written for us but I wouldn't choose any of them I would have to say no to this policy because it is you know unfortunately listen I do karaoke that was brought up in policy my karaoke the commissioner I brought up somebody could use it against me right because I Sim some crazy songs in karaoke never once as somebody said do you singing this song represent the Board of Education I think that would be crazy if that ever happened um I always use my disclaimer use your disclaimer be nice to people and if you don't want to be nice to people that's you're right go nuts right so I think it's a good policy it's smart let's keep keeping in our minds I think you worked really hard on it thank you very much but I think it's like DOA commission Kenova I know you had your hand up before him sorry um so so I think it's it's just simple it boils down to two things one is what's prescribed by law and then the other thing is what's prescribed by ethics and if there is some sort of Ethics violation it'll go before an Ethics Committee and they'll make a judgment um and it's your prerogative and your right to to express yourself in your first amendment I think if we did put a policy like this in place that was outside of those two then you may have people outside looking in that says hey in this policy it says XYZ now you have to come after XYZ person because you say here in your policy if you have something that has no teeth what are we doing if we don't have the ability to enforce something and I think we we've talked about this in in one of our U our meetings as well that like you said it's DOA so I don't think we should have any of these policies in place thank you commissioner kova commissioner Suarez thank you and thank you everyone um as the um chairperson of of this committee I brought it up as as a concern um in response to community members so I I just genuinely appreciate this open discussion because I was sincerely conflicted um during our policy meeting and um I I I saw both sides of the argument of having a policy or not having a policy and Andor which policy to implement so I just want to um share my appreciation to my colleagues here because it it I I'm someone who processes information and need some time to do that and and I own that and so I'm appreciating hearing uh the different perspectives uh on what your thoughts are on um about either policy and or um updating the policy for ourselves so I just wanted to be open where um why we're even talking about it you know was something that I I proposed um as the policy chair because this is exactly what we're supposed to do we're supposed to bring our concerns and discuss as group and um share our opinions respectfully which we're doing and I appreciate it so I just wanted to give that um some background information on that thank you commissioner Santiago so I'm sitting here quiet because as soon as I saw this I said it's incredibly vague it's incredibly subjective and I thought I might be the only person saying that so I'm glad that you know I'm echoing everybody's sentiment so the very first one is you know has words like offense and unprofessional and that's very subjective and you know to the eye of the beholder right it's all perception um the other njsb policy is a little bit more specific it talks about like a reasonable person standard and has things like racist sexist right that kind of it's always good to have specifics um but yeah the very first one is is is just way too vague and you know um can just be used can be weaponized can be all kinds of things um the second one I like better but it also says inappropriate conduct what is that right um and I think to the earlier comments is can we even enforce this had we have this policy how can we enforce it can we can we not if we can't I mean it like it kind of defeats the purpose and we have the NJ school board's ethics that we have to be in compliance with um just a quick First Amendment note I'm all for that um but when you do have a policy and you are representing the organization the company whatever you violate that you can be let go right there's a there's a famous example of uh a an employee of a company who uh there was a candidate for federal office that was driving by the person flipped the bird um on their personal time as they were riding by they didn't like that candidate who was driving by that person was terminated from their employer because they represent the company because it violates policy etc etc so just FYI putting that out there sorry that's the HR manager and me thank you thank you commission Sant anyone else would like to make any other comments on this topic okay then I'll give you mine last um some of it's going to be repetitious but um I check I did check with with Maggie and also our njsba rep to see were they aware of any policies like this out there already that existed and they did not know of any um we do have our code of ethics our code of ethics is the enforcable policy so to speak as to our Behavior and the only enforcement Organization for that is the state Ethics Committee and the office of administrative law they're the only ones who can process uh uh allegations of violations and and make decisions on that um we would have no authority to discipline ourselves that's already been adjudicated I believe uh by some other unfortunate board before us um who found out probably spent a lot of money found out they cannot discipline each other um so it's a policy that is unenforcable by us and uh I agree with uh I mean although the inent of it and the things that are stated is that the way we should behave absolutely yes but it's not something I feel that um that we would want a policy on because it kind of misleads you into thinking you have some guidance and then you can't really enforce it which would be frustrating for both uh ends of that problem the accused and the accusers so okay so we can move on all right um adoption of minutes would be next so do I have a mo motion to adopt the minutes from September 19th motion motion by commissioner Suarez and second huh no I saw her I I seconded it okay second commissioner Danny okay uh roll call Mr Shad M bassford yes Mr Brun yes noo yes Mr Mia yes Santiago yes siano yes m Suarez yes vice president Danny yes president Paris yes motion carries uh I have no announcements to hold us up this evening any unfinished business at this point excuse me president are we going to talk about the sponsorship uh sign policy want to get when we get to uh under the policy yeah when we when we going to vote on that we can have discussion okay okay um well we're seeing no finish hearing non unfinish business we're going to move on to expression of condolences um I'm going to start with uh Miss Lucas's um who to my family um I had two very very upset uh ladies uh when we heard of the passing um Miss Lucas was a a teacher uh of my daughter um she was a mentor she was a supervisor and she was a friend and um thank you for the honor for permitting me to to read our resolution whereas on October 7th 2024 the community noted with sorrow the passing of Miss Jennifer Lucas and whereas Miss Lucas had served the Board of Education and the children of Clifton Faithfully and conscientiously since 1995 Miss Lucas started her journey as a dedicated music teacher at schools number nine and number 11 she was homebased at school number 12 where she remained through her time as assistant principal she helped lead School number 12 from 2007 to 2010 in September of 2010 she embraced her role as the Beloved principal of school 2 where she made a lasting impact on all who knew her as a friend a colleague a mentor and a school leader her service as an educator included teaching vocal music creating memorable evening conferences tutoring and supporting student learning across the curriculum as a principal she inspired her school Community creating a supportive family of teachers and learners she has finally remembered across the district for leading the safety patrol trip to Washington Every Spring her kind and caring Spirit has touched countless lives and she will be dearly missed now therefore be it resolved that this resolution be forwarded to her bereaved family to serve as an expression of the great Regard in which Miss Lucas was held by the Board of Education the administration employees and pupils of the Clifton public schools and be it further resolved that the contents of this resolution be noted in their entirety in the official minutes of the Clifton Board of Education for future generations to pursue I'm trying to remember who I asked to read that could whereas on September 30th 2024 the community noted with sorrow the passing of Miss Kathleen campitiello and whereas Miss campitiello had served the Clifton Board of Education and the children of Clifton faithfully and conscientiously for 40 years Miss campello started her career in 1970 as an elementary school teacher and in 2000 she moved to wdro Wilson Middle School as a grade 8 teacher and a BSI teacher until her retirement in 2010 now therefore be it resolved that this resolution be forwarded to her bereaved family to serve as an expression of the great Regard in which Miss campello was held by the Board of Education the administration employees and the pupils of the Clifton public schools and be it further resolved that the contents of this resolution be noted in their entirety in the official minutes of the Clifton Board of Education for future generations to peruse dated October 17 2024 thank you Dr Danny you're welcome commissioner Santiago thank you president Paris whereas on October 6 2024 the community noted with sorrow the passing of uel Martinez whereas uel was a loving son brother Uncle cousin and friend who attended CHS briefly he also attended School 17 and CCMS although he didn't live as long as he should have and deserved he was full of humor he will especially be remembered for his courage and bravery now therefore be it resolved that this resolution be forwarded to his bereaved family be it further resolved that the contents of this resolution be noted in their entirety in the official minutes of Clifton Board of Education for future generations to per per peruse October 17 2024 thank you commissioner Santiago um commissioner bassford would you please read the national principles month yes it's my pleasure to uh read the national P principles month whereas through Visionary leadership and tireless pursuit of success for each student Clifton's principles guide and support their schools each and every day in a way large and small and have proven to be the key to the thorough and dynamic education that helps ensure a strong and prosperous society and whereas New Jersey principles establish the academic tone missions Visions for their schools collaborate with teachers to implement and maintain rigorous care ccul and set ambiguous performance goals and whereas the American Federation of school administrators afsa the National Association of Elementary School principles NP and the National Association for Secondary School principles nassp dedicate each October as National principles month to pay tribute to the National principles for their tireless dedication to the students faculty and staff of the schools over which they preside now therefore be it resolved that the Clifton Board of Education recognizes and thanks our principal for the service and the commitment to our district be it further resolve that we urge administrators teachers parents students and others from our community to join us in recognizing the dedication and hard work of these individuals thank you commissioner Bass commissioner Suarez can you please read the breast cancer awareness certainly thank you president Paris whereas breast cancer awareness month is a worldwide annual campaign in October involving thousands of organizations to highlight the importance of breast cancer awareness Education and Research and whereas the National Breast Cancer Foundation reports that in 20124 an estimated 31,725 men will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer and an estimated 43700 excuse me 43,700 women and 530 men will die of breast cancer in the United States and whereas improvements in early detection and treatment contributed to a 43% decline in the breast cancer death rate in the United States in the last 30 years and whereas every October during breast cancer awareness month we honor those women battling breast cancer along with the families researchers and Healthcare Providers whose hard work gives hope to those living with breast cancer and whereas we want to encourage all residents government agencies and local businesses to participate in activities that will increase awareness of the fight against breast cancer now therefore be it resolved that the Clifton Board of Education would like to pay tribute to those individuals and their families and friends who have had to struggle with the battle against breast cancer and recognizing the more than 3.8 million breast cancer survivors in the United States thank you thank you commissioner Suarez uh commissioner siano could you please read our Italian Heritage Month PR oh I'm honored whereas Italian and Italian-American heritage month is an appropriate time to recognize the enormous contributions the Italian and Italian-American people have made to this country and the world throughout our history including generals Admirals doctors philosophers Statesmen musicians athletes and Noble laurates whereas Italian and Italian-American heritage heritage month is held to salute the Italian and Italian-American community and to exhibit appreciation for their culture and their Heritage that have immeasurably enriched the lives of the people of this nation and the world whereas the strength and success of the United States the Vitality of our communities and the effectiveness of our American society depend in great measure upon the distinctive and Sterling qualities demonstrated by people of diversity races heritages and ethnic cities exemplified by members of the Italian and Italian-American Community who share with us their rich and unique Heritage and whereas it is fitting and proper that October of each year be observed as Italian and Italian-American Heritage Month throughout the United States now therefore be it resolved that in order to recognize the enormous contributions Italian and Italian-American people have made to this country and the world throughout our history the Board of Education urges the district to observe the month with appropriate events and activities thank you commissioner siano uh commissioner brunak will you please read the international augmentative and alternative communication awareness month thank you Mr President whereas the United States Society for a augmentative and alternative communication has designated the month of October as International augmentative and alternative communication awareness month and whereas the United States Society for alternative and augmentative communication defines alternative and augmentative communication as including all forms of communication other than oral speech that are used to express thoughts needs wants and ideas and whereas the Educators and families of Clifton Public Schools were collaboratively to ensure our classrooms are providing communication practices to effectively facilitate access to to the curriculum and whereas Clifton Public Schools provides our students with highly qualified Professionals experienc in determining and implementing the most effective means of communication including alternative and augmentative communication for our Learners impacted with severe expressive communication disorders and whereas research supports that there are no prerequisites required for individuals to benefit from alternative and augmentative communication access that alternative and augmentative communication users are presumed confident competent and give given access to tools and instruction to allow learning regardless of diagnosis and whereas Communication in all forms is a basic human right and specifically is protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act now therefore be it resolved Clifton Public Schools joins with the United States Society for augmentative and alternative communication to claring the month of October as International augmentative and alternative communication Awareness Month in Clifton public schools and encourages all community members and Clifton Public School staff members to learn more about alternative and augmentative communication highlighting the successes that alternative and augmentative communication users can have in career and life thank you commissioner brunak looking for for a motion to move items 1 through 17 under B education Administration motion motion Byford second by commissioner Mahia uh discussion this is the part this is the section that includes the first reading on um sponsorship so commission B thank you Mr President so also what I'm looking at this it basically it has to do with facilities this is based on signage and this is based on sponsorships or Partnerships involving business Community organizations or individuals must receive prior approval from the Clifton Board of Education we already have policy in place about our our our facilities that they approve or deny these sponsorships now it's even part on the application so it's never been an issue before right but now you could easily tell because it's even hard to set the bar for these for these parents who who are leading the booster clubs it's a huge it's a huge commitment for them as well I've seen this from from my son playing Clifton Junior Mustangs wrestling so the head of the booster club they have a high bar to set because they're trying to fund raise as well they know well that they could accept a sponsorship from Miguel's tax services but if they they cannot accept a sponsorship from Sam's adult beverages it's that simple so I don't know and I think it's it's already implicit within there these are very high quality High Caliber people that run these booster clubs and just these sponsorships and Community Partnerships I it sounds excessive commissioner Mahia briefly mentioned before use common sense so I don't know how much oversight there needs to be but I have confidence in administration can make a decision very easily based on sponsorship again there H I have never heard of an issue until today's meeting kind of regarding this matter so I don't know how much more time we have to spend on facilities when we have kids who have a hard time reading and writing and doing math how much more time do we have to spend on on these sponsorships are the are they helping out the kids in anyway this is this policy helping out our our students or our staff in any manner can anybody answer for this is the problem I have with this I mean these people are self you know I I I again I have a lot of confidence in our Administration to make a decision right there this is there's a lot of vague terminology in this I don't I I just don't understand and I like administrators to clarify what the issue is how you can't make a determination of what a sponsorship that has an issue with that there's never been an issue before until it's an issue that's such a vague argument in the first place sure thank you so there is no mechanism in place for the administration to approve anything quite frankly um it is a courtesy to for us to get the sponsorship information and then forward it to the board it is Administrative prerogative however it is not an issue until it's an issue but I will repeat this for the rest of the meeting I serve at the pleasure of the board so you guys tell me what you want to do and I'll do it I I couldn't care less about a sign commiss Mahia could the board know which sign it was that caused this big issue I have no knowledge with sign C there was about 15 of them 15 so I I I don't know offand which one um they are probably in Mark jeno's office or I don't know if they got picked up but they are was it something quote unquote out of pocket as in something that shouldn't have been there in the first place it's out of pocket for putting stuff on board property without permission okay commission thank you um so through you to Mr shahada it's your advice as the administration to put this policy in place to protect you to protect the administration and to protect the board is that correct correct okay so I don't see what the problem is it looks like all you're asking to do is look at the signs to make sure they're not out now commissioner Mah I got to jump out at you here you keep referring to one sign one sign where it's been told over and over again it's all the signs that were put up without the permission of the board without the permission of the administration so going forward this being here to protect them to protect us I don't see an issue with that I doubt we're ever going to say no to anybody's sign unless it's vaguely inappropriate which the odds are what a thousand one that somebody's going to try to do that quite honestly guys I don't care about the signs I don't think Mark jeno Janina or Danny care about the signs we serve at the pleasure of the board tell us what you want to do we we can talk until we're blue in the face just just let us know if you guys want us to review them we'll review them if not we won't then you know like it's a very binary decision and I I don't mean to be rude or disrespectful I know you guys care about this place just as much as we do we just need a sense of direction as as to what you want us to do because we feel like we are caught in the middle between people reaching out to us saying they're signs and then other people saying that the signs aren't an issue and they have never been an issue just just give us a sense of direction and I promise you we will never mention this again coming from Administration just to pigy back on that because now we're we're going backwards so I just asked is it the administration's advice to put this policy in place to protect the administration and the board of AD yes the administration recommends this policy thank you Mr President I have a question so if this policy were to be in place at the beginning of the year would any of the signs have C have come down no So based on the content now of the signs that you've s seen none of those would have been taken down no okay commissioner Kenova I I wouldn't answer that question like that uh because I don't want to get into what sign it was but there's probably one that was up that probably wouldn't have been up I'll tell it was Ghost Haw Brewery I love their beer but we probably wouldn't have a brewery sign up right and there was one um I the intention was good uh Maybe I'm Wrong maybe our policy would let Brewery signs go up but no that's one that I would say maybe we wouldn't have approved maybe it's sorry I'm not mean to it's on this policy that we would not have approved it this policy right here this new one yeah mhm yeah I don't know who they sponsored whatever I think it's wonderful that they did um but you know question would be should a school system allow alcoholic beverages to be promoted but if you look at policy 70 I'm sorry it's okay thank you Mr President if you look at I don't want to do it twice in a me talking Mr so policy 77 7510 policy 751 zero it says you you can't you need to list who the sponsorship is so you would know immediately and in in in the example that you use Mr President you already know if so and so if so and so is sponsored we can't do that listen we love you guys you know but we can't do that right kind you're kind of mixing the two policies the one you're referring to is a facility use policy where we're saying when you apply we want to know all the people that are sponsoring let's say I'm sponsoring uh uh trunk Retreat um and there's more than one sponsor maybe it's a an HSA and maybe it's a local Farm Stand I don't know but we want to know who that is that's different than hanging a sign up without there's no application right now to hang the sign up there's no permission process to hang a sign up somebody's just hanging signs up one is sponsoring an event as if if Mark brunak is selling beanie babies at at CA and you know Judy is assisting him with that by by sponsoring it helping secure the funding and the other one is through our local booster clubs or hsas and they are receiving funding for jerseys or cleats or their annual trip or whatever so it's apples and oranges there really isn't an overlay on it so it's two separate things that you're you're conflating I still love you dearly like I said guys the it's the first reading yep vote it down commissioner Santiago were you going to speak no oh did I miss somebody sorry so so um couple of things this policy was brought to us just a comment right the policy was brought to us there apparently was something right because we have had things up for a long time right so the question is always why now I'm just putting that out there right so this came from I think that's a valid question just saying this did come from somewhere right and um just as in the side I get concerned when um you know maybe some person one person I have no idea makes a comment and wonderful that action gets taken but um I think everybody should have that power right it should not be just you know a policy is created because somebody says something I don't know we don't know the background that's fine um um I do think we need guard rails again we we we somebody just can't put something up without us knowing right um and you know to to your point commissioner brenc we we have those policies but this was up we have those policies but these things were up right somebody still put them up with our policy so I do think that there needs to be something in place um but I have questions on that right cuz now it creates it's going to be coming from the administration we have to approve it so it's going to create more work and so be it um but like and maybe I'm getting in the weeds here but so we've got a football stadium track we've got a soccer field lacrosse etc etc um I don't know how that works right now how the money gets divvied is this Banner only up during this Sport and that's my money and then there's a you take that down and when the soccer plays or the lacrosse plays right if you what I'm getting at um you know there's going to be all kinds of process procedures that you're going to have to put in place and decide who gets what and when do they get them so we're not approving the funding we're just approving the sign going up I don't care if to give them a dollar or $50 I don't have to know about that because I'm not going to you know however they're cooking their books that's on them that has nothing to do with me I want no no so so I don't want to know anything about their money so on this policy right for example it says the policy pertains to all aspects of thect including Athletics those are the teams clubs I assume that's like robotics Key Club a right and any school related activities it goes without saying but does this include booster and HSA if so and we were going to do this I'd like it to Clearly say that you and I had that conversation earlier I don't want somebody to circumvent that we were going to add that in there because they or an extension of the school with minimal to no oversight from Administration or the board but they are still using our property so it's playing in that gray area that you know we we just want to ensure that whatever is going on board property even though it's through a third party is tasteful right um and and I think like you know would there need to be a list of locations like what we have to have here this is where you can put advertising right if I want to put on the side of school 11 the build the wall the building a big gigantic Banner of course that gets approved by you and and and us but you know we always think about school um athletic uh Fields right that's the common place um would it be only specific to that or could this open up something where people are going to be asking to be putting things and in regards to that I think this policy in place does address that I don't think we need a list because if I see it I know that okay we can't have a sign on the side of school 37 but if the principal sees it you know I don't want to put them in that hot seat I don't want the principal having to make that decision if they put something on their Building without informing administration because they have right now no guidance on whether or not to you know do they have the Liberty to do that so then the principal in the hoty I'd rather myself my team and you guys be the on to make that decision so to remove the burden from them yeah so like I can see like hey AV club I want to sponsor you can I put an advertisement on the camera so that when people come see here they see my advertisement I mean would that be something that could now be suggest you know what I mean you know as I told you earlier everything's negotiable right so we can right you know you do whatever you want but the administration and the board are going to have to approve it yeah so you can put in any request for you know the the coach pest track that was a request right we brought it to the board we vetted it out we went through the whole committee process and you know now we you know the board passed it so it's it's the same concept so my last comment is I think in in the gym I don't think we have like just CHS we don't have banners or these these kind of advertising banners in the gym I don't think we have these things right so I think gymnastics is in there basketball's in there volleyball is in there wrestling is in there so now I want to support these groups and I want to put a banner in there just a banner or this is equipment this anything um I think again I still think we do need guard guard rails because it can't just be up to a booster club to decide who gets what where and just put stuff up absolutely not um but then I'm just saying that it's going to create this process that have to and as I told you earlier when we spoke uh this afternoon this process is more labor intensive when we have no control over it and I'm Fielding 50 different phone calls now that it's streamlined it's coming right to me I will know that the the quidd booster club is asking me permission to put a sign somewhere so now I know that sign X is you know correlates to whatever Club it is now signs are just up everywhere I have no idea what belongs to who I don't know who to call to take it down so we just you know we just take them down ourselves so that backend work that I have to do with no knowledge is more labor intensive for me than just Fielding the email and saying okay this is a you know it's not a sketchy idea let me just pass it on to the board so this policy alleviates a lot of headache and stress for me and it's it's it's a very binary process yes it's a good idea no it's a bad idea there's no judgment I'm not putting any of my personal biases in it if it's something that's going to benefit the kids and it's respectful and tasteful sure I'm all for it but if it's something that's not I'm obviously going to deny before it even gets to you guys rather than it go up I receive 56 phone calls on a Sunday morning and I have to Chuck it up to Clifton and cut a sign down so last sorry president Paris mentioned the brewery so what I do like about this is that no political agendas candidates products or services not appropriate for students so like a vape shop or liquor store or whatever they can't do because they're underage all that I do like that it clearly states that stuff and and you know the policy the way it was designed it gives administrative the administration room to breathe you know when we draft policies we like it to not be so narrow we like it so there is room to play so we can have those judgment calls so things that aren't listed on there but are still in poor taste we can deny it's not just set to this specific list so you know it'll allow us you know we we're going to pow around the whole thing regardless but at least we have something that we can point to and say okay this is not a good idea you know it's against a policy rather than you guys get phone calls or you see it on Facebook because you know that's where everybody gets their news from nowadays and it's a problem and Jo siano is agreeing with me nodding his head you're a good man all right so at yes commissioner B okay so policy is like the Constitution it's amendable we put it out we put it in it doesn't work we revise it that's the beauty of what the mechanism is the thing I see is have other districts out there Maggie so do you uh board president to our attorney do other districts have sponsorship sign uh policies so not that I'm aware of in this kind of capacity usually the like I want to name the scoreboard that's usually a money that goes to the district and not a booster club and there's approval processes for that so I've seen it in that regard permanent signs along like the baseball field like you see on TV you know all across those are usually the money goes to to the board so yes there are policies I've never seen it sounds like a take up the sign put it down for per event or per season I've never seen it done that way so not not in this regard no I've not seen a policy that way as a general naming thing yes I have so my my question is the reason that a policy would be like putting places to just regulate the content correct and it as Mr brunak said this isn't something that I want to do trust me I have more than enough on my plate than to to go around checking signs but it it gives us a some guidance as to what we can and cannot do okay and I I think that's extremely important nowadays especially just given the political climate and just how crazy people are okay you know people just put up some crazy stuff sometimes it's like well well it's all so because it's everybody's like Mr Mahia said opinion right what I feel is acceptable at my age and seeing like you know like people go to different venues they go to different businesses what I would think was acceptable maybe somebody else would think it's not so as you you would you would look at it review it and say okay this is acceptable this goes together with the mission statement of the Clifton Board of Education because that's basically where we're going it's about the mission statement of our board correct and to take it one step further I do have I think I'm a semi-rational human being um it's a matter of opinion it's not a favorable one but um you know I can make these decisions on my own own but I am not a Clifton resident I am not an extension of the taxpayer I am not ingrained in the community like you guys so I would love to bring it forward to you guys so you guys can make that decision you guys represent the community well the one good thing out of this now people are going to know that our booster clubs do take sponsorship so maybe it'll produce more sales in that way and we'll get some more business for the booster PL right so you're not controlling the money you're just controlling content when they're put up when they're taken down and what locations they're going in that they're not going to be blasted all over the place when when we have one overlap SE uh athletic season to another only anything on board property if they go to I know the soccer team I'm just going to pick on them because I know they go to like their annual Tom's river trip if they want to roll up to Tom's River with some A-frames and post them in the ground I got no say on that that's Tom's River's problem it out it's what happens here on our ground so we're Protect by this policy you feel confident enough with your recommendation that by putting this policy in place we're protecting the board for Li absolutely thank you one last thing this is you actually brought you actually brought this to my attention with the ghost talk I saw that so many times also a fan I saw that so many times and it just clicked when you said it that maybe that wasn't the most appropriate thing to uh commissioner Santiago vape shops liquor stores anything like that that's popping up God forbid but then you think about a lawyer right like a really good marketing hey was your kid injured on this school field call me and I'll take care of it that would be vot voted down like you got to think of really smart marketing and this just kind of covers everybody I and I like the way it's written I don't really think there's anything written in here that Joe you know I wrote that right what was it you know I wrote that right yeah I was actually quoting a shahada law um so it's you that I'm worried about with the banner I'll put the proceeds with you man Mr shahad and I spent countless hours over the last two weeks dealing with sign gate if you will and really this policy does it gives us the the teeth to enforce appropriateness or not it wasn't until the removal of signs that did we learn who they belong to and as all these booster clubs are reaching out you know with Choice words and rightfully so because how it was handled again if we could go back and do it differently we absolutely would but at the point that we took one down we recognized the need to remove all others it wasn't until booster club a b and c reached out where's my ghost Haw sign where's my Hot Bagel sign where's my you know said the from sign it wasn't until them that we learned we had apologize profusely to them uh but what we did for one we had to do for all this just allows us to monitor develop a mechanism to ensure consistency and again as we're continue to to collaborate and expand upon our hsas and our booster clubs will will have a mechanism in place because one common theme did come across these conversations we had no idea what we can and cannot do this now allows for us that transparency and allows us to then you know enforce this uh in accordance to policy and what's best for the district and and Mr Santiago just one thing that I didn't mention earlier I had four of the nine of you I'm not going to point out which ones reach out to me regarding these signs so it wasn't just one person and as I said I serve at the pledge of the board you guys want the signs down I'm going call My People we're going to cut them down thank you okay uh could I just suggest now so this his first reading so all all we're doing right now is approving it it's not finalized yet so between now and next reading send in please review that policy send in your suggestions to commissioner swarz who's our policy chair next time policy meets uh we can do some final adjustments on it for your consideration then and we can before our second uh reading right which should be our final version of it so I mean first reading it's it's meant to get your edits and your ideas and changes so so right now you're voting just to move it on move that process on and um we policy will will then take your your input and word Smith a a better better policy maybe than we have already okay yes commissioner to um Mr siano's point when there's people making signs for example oh you got injured on this field I I doubt any reasonable attorney would actually make that marketing sign um and I doubt any attorney has that great of a marketing team to put something out on it um there there are a lot who are good but not not a lot of them will be that creative in terms of it at this point but I do want to say that what if there was a I know this has happened in New Jersey because I seen it happen last year there was I think it was a mayor who was also a lawyer he had his law firm and somebody actually wanted to sponsor a city event and he voted it down he went to the council chamber says nope no way this isn't happening I would feel more comfortable in terms of the the administration having the the main objections as to whether this gets approved or not only because I don't want something like sponsorships Community Partnerships to be politicized I just got one thing to say Administration does not want that burden we do not want to be the the sole determiner as to what goes and what go doesn't because they may be your third cousin if I shoot them down my contract won't get renewed next year so I'd rather you nine make the decision you guys are elected officials you guys are here to make the tough decisions we gather the information compile it and toss it to you guys I mean at this point if if you don't believe this policy should exist or go on you can you can when you vote you can say I'm a no on item seven okay you say yes on no on item seven uh that'll if we get a majority that kills it then it's done but otherwise we go you have a second shot at it right when we have our second reading I I have just one thing to say because I know the community this is your next meeting will be your chance to weigh in on this policy you can come to the mic you have five minutes to talk about that's why we that's why we should have two readings on policy because we should be able to give our our um community members the chance on when we introduce a policy now U Mr uh Santi commissioner Santiago introduced he wanted some verbiage in there hsap PTA booster clubs in there that's your chance to get it for the second in but also for the community weigh in so I'm a firm believer of two readings I've always been that way since I've been on uh the board good point okay so so we're gonna the only question I have is so when you get the signs what are you going to do like email them to all of us and with PDFs like what's what's the goal there the signs will I will inform you guys of what it is it'll be on a board agenda for approval just like we do uh facility permits thank you right okay can we call the question please Mr Shad uh there was a motion by Miss bassford a second by Mr Mahia roll call please no problem Miss bassford this is on the group yes yes Mr brunak yes accept ea7 no on ea7 Mr Kenova uh yes except the the piece that uh Mr Mia brought up about um the board being the approval I think that should go back to just like facilities so you're you're a no on ea7 as it reads yes and for clarification the board does approve facil okay edits but I'm I'm a no right now as as it is Mr M based off that can I make a motion to remove us as the final readers the Board of Education and put it to our booster club aison so so it's already going to policy so that would be the I think that Mr Paris spoke about sending suggested so it's first reading so you're approving the policy on first reading sending edits to the um policy chair for the committee to revise and consider those brought to it so that would be the time to do that so just approving it on first reading as it's for that yes everything except for S ea uh sponsorship Community Partnerships no Miss Santiago yes with uh further edits at uh policy Mr siano yes to the group Miss Suarez yes to the group vice president Danny yes president Paris yes all motions carry okay next is uh personnel and I'm looking for a motion to approve items one through 42 by commissioner bassford I believe I heard no who did I hear commissioner Suarez seconded by BR brunak commissioner brunak thank you thank you uh any discussion okay roll call Mr sh Miss bassford yes and staining on P38 my name only Mr Brak yes to everything is staying on P38 my name only Mr Canova yes to everything 38 my name my name only Mr Mia yes um exception for um P38 my name only Mr Santiago yes uh exception on P38 my name only excuse me one second and Mr SE I believe you have Mr Santiago I believe you had a few more check your blue folder on P oh 40 also sorry Mr siano yes abstaining on P38 my name only M Warz yes abstaining on P38 my name only and P40 from Mr shahada and Dr Rober toy vice president Danny yes abstaining on P 38 my name only President Paris yes abending on P38 my name only at P40 okay motion carries okay next is finance and Facilities motion to approve items one through 11 motion Mr Paris second motion by commissioner siano second by commissioner brunak any discussion hearing none roll call Mr Shad Miss bassford yes Mr brunak yes Mr kova yes Mr Mia yes Mr Santiago yes M siano yes abstaining on Tomahawk promotions due to my business relationship it's f11 Miss Suarez yes abstain on five and f11 for check 29064 vice president Danny yes president Baris yes motion carries okay moving to board member comments and this month we start with commissioner thank you president Paris this month has been incredibly challenging I think everybody knows that I want to extend my deepest condolences to the family of Kathleen Campell and Jennifer Lucas their unwavering dedication to our district will never be forgotten I hope you find comfort in knowing their legacies will endure to yel uel Martinez's family I cannot fathom the heartache that you're experiencing losing a child is something no parent should endure U was a true fighter and his bravery will be remembered uh my heart also goes out to the West Family on the loss of Ralph he fought courageously and left a mark on everyone fortunate enough to know him I want to extend my sympathies to the bassford family for losing Ginger because pets are just like losing people they hold a special place in our hearts and I understand that deep pain of saying goodbye uh Mr jingar Arrow let's talk about you again for a minute you keep coming up um the therapy dog uh interview was amazing but you bringing the dog to the schools when all this was happening just shows how amazing this is and I still stand behind you on in every aspect of a dog in every school um I want to thank you for stepping in as Acting Superintendent um I was never for a second worried knowing that we were in great hands I am very much looking forward to Danny's return but I want to thank you for stepping up and excelling at the position oh thank you Janina for that overview and our district highlights uh Breast Cancer Awareness Month very important my grandmother got it you know fought it passed away from it uh get checked uh cancer just kind of sneaks up on you on a more uplifting note uh I attended the Italian and Polish flag raising events which was really moving for me cuz that's my her itage I was able to celebrate it in our wonderful diverse City I urge everyone to make your voices heard by voting on November 5th it's your chance to choose leaders who represent us best uh finally I attended the Bay County school board meeting on September 25th I am always eager to learn and improve which is why I'm so excited about the upcoming convention in Atlantic City opportunities like this help us to enhance our district thank you all very much and I'll see you next month thank you Commission thank you president Paris give me just a minute for this please so um Miss Lucas I mean I went to the moving up ceremony just this June and got to know her and um saw how much she cared for her students and how much um you can tell with the outpouring how much of a impact she made on so many people's lives I'm praying for her family her friends her colleagues um there is a vigil for her um at school to I believe that's the 30th 6 6:30 so school to um look that up um U martinz I mean I I I think it was 15 um I can't even fathom um again praying for his family his friends all of his friends from school 17 CCMS Clifton High School um the camp campello family my condolences as well um I think you know um one quick thing is I I would just share and for my personal experience there's nothing you can say and people grieve their own way but as Mr Jenaro was talking about earlier um H um you know the ups and downs I would just say when you're in the down when you're in that Valley there that's when you need people more sometimes you want to withdraw but I would say Seek people out and if you know somebody going through that go be with them um it's very helpful I'm glad that we had the dog Therapy Program thank you so much um for them showing up there and also for showing up at Clifton High School um when you all uh pass I believe right so thank you so much for that our dog Therapy Program continues to be example for other districts um and um I'm just so glad that that we have that along the lines I Just Want to Thank You Mr Jenaro for stepping in um we're glad that Dan's coming back and on the menend but you and the rest of the administration and um did a great job um thanks so much for all your work um yeah it's time to vote so good luck to all in terms of the board of aded good luck to all the candidates you know I have nothing but good things to say about um commissioner bassford president Paris and commissioner Dany I been working great with you guys and so I just wish you all luck um happy sukus I hope I'm pronouncing that right which is um to all of our Jewish families celebrating um we have the Halloween extravaganza on October 23rd at Clifton High um Shameless plug uh we have the Clifton little free Pantry program going on from now through November 15th um and uh where I am an agent at the diamond agency we are participating in that and you can drop off non-p perishable items Monday Wednesday Friday 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 on Allwood Road last but not least josiano I'm praying for you brother you got this um and um I'm not going to treat you any differently I'm still going to give you a hard time but I don't think you would expect it any other way thank you good night thank you commissioner Santiago um I like to start by giving my condolences to everyone who was one part of the one clipon Community um who has passed away and is currently suffering um next I quickly want to talk a little bit about um Miss Lucas um specifically over the past couple weeks I've had the opportunity to talk to a lot of you know my former coaches former teachers and I I always refer to them still you know as miss you know Miss Mia Miss Richie all that um coach uh even Mr jeno I still refer to him as Mr jeno out of respect you know he was one of my um middle school vice principles and for me that stays with me for the longest you know even when you start working professionally they start telling you hey call me Mark um it just doesn't feel comfortable you know and I look back to that um when speaking about Miss Lucas um when I saw her a couple weeks ago she told told me you know hey refer to me as my first name you know we're we're around the same age now we're both professionals you don't have to keep calling me miss Lucas or principal Lucas and you know the first thing I thought to myself is um how I was raised I was always raised to treat everyone with respect and if you didn't you were called Maro which means you weren't raised right um and for me it was always you know shaking hands um and being respectful to them and she was my elementary school music teacher she was the music teacher for my older sister she was the music teacher for my younger sister and then she was her principal as well over at school 12 and I vividly remember every Friday we would stand for the Pledge of Allegiance and she would come up play the piano and we would all sing a song and one of my favorite songs was this land is your land this land is my land and I remember it singing it proudly and loud and then right after that we would sing our school 12 Anthem which she wrote and when I heard the news that she passed away I had to step out of my office because I got so emotional I could probably count on the on one hand how many times I've actually cried in my life and most of them have been this year I've lost so many people who have contributed positively to my life and to hear that when miss Lucas passed actually broke me I stepped out of my office took a walk across campus went to our ministry and sat there for about 25 minutes just reflecting on everything and I was able to talk to one of the priests and they told me this quotee that truly resonated with me especially because she was a music teacher and I said to myself wow that must be some sort of sign the song has ended but the meel but the melody lingers on and I reflected on this because I said you know after something special has ended it impacts the memories and it continues to resonate with you throughout your entire life it goes to show that she will continue to influence not only our feelings our thoughts but many of our day-to-day activities as the song ends and as you keep that melody in your head of those memories those fun times you had when I posted about it that this happened all my friends from school 12 could not believe it I couldn't believe it when I first heard it um my condolences go out to her family and to with that on a happy note I want to say thank you to Mr Jero for stepping up to the plate it was a pleasure working with you I never sent you a complaint I tried not to um but thank you for stepping up to the pl and Danny's absence um and that's all thank you thank you thank you so this has been a tough week for Clifton um you know my heart goes out to to anyone who's who's lost anyone and this you know this time is just crazy friends and families that are no longer with us um Miss Lucas was a tough loss for Clifton um you know she was a wonderful person that just really truly cared about kids she cared about her staff she cared about the people that were around her and she was loved back um you know in my conversations with her I found out she lived 90 minutes of way south of here and drove all the way up into work I mean that's that's without traffic you know um that's someone who was very dedicated to to her job and um she touched many lives I know we shared some stories about um she was closer to where I have my my house down the shore we just exchange um T bits of information on like restaurants and things in the area to do things like that um she was a wonderful woman and you can see by by the outpouring of of you know support how how wonderful she really was um so she will be someone who is sely missed and may she rest in peace um Mr Jenaro I wanted to thank you for stepping in and overseeing the district while Dr Robert toy was out as you mentioned it's a roller coaster ride but I appreciate the dedication to our community uh for Mr llama charter schools in my opinion they should have their own budget it's always a conflict with the local budgets um their assumption is that the Money Follows a child but in the real world you have facility bills for every building you have if you pull one child out of one class you still have the other you know 20 or so to teach you're still paying the same amount to the the instruction you're still paying the same amount for for maybe not for a Chromebook but everything else is the same so it doesn't make sense um I think that we need to Circle back there and figure out what the real solution is because it's always going to be infighting when things like that occur I think it's just the wrong solution so we need to figure out how how to make that right um trunker treats October 24th at school 3 uh October 28th at CCMS so please come out and support your local H hsas um reach out to anybody there if you want to sponsor our car you know I'm sure they'd be more than willing to have you um and good luck to all the candids who are running and Clifton please be sure to exercise your right to vote and let your voices be heard thank you thank you commission commissioner thank you Mr President give my deepest condolences to all the lives that were lost in our District over the past few weeks absolutely devastating I I don't think anybody ever wants to bury their child I I've been to these uh funerals and it's it's nothing like you've ever seen you never want to do that um and to here are all the tributes to to miss Lucas absolutely wonderful I had the honor of speaking with her last winter and I I felt it was towards the end of the of the school day so she told me to hang tight because it it gets a little crazy over there when the parents come to pick up the kids so I felt like we went around the world in 30 minutes it was fascinating and as commissioner Kenova said she lives like 90 minutes away because she's so it's fascinating in itself uh so deepest condolences to everyone I'm looking I want to let everybody know I'm looking forward to seeing many of my colleagues next week more than I normally do due to the uh New Jersey school boards Association conference and I look forward to um getting more information and become a better commissioner than than I already am finally I want to wish my wonderful friend and colleague commissioner Joe siano a happy birthday who's celebrating one this Saturday I hope you have a wonderful chicken parm because I won't be thank you everybody for your time and God bless America have a good night everybody thank you commission happy early birthday Joe um just these are my personal views and opinions I don't speak for the border of individual members I uh I got the pleasure spelling spending some quality time this last May with Jen Lucas and our Acting Superintendent uh she made me feel welcome she made me feel comfortable I was really nervous about being there uh but uh to watch her take care of every one of your children on that safety patrol trip like they were her own was just incredible she really loved her job and she loved what she she did and uh we are going to miss her dearly I want to take the moment to extend my deepest condol thisness to the Lucas family and her friends and her colleagues on the loss of Jen during the time I knew her from the many stories shared by the school Community it's clear that she touched countless lives this IM this is an immense loss for our community my thoughts are with many students she guided throughout the years and I encourage them to honor her memory by striving to achieve great things let her Memory live through you on as you go through your life to the school to family I understand that this has been an incredibly difficult time for all of you and I want to acknowledge that that some of you may have feel that support you wer wasn't there when you needed it but we are there to support you please know that your feelings are valid and I deeply I am deeply sorry if you if anyone feels that you were overheard or overlooked uh your Leader's Legacy is evident in the passion dedication and strength each of you bring to your work each day as we move forward I want to assure you that we are all here to listen and work with you not only to honor their her memory but also create a stronger and more supportive environment for everyone you're not alone in this and we encourage you to lean on each of each and every one of us and each other and reach out whenever you need let us continue to carry forward the values and vision of your leader that she instilled supporting each another each other as we heal to the campello family I knew you well during wo Wilson so my heartfelt condolences uh you were a dedicated teacher to our students and a mentor to your colleagues and your contribution to educations was invaluable personally knowing you was an honor to the family and friends of uel Martinez I am deeply sorry for the loss and offer my sincere condolences during this difficult time to the West Family div is condolences as and may you find support through your school family and your community in Clifton during this difficult time uh Suka begins uh October 16th and it ends the 23rd so to the Jewish families out there wishing you and all your families of joyish and meaningful Suka filled with peace and happiness I want to extend my uh extreme gratitude the speakers that came out tonight to share your thoughts and memories and and your concerns with our uh with our district as we approach the upcoming week I want to take I want to wish all the hosting uh their Trunk or Treats events much success and I hope all the students have an unforgettable experience last night I had the pleasure to assist the Executive Board of New Jersey school boards Association to present the 2425 board member of the year to Charles carabello Bloomingdale uh uh board of education pay County now has three board members of the Year countywide cashing up to ber County Who currently holds the title with five thank you uh for all the love and support over the past few week it was deeply appreciated uh during a difficult time for my P family today as I was gathering my things and getting ready to come to the meeting I learned that the matriarch and my family has passed away to my Uncle Bob my cousins the wyers deeply sorry for your loss I love my Uncle Bob deeply and he was my Touchstone after my father had passed so to my father's little brother may you rest in peace I am proud to um I am proud to know that the com the chewy initiative is thrilling this community and supporting this community in a way that I never envisioned that a therapy dog could do let us continue to build on this great work mark thank you for you thank you for you and thank you for stepping in when we need to do the most um you did great work and thank you for your all your encouragement over the last couple of months and help with questions that we had thank you to woodo Wilson Community for inviting us to all attend the veterans assembly in November if I can move my mountains and I'll get there finally with Halloween Just Around the Corner please remember everyone to drive safely on October 31st as they um children are so eagerly and excited they don't realize that their safety issues crossing the street remember that they're just they they don't they don't watch about security and safety when they're running to get their Halloween uh treats at door too so please be mindful of that um don't forget that election day is November 5th 2024 get out and vote the Board of Education elections is on RAD K it's all way down at the bottom please vote from the bottom up so your local voice is heard thank you thank you commission Suarez thank you president Paris uh Mr Jen G thank you so much for your leadership during this time um I I've been so impressed by your work prior to being um you know to the RO that you have now and and just seeing you shine has been really a pleasure so thank you for all that you've done on the past few months and thank you earlier for um honoring Joelle Martinez and Jen Lucas in such a beautiful way um I didn't know either person but um for Miss Lucas it's so clear how wonderful of a person she was through the outpouring love and and dedication that everyone has shown um and I'm sorry I didn't know her and I I really give my sincere condolences to everyone who've loved her um also for Joelle Martinez I cannot begin to imagine the pain and sense of loss that his family and friends are experiencing i s I send my sincere love and prayers to all of his loved ones and her loved ones as well as the gravity of this loss is without words um to shift directions um you know as an education board member I'm intentional about staying updated with best education practices I had the privilege of attending um a critical Urban education speaker series at Monclair State University to hear Dr Yan de Ruiz she was absolutely fantastic um if any those are free events for the community and Educators so I encourage everyone um if you hear about them jump on it because the speakers are outstanding she focused on Justice oriented teach and focused on transforming education from within I strongly suggest looking into her work um also looking forward to um enhancing my education and knowledge at the New Jersey Board school board's Conference next week and those same um I just love learning so I look forward to that and to spending time with my colleagues in in different ways um and thank you to school AP PTO and Mrs Munos for having a pumpkin patch and autum photo uh op set up for our students it was really beautiful um the kids are so excited to choose their own pumpkin and got a beautiful siiz pumpkin and my son came home with it was decorated and with a name for it it was really adorable so I know how happy the students are um and so tomorrow is their trunk or treat and I'm excited to participate with that as well um that's all I have to say have a good night everyone thank youare Dr Dan okay um Judy condolences to you and your family um I know what your dad meant to you so um condolences to Joel Martinez family I can't even imagine um the loss of such a young life uh light being extinguished so quickly condolences to the family of Jennifer Lucas um thank you to the school to community for what you did for the students on October 7th it was um really really inspiring and again really difficult I can just imagine at that time um condolences to the family of C Kathleen campanello um Miss Lama thank you for being a champion for Education um for teachers um your your passion for it I I know I've seen it I've talked to you and um just really want to say thank you for for being a champion especially since you know everything that's going on with the evaluation system and um you were there you were a participant on the task force so you know just thank you for being a champion really um and thank you Mr jeno for stepping in did a great job a wonderful job um I think leadership is really important and I think um people at the helm really set the tone and I think you took it and you ran with it and you just did a really wonderful great job you really shined um thank you to all the principes in the Clifton School District as I said the leader sets the tone and has the ability to touch many lives as we have seen with Miss Lucas um I attended the Italian and Polish flag raising it was really nice um the Polish flag raising again was really close to my heart as I was celebrating my polish Heritage so it was really just nice to see everybody um that I don't always get to see um I'd like to say good luck to all those running for Council and for the Boe what's the matter okay and um I'd like to say uh happy and safe Halloween to all the students enjoy your trunk or treats and be safe going out there for Halloween um I don't know how many people go out for Halloween but I know by me there's always this big this family two families that compete and they put together this big Halloween display it's really something and um it's just fun for everybody um maybe not so much for the neighbors but it's only one night you know uh to the Jewish families um happy suut and uh that's all I have for the evening thank you Dr condolences commissioner bord your oh I'm sorry uh condolences commissioner BASF for on your loss educ I always believe this Educators they just don't they don't realize how how much and how how far their influence and reaches and and how how many people they touch and tonight is an example uh of the impact that Jen Lucas had on the community and our school Community um that hole is going to take a long time to get filled um and the shoes that will never be filled there uh but I I I just extent to her and her family are my deepest condolences to uh uh to ules uh martinz his family I I don't even know what to say uh how heartbreaking it is to to lose uh to lose a child um I hope you find the strength to to to move forward and uh cond deepest condolences to the family and and friends um to Mr Jenaro um thank you for being our champion in the absence of Dr Robert toy um a good example of that was what happened a week or so ago when you went went to the zoning board meeting to represent the views of our school system um it was a poor example of what Free Speech should be um you were interrupted you were Jered um everyone has a right to to their opinion and to free speech and I'm glad you were there for us um and and I appreciate appreciate everything you've done um and to the rest of the team Mr shahada and Miss kusal levich thank you for guiding us um these months in the absence of Dr Robert Robert toy um uh just want to bring up one event that nobody's mentioned yet the uh New Jersey North Jersey band Festival will be held at Clifton Stadium on Sunday October 26th 7th uh come on out obviously our band will be there I'm a little partial I think they'll steal the show but regardless there's going to be a number of wonderful young people and wonder of number of wonderful bands on exhibition for you um and that's all I have M we're good we're good okay so the new business is next any new business for anyone okay okay seeing none uh we're going to move into executive session this evening we do have uh personnel and some legal topics to discuss I need a motion to take a possibility 20 minutes motion motion byun commissioner brunc seconded by commissioner Mia Mr President five minute yes you got it five minutes is e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e ohing to close exact want to close EXA he can make it up yeah I was just say I was just saying we've never we've never actually done that so I believe he's made that up oh so many that scared me oh my [Music] God okay we are back from executive session and we are looking for a motion to approve items two through S motion motion second okay mot by commissioner Suarez second by commissioner Mahia roll call Mr shihada M bassford yes Mr Brak yes Mr kova yes Mr Mahia yes Santiago yeso yes Suarez yes president Danny yes president Paris yes motion carries okay motion to adjourn motion second motion by commission second by commissioner B good night everyone for