##VIDEO ID:MlxEeweQyhs## e e good evening ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the January 23rd 2025 general meeting of the Clifton Board of Education please rise for the flag salute and a moment of silence I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the rep for it stands one nation God indivisible andice for all thank you roll call Mr Shad please miss bassford president Mr brunak here Mr Kenova here Dr Danny here Mr Mia here Mr siano here M Suarez here vice president Santiago here president Paris here we have a Corum thank you uh commissioner Mahia could you read the mission statement please sure the mission of the clion school district in an open and reciprocal Community Partnership is to provide all students with quality education to develop the skills necessary to become literate lifelong Learners who are responsible and productive citizens contributing to the Democratic Society and an everchanging world thank you the New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right to the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provisions of this act the Clifton Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting to be publicized by having the date time and place thereof posted at the city clerk's office Clifton Public Library administration building senior citizen Nutrition Center on cable TV and the local press on the district's website and mail to presidents of parent teacher organizations this meeting will be tape recorded in accordance with policy 0168 it's our student representative Mark here I'd like to welcome you up to give your report good evening everybody before I begin my report I would just like to wish everyone a Happy New Year let's continue the successes we've had in 2024 into 2025 uh first of all I would like to address a fairly new fairly important policy at Clifton High School as most Bo board members and parents know a full roll out of the classroom cell phone ban policies imminent at CHS I'm not speaking to inform anyone about the details of the policy that will come in due time for administration I simply want to make it known that student leaders at CHS are making every effort to make sure the roll out is smooth the week of the policy roll out there will be student made videos broadcast on our very own morning news that explain the policy in more detail and some of the benefits of a cell phone less classroom to students these videos will work to improve student attitude which is likely currently apathetic towards the policy second of all Dr Rober toy uh and I met with the super attendant ambassadors early earlier this month it was a productive meeting we discussed many important topics for the upcoming year a brief synopsis of this meeting will follow one of the first issues was the morning breakfast at CHS uh we received some complaints and are now starting to open both K3 and K5 around the same time to alleviate some congestion in the morning and make sure that all the students can sit with their friends and whoever they wish we at CHS are very proud of our extensive breakfast program that serves hot breakfast as well as grab andg go options to hundreds of students day daily secondly a focus group was created to try and get CHS students to check their emails more often uh we noticed that some students fail to check their emails because they feel they may feel like there is no need or because it is cluttered with Google Classroom notifications we are working to inform students that if they don't check their emails they may be missing out on valuable information such as scholarship opportunities finally we are also going to be working to iron out some of the Kinks for wellness days and the upcoming marking periods to finish off I want to give a quick recap of the upcoming Sports and events for CHS there will be a boys hockey match tomorrow at 6 p.m. at American dream and wrestling and basketball both have games this Saturday also CHS theater will be performing Sweeney Todd for the spring musical uh I'm proud to say that more details will be forthcoming at the next meeting regarding that that will be in March thank you all and have a good evening thank you Mark next we have our annual audit presentation am I right is he here or no okay we will come back to him and we'll go to committee reports good um our first committee report is a residency security and Technology uh commissioner I vice president Santiago can you please read the minutes from that meeting thank you president Paris so The Residency security and Technology committee meeting met on uh Tuesday December 10th 2024 seems like such a long time uh the meeting took place on Thursday the 10th and began at 5:04 p.m. in attendance from administration were Mr Jenaro Mr doctor miss zenola Mr Mountain Board of Education members and attendance were myself commissioner Kenova commissioner siano and president Paris Mr doctor explained that since the last committee meeting 14 additional Clifton students have been identified as non- Clifton residents and have been removed from the district since July 1st the district has removed students costing the district 1,597 to this is from 51 Clifton students and six pcti students removed from District responsibility Miss Zola stated that the drill of the month was conducted successfully throughout the district she also mentioned that our transportation department will be going through a 90 uh day free trial of a school bus security system which includes video recording and real-time viewing in emergent situations this trial will be on 10 buses and the results of the trial will be brought to the committee Mr Mountain updated the committee that technology planning for Pope Paul building is currently being developed and designed a discussion occurred concerning search search history on students Chromebooks an issue arose concerning periodic removal from the search history this has been resolved and will be uh will not be uh reoccurring finally Mr Mountain provided an overview of the network security features in regard to student use he briefed the committee on workings of the filter layer relay layer and classroom layer the meeting was adjourned at 5:45 p.m. any questions thank you president Paris thank you vice president Santio uh commissioner Mahia please read the student liaison committee minutes please so the minutes were taken on December 17 2024 at 11:00 a.m. up until 12:00 p.m. at the JFK auditorium at clipton high school um present were um president Alan Paris the chair Tanya Suarez as well as myself Richard Mahia as well as assistant superintendent of of Finance um AED Shahara and Jania calovich uh we also had our CHS PR U principal ahed hamda as well as our vice principal Christopher Keegan and as well as our stud our student teacher ream Ibraham I'm not going to name off the students who were involved but some of the minutes we had welcome remarks Mr hamda and commissioner Suarez welcome the attendees uh we briefly talked about the cell phone policy which raised concerns about the new cell phone policy that we do have uh Mr ham to explained this policy phone pouches will be installed in every classroom and the students must Place their phones in them at the start of each semester he described it as a revolutionary approach to limiting distractions one student noted that many classmates are unhappy with this change and Mr H acknowledge that students concerns and feelings Mr shahada mentioned that similar policies May soon be required ac across all schools by the governor's office another student brought up safety concerns during fire drills and lockdowns noting students need access to phones to contact parents Mr hamda did reassure students that phones would still be accessible between classes and said he would revise security procedures for fullscale evacuations another student asked about phone use during assemblies and Mr hamda stated that phone should be put away as installing holders for 700 students in the auditorium is almost impractical Mr HDA also emphasized that the goal of the policy is to prepare students for real real world exceptions where no phone use will be permitted in bathrooms we then briefly discussed senior parking where a student um requested reinstating a assigned senior parking spots citing confusion when spots are taken midyear Mr hamda explained that removing assigned spots reduce overall issues and ensured every senior with a parking permit could park Mr Keegan did note that this was the student first complaint of the Year whereas parking has been a daily issue previously some of the dress um code and coat concerns was expressed by a student who showed frustration over rules requiring lockers for coats especially for bus students who need to visit their lockers at the end of the day Mr hamda acknowledged the inconvenience and said exceptions have been communicated to teachers to allow students to wear their coats during cold weather particularly for freshmen he will continue to reinforce this Miss gucha Lovich did suggest revisiting the dress code to address outdated policies that we do have another student asked for clarification on defining sleep sleep wear such as sweatpants or flannels Mr Honda said dress Co enforcement focuses on clothing that impacts safety or learning some positive feedback on some of the deadlines we have a student praise the change from 7:30 a.m. due dates um noting that it has been extremely helpful another thing that we briefly talked about was a bike rack request a student requested an additional bike rack and Mr Honda agreed to add this to the list of improvements that we need at the high school another one we do have is student photos in real time a student noted that outdated sixth grade photo roles are still being used and Mr hamda acknowledged the disconnected between lowers or photographers and real time and we will see options to address this issue in the near future we then briefly went over prep rallies requesting bringing back prep rallies that we no longer hold noting other schools have them Mr hamda mentioned the pbsis team is reviewing this and suggesting involving Trevor in the planning progress Mr Paris um does recall after pep R's um being after school and they were a little bit less chaotic and Mr ham agreed to consider this model possibly quarterly um some of the bus activities we had a student asked about Transportation options for students who stay late for activities Mr hamda explain logistical challenges buses cannot reach um the high school up until 4:30 cheer leaning some of the practices are at the annex daily and Miss cuch agreed that additional buses are needed to address this issue we then talked about the link kit usage some students questions the need for link it jesting Google forms as a better alternative but miss cucha lovage did explain that it is essential for Statewide mandated um assessments um tracking growth and decision- making on the student support such as APS and other types of qualifications then we did briefly talk about motivating younger students proposing creating Club where high school students can visit younger students to inspire and motivate them a student also mentioned that we do have something similar which is called Heroes and Cool Kids Miss kovich suggested visiting a former middle school program called This is Your Life which could collaborate with Heroes and Cool Kids uh we then talked about lunch options a student asked for better lunch options for students who skip lunch periods Mr hamda said co- options are currently available and will aim to implement altern is like a hot grabbing go-kart possibly in the main office we then talked about bathroom lines a student mentioned long bathroom lines Mr Hamza said that the electronic Hall path system and new cell phone policy should help alleviate this congestion we then talked about spring Sports Transportation a student raised issues with busting for spring Sports particularly to the stadium Mr hamda suggested staggering times to improve Transportation Logistics and Mr hamda did note that moving weight room/ football practice to the morning should help resolve this issue we then briefly talked about teacher support where two students praised teachers for caring about students well-being and explaining the why behind lessons specifically Mr Henry uh Miss cevich reinforced that all teachers should focus on teaching the why we then briefly talked about college preparation where a student shared positive experience with a teacher structuring classes like college course another student requested better promotion for pre-ol program sharing her experience with NYU and Berkeley programs Mr hamda said counselors play a key role but changing counselors throughout the four years May cost some inconsistencies finally Miss cucha levich mentioned possibly creating a web page for free programs and suggested implementing a crowdsourcing page for students we then had closing remarks by board president Alan Paris where he thanked all the attendees for the import for their input and participation thank you commissioner Mahia anyone questions commissioner so I have four different questions um so one is on the the bathroom lines so we mentioned last time that there was only one bathroom open I believe at the high school at one point has that been alleviated uh yes sir the bathrooms are all open okay um and what Mr Mahia mentioned about the new Pass Program has been very successfully implemented at our middle schools and we'll be going to our high school um shortly okay um for the dress code I know we just adopted a policy that splits up K to5 and 6 to 12 so did they want to take a look at that and and make changes to that as that were they referring to in this they specifically were referring to sleepware like flannel pajamas oh okay want a clarification the dress code and the question was could they be so that's still has to be brought to committee yet all right um P rally just a comment I remember having mine right now where we have that parking off to the right of the gym above that there was a field there and we had ours outside there so I don't know if that's something they still do or whatnot but that I remember that's where we had hard ours um the last thing is the cell phone policy I know we have 5516 it says students can keep it on their person or put it in locker and I know the state says that basically everyone needs a policy now but do we actually have a policy that we roll I know we T we've talked about the pouches but do we actually put that into policy Mr shahad could comment on the governor's office is going to be issuing well the Law's already passed um the do is going to be issuing guidance that's going to take effect 91 reading the law is going to be very strict but they said they're going to give us a lot of leeway on each individual District uh so I'm assuming we're going to get something in hand I would say April May and then we'd have to roll it out to our administrator is to figure out how we're going to implement it all right so we're just doing this preemptively correct we didn't adopt any not that I remember that we no this is done administratively okay through the high school right Mr uh Kenova if I may I just want to reiterate I know you know this but for the public who are listening the policy is written to be more of a a general kind of thing and then the regulations or the superintendent administrative regulations which are more specific so the policy is yeah basically don't want to see the phone but at the Middle Schools they're using using um um they're they're leaving them in their backpacks and putting them in the front of the room and that I I've heard reported success um so while the policy may be General we don't know what the doe is going to say the doe might just say phones aren't allowed that could be problematic I think they're going to give us some leeway on how we enforce it and how we do that so yeah I saw some some people posting online they they interviewed some students students and this it's not the case here cuz we don't pay with phones but some students were paying with phones for things um an instruction was happening based on the phones I think one of those those applications where you I guess like vote on ABCD during a classroom or something I don't know if that's anything we do maybe take a poll from the teachers and see if we're even using that um although we have the onetoone Chromebooks there are some teachers who will have students utilize a cell phone as part of a any given lesson on any given day um we're going to have to get away from that under the new policy and our thing was always listen if we're using it for learning it's okay um but I think most reasonable people would agree that cell phones have become a distraction to say the least yeah uh even for the adults right yeah I when I read about the state using it in for for as a learning tool in the class will be an exception okay so I think they mentioned that in their outline anything else yeah yes Dr Danny well as an educator I I can say about the um you know cell phone policy I mean um again it it works if you know everybody's on board with it because if some teachers are you know a little lack or whatever and I know that you know there'll be guidance coming um forthcoming and then obviously maybe policy created from that um um but you know again the kids they get savvy so they just get the Smartwatch and that's what we're see you know what I mean they have it connected to that so um and just to know on pep rallies um because they talked about bringing them back and we do have them we have a fall and a spring and what we do at the high school is we shave off just um a few minutes out of every class and then the pepper rally is done in the the last block so um Everybody kind of goes last block and then you know dismissed from there so I don't know if that's like a possibility or just bringing that up as a suggestion you know since I wasn't at the meeting um and then just want to say to uh Janina yeah link it um you know we use it in our school and it does provide like a lot of data and it really helps with understanding where students are struggling so unfortunately um I know Google forms is better but it doesn't provide as much data as link it does so thank you thank you so Mr President one one point so I remember we went to Patterson the school in patteron and we presented on security and we said that in the bathrooms on the stall when you close it there's a QR code and there that brings you to a see something say something so if a student didn't want to in class be typing something that they know was going on or happened we we were allowing them to use their mobile phones to do that with this phone policy they're not going to be able to do that any longer is there a way to get that sort of private mode of students being able to report things that they feel like they want to keep to themselves well they they'll be using them in they can use them in between no they they can't they it's well we don't know yet well the law that the governor signed said like not in common areas not on buses so we have to it's really hard to give you an honest answer I just got to say I have a feeling that that's going to change I mean if we're not going to allow kids to use phones on is I mean I think we're getting a little crazy here um and if I have any discretion in that matter that just seems a little ridiculous right um I understand preventing cell phones from being a distraction from learning but let's face it theyve become a part of our lives right and to strip them away um there are adults who have physical addictions where you take their phone away God forbid they leave it in the other room they start going through withdrawal symptoms you know could you imagine we just took it away from our kids overnight Right Chew we would need a lot of chewies we would need a lot of therapy dog so so I'm I'm thinking that um Governor's been very reasonable uh in with educational policies I'm I'm I want to believe that we'll have the discretion that we need to implement it the way we see fit that's best for our district and our kids I hope commissioner Brak yeah the last I read of this the assembly's bill 4882 hasn't moved yet is that not the case did it go up already for a vote assembly voted on and signed thank you mishop B okay so as you all know I'm don't hide it I'm going deaf in my well almost completely deaf in my left ear I'm regulating my hearing aids through my cell phone what happens to a child that uses their cell phone for um insulin or or any kind of electronic things like that you know we have to really be careful and as a mother and as a parent I I am not comfortable with not being able to reach out to my child so I'm hoping when is this supposed to pass by do we know when the guidance is coming down Mr shot it's supposed to be implemented September 1st or SE whatever our first day of school is so those will be exceptions from what I've read so far right but you have one person have a cell phone like I'm just whipped my up to make it because I can't hear you guys right now so I'm making my volume a little louder like and I'm playing with my phone like he's going to sit next to me go well she's got her phone you know we're going to it's it's going to be Troublesome it's really going to it's going to cause a lot of issues so I hope that we have have a voice that we can Advocate down there that we know some people at the doe who are very nice I think they're going to they're going to Advocate but I'm just saying that you know uh I'm sure that we can rally our troops and get you know to be reasonable about things and I'm sure as a parent I would want to be able to reach out to my kids once I'm assuming the state board will see a guidance at some point point and if I'm able to I will share with the administration and get feedback on it commissaris thank you president Paris um regarding technology and IEPs and disabilities or rather disabilities usually they are needed for IEP so to your point commissioner Bas I think that'd be a great Avenue for parents to advocate for their child to have technology to support disabilities um because that is necessary and Technology does exist for um other supports so I imagine that can get wrapped up in that as well yeah commissioner sio so what gets me is the notes right so Mr HDA emphasize that the goal of the policy is to prepare students for real world expectations this is the real world you not using your phone like we don't use our phones here but they're here that's the real world expectation you're not asking me to put my phone in the back of the room and not have access to it that's what's throwing me off here if we're trying to prepare them for the real world the real world is you have your phone on you but you don't use it that's the real world that's the way when I think this comes out I think this discussion is going to be even funner because I think we're going to be one of the districts that have a lot to say about this uh just going around the room now it's not even implemented yet we're already saying that a lot of us don't agree with this um but that's the one that if we're preparing the students this is how you prepare them you can't use your phone during class on your way to another class there's no reason you you can't have your phone in your hand on the bus there's no reason during an an assembly or something why can't you take a selfie or something that's what people do now that's the real world right coming from the selfie King as I've been announced right it's just like that's what people do um that's the real world expectation so I just think this is going to be a very fun conversation when the time comes president Santiago then commissioner sarez yeah um as we've been talking about I think there's probably going to be a bunch of iterations from here to when we get anything to even then start this conversation again again I mean we should just wait and see um we're coming up with common sense stuff we're not the only Common Sense people in the world or common sense District I mean everybody's going to have the same questions and who knows what it's going to look like by the time we get to get to that um but to commissioner seo's point I mean we say that now we have teachers here we have teachers who tell them don't touch the ask them it's being done that's the whole reason why this is happening and I think like upwards of 90% of teachers or Nea members or whatever are in support of this because it's so distracting but I think there's just a lot of time from here to there and we can just discuss it then commiss suus thank you uh just regarding um students having it I know what H with a conversation that was part of the liaison committee um that actually was in connection to bathroom issues was CH students were texting one another meet me here making lines longer making bathroom visits longer um so that was part of the conversation as as well just just to give you a another insight as to how it has become a distraction outside of learning Mr par than you yes and just my last comment on this not to blavor it but miss SARS that exact example you just gave is something that is prevented with what we're utilizing at the middle schools and I can't remember the name of the product right now if anybody knows it could Shout It Out smart smart past thank you so smart past is a is a program that we piloted at our middle schools this year in short it's a past system where a student needs to leave the room say to go to the restroom they go to their teacher they scan out go scan with their ID or is a code no it's right on the computer it's on the computer they go they come back scan back in sounds simple right but here are some of the crafty things it does you and I uh have a problem we had a bullying incident or we have a conflict Administration can put in the system that you and I can't be out together so if you're in the restroom and I ask my teacher to go to the bathroom and I go to scan out it's going to pop up on the screen saying you have to wait that's I mean that's that alone is something that that we can utilize for bullying anytime we have a cease and desist between students who are having a problem or they just happen to know that Joe and Mark go to the bathroom third period every day because they're fooling around who knows what that crew would be doing but so when Mark's out Joe can't get out right and of course there's always discretion if it's an emergency Joe's jumping up and down I gotta go I gotta go the teacher has discretion but um and it does a lot of other things but that was the thing that sold me and just in my uh when I was at Columbus a few weeks ago just in some informal conversations I have with teachers you know teachers typically they they're done with new things like they give us anything more new except this overwhelmingly I heard positive things about so uh and that's coming to the high school okay all right um moving on we're going to go to our presentation this evening which is our annual audit presentation Mr lurch hello everyone hello okay so I'm here to present the results of the audit uh which was just completed for the year ending June 24 um I'll give you a brief presentation if anybody has any questions by all means you can stop me uh or we can wait to the end and kind of go through that um so I will start off by saying that the district received unmodified opinions on aits financial statements uh including single audit uh internal controls and compliance in accordance with governmental auditing standards and single audit um controls and compliance what that generally means is that there were three opinions that were presented in the audit report that everyone should have received the very first opinion is is the overall opinion on the financial statements the next opinion is the governmental auditing standards opinion on internal controls and compliance and then because we meet certain thresholds on expenditures and I'll get into that in a second of state and federal programs it requires a and it triggers a single audit what what's identified as a single audit um so there were no significant deficiencies noted in the internal controls during the audit um I think that and we'll talk about this at the very end we'll talk about the the the two comments we have in the report um one thing I do want to mention before we talk about single audit a little bit and some of the other testing items this is just just to reiterate again that the Board of Education received the certificate of excellence and financial reporting from the 2003 audit report that was submitted and the plan is to submit the 2024 report as well so that's terrific to see as well um that is a great accomplishment so going into state and federal single audits just a brief overview um what does that really mean it really means that that that anytime you have expenditures which exceeds $750,000 in either federal or state programs it triggers additional testing and really what that means is that we need to now go and not only do the financial testing that we do and we do compliance testing for New Jersey laws because there's plenty of them as as you all understand and know um when it comes to procurement and those type of items but when we do a single audit we also have to then deal with the state and federal compliance supplement so $750,000 is actually it's a very low number um just to kind of give you an understanding as to where we are in Clifton um Clifton expended more than $156 million on the state side so of course that's triggering these major programs um a major program um for for Clifton is elevated up to $3 million so we have to look at any program that's in excess of $3 million we go through a risk assessment we determine which programs we identified as high risk and then we'll test those programs and we can replace risks with some other smaller programs so we tested state aid which is what we're typically going to test that's a majority of the money that's coming through the system uh General state aid uh and then we also attested the fer component um that's the state Side Federal side you had one point uh you had $38 million of expenditures through the federal programs um here we tested which is probably at the tail end here um the arpa money the American Rescue plan money through the the covid periods um the district did receive over $39 million of those funds over that period of time um so th this is now really the last of those expenditures the majority of that money needed to be spended or committed by the end of the school year uh but we did test then we did test the remaining components of the arpa money uh the Esser money the cares and we also looked at the food service and Ida programs and so there's a significant amount of testing that goes into those Federal programs um and I'm happy to say that we had no deficiencies no compliance issues there's nothing reported because if we did have deficiencies of of issues um during the Yota process they would have clearly been reported its requirement uh as as part of the process um so that's a huge accomplishment as well um moving along um capital projects obviously the board knows you you you've had a tremendous amount of expenditures um based on the capital project at6 $68 million project that the board has been um uh adhering to or spending through um the majority of the expenditures in that project occurred during our fiscal year of audit over $88 million had been expended through the financial statements uh for the fiscal year ending June of of 24 um the balance that remained as of June of 24 was only $27 million of of remaining balance of the 168 million I'm sure that number is much lower today since we're almost 7 months past that uh reporting uh financial statement uh period that we're talking about which was June um so there was a tremendous amount of activity through that um and I think I talked about that a little bit uh last year as well so with with such a large procurement you've got to deal with all the purchasing the contracts and and the public uh contract law um there's a lot of hurdles to go through a lot of Hoops um and you know Clifton's come through it and and come out really looking very good from that perspective as well it's very nice to see it's unusual uh especially with the amount of activity that as I indicated has gone through that process um one of the other programs we operate is is the food service for for the children of the district um here we had a loss of $960,000 in the fiscal year but still the net position was at $5.9 million so that's the uh net position available in that Enterprise fund um talked a little bit about covid what I want to talk about before I talk about the two comments or recommendations is just talk about fund balance a little bit and that's really I'm going to go into and I don't know if the board has the report or not doesn't really matter for me um but I'm going to look at the at page 72 of the report and Page 72 of the report is the budgetary comparison schedule and this is really your operating budget and the operating fund how did we do we collect most of the monies goes through the operating fund if it's not designated uh into into a separate fund um and the expenditures and how does that relate what happened during the year so during the year the district had a neck change in fund balance to the positive of 9,610 th000 so it was a very large increase in the total Equity total Equity or fund balance went from 24 million to $44 million at the end of the year and then how do we allocate what is the $44 million made up of how does it get distributed or broken down so we are limited the board is limited to retaining unreserved or free balance uh 2% of your expenditures or our modifications that that uh play into that dollar value basically speaking 2% is about $4.5 million you can retain but then there are exceptions to the rule if we don't budget certain uh Reven new line items and that's how we got to 6.2 million relatively unchanged from the year before so $6.2 million of the 44 is what's left as a free balance um then I'm going to just go up this up the scale here I'm want to go through the progression um we have Surplus which is designated meaning that it's utilized in the budget which in the current year that we're in so right now we're in the 2425 school year $966,000 of fund balance is being utilized to balance the budget incumbrances of 5.4 million encumbrances is simply goods and services that were ordered not yet delivered or performed a prime example would be our audit contract so we have a contract with the Board of Education uh we're not performing those Services until after the year end but you're reserving those monies and knowing that we have contracts or obligations that are out there that have to be um satisfied once those services are performed the the next item is unemployment relatively unchanged from the year before $241,000 it's just money that's set aside for future unemployment claims um this has been an AB bance for a while as well it really got tied into the covid period again uh the state had suspended all unemployment claim payments from from school districts um and I think they're still trying to figure out whether or not they're going to use their remaining covid funds uh to satisfy any of those outstanding claims uh that could be out there but irregardless this $241,000 that's set aside for future claims um if you need to make those then we're going to go up into the reserves the maintenance reserves so the maintenance Reserve obviously as it's indicated it's it's the idea is to be able to set aside funds to maintain the facilities um last year we ended the year with $2,610 in maintenance Reserve this year we ended the year with $3.4 million in maintenance Reserve it's basically up 1.4 million and really that's up from the amount of money that was transferred at the end of the fiscal year 24 so as board members you should remember that in June there is a resolution that's being presented on on on an annual basis which the business administrator uh puts forth and says excess earnings that we have during the fiscal year we'd like to red diert or divert some of those excess funds into an either an emergency reserve a maintenance Reserve or capital reserve and so that's how that got increased by the $1.4 million based on that uh resolution the maximum that you can retain there is 8.2 million so you know we're not at the maximum number at this point yet relatively easy to get at the maintenance Reserve can go through the budget process or if there's additional things that happen during the year then you can appropriate Surplus to to do some of those improvements um the last item is as we go through the progression is the capital reserve and this is the reserve that's set aside for facility improvements um in every every District in the state as utilizing as you should um last year when we were here we had a total capital reserve balance of roughly $10 million um this year it's increased uh by $18 million to $28 million so that's where the bulk of that money is now at this point um of the $28 million roughly $8 million is being utilized in the current year so it was appropriated when you developed your 2425 budget so that's being right now being utilized being spent down um so in essence really we're starting going forward now with roughly $20 million in capital reserve depending upon what happens during the year if you have any other emergent needs or if you do a resolution and you appropriate additional funds into that capital reserve um that capital reserve is limited by your long range facility plan um right now the one that I have and uh it's showing at a maximum of around $40 million um so you're not you know you're not there yet um but that's a healthy Surplus and a healthy uh uh Reserve um so I think financially you're very sound um clearly um you're on good footing uh I think we have two comments in here um none of of a major magnitude but comments nonetheless that we put into the report and those you would find on the smaller report which is the administrative findings Finance compliance and performance reporting the first one deals with accounts payable and accounts payable sub uh reporting um and how that reflects with what's being supported in the general ledger so without getting too too too uh complicated on it um the general ledger is the accounting books of the district and then what we have is subsidiary reports ATT tying to some of the control accounts so a control account would be an accounts payable or an encumbrance um what we're looking to look at is that when we're also going to test those balances but we want to make sure that the the balances that are being reported in the financial statements the board secretar report the general ledger are supported by detailed reporting Ledger a detail list and we had some uh discrepancies in a out that was reported in in the general fund the project fund and the special Revenue fund um after talking to the administration and realizing what happened the year before um with some of the issues that you had I think really the director or or probably the biggest issue was part of the roll over that Ur last year when we had some compromised data and so that I think is what's reflective in what we've had we've done the testing of those balances and we certainly didn't have any exceptions on the testing but internally those reports need to agree um and I think they're fully aware of it and I would be u i I would certainly would not expect to see that as a report item next year as well so um I think that's an anomaly um one of the other items that we test is in Student Activities you know we go through and we test the expenditures um this becomes very Troublesome for Board of educations because um it's not really being controlled at the at the board office um and so what we're doing is we're testing Collections and we're testing expenditures as well um and this is prevalent really in almost every school and I think this part of again the residuals of covid um so when we did some of our testing what we've noticed that some payments were made for Student Activity type products which is which is the most important thing now we're not using student funds for non-student activity expenditures but what's happening is is that and um some of those expenditures were were were charged on a credit card of an individual um at the school um and the product was mail to the individual's home so any kind of um you know goods or services that are being ordered ideally should be done through the Student Activity account it shouldn't be on a personal credit card and then look to get reimbursed and those goods and services that of course are going to be delivered to the home address um but you know like I said we're we're having a hard time we're seeing it almost in every single District as well um that's one of those things that you know we have to relearn again that you know we're Beyond this covid period we need to now get back to what is so-called normal if there is a normal um but um so those are the two comments I have and I think that you know in summation uh clearly when you look at the size of the the transactions as I said 88 million in just in that one particular fund and you know we're talking a tremendous amount of expenditures and transactions and activity uh I think that again you know the the board has run very well um and you're certainly in fine Financial footing as well so um I think everything's looking up for the Clifton Board of Education I don't know if anybody has any questions thank you Mr L yes any questions from the board yeah Mr President commissioner can uh I have a question on uh the personal accounts so is that referring to if I'm a a teacher or a principal and I purchase something for the school on my personal account and then I'm asking for an expense report is that what you're it's not really what I'm referring to but it could be that too though because that's really prohibited as well so ideally what we're looking for is that any kind of student expenses are being transacted through the student books and what we're talking about is Student Activity related uh events or or uh basketball or uh baseball or any other activity related events those advisers made purchases on their own credit cards and got reimbursed so we tested we found three exceptions none of them were material I mean it's not like we looked at something and we saw you know somebody who was who was doing a class trip to DC and it got reimbursed $60,000 on a credit card because you know that was a more efficient way to do that that would raise all kinds of bells and whistles and we'd have a different conversation we're doing a random sample we we saw three of them nothing of significant dollar amount we just felt that it was important to let you know that this is something that needs to be dealt with um at best you can is that something now they go to Administration for sure I was actually just going to speak on that it was actually uh one of our clubs that ordered something for that specific club and I think it was 100 bucks 50 bucks 7 it was it was minimal nominal in the grand scheme of things um we have since then implemented new guidance to all the administrators everything even Student Activity related is running through my hand so I touch every single reimbursement that is going out it is timec consuming but just so we don't end up here again so we are in a much better place and Danny Dr Robert toy and administration have been extremely supportive is pbsis handled that way too now okay Mr Paris any yes may Dr thank you Mr Lurch good to see you again nice seeing you too thank you so much for that report um while I have a couple principles here in the audience guys what you hear is why we talk to you about these things it seems minimal but it matters because it it it's audited right and Student Activities Mr Lurch just for everybody you mentioned it but like it to mention again it is something that is an issue in every almost every District correct it's there to sub magnitude it certainly it seems to be always something with Student Activities because as you mentioned it's it's somewhat out of our control but I am confident in the protocols that we put in place to prevent that um so for me and most of the audience who understood about 10% of what you said tonight 10% is good and I went to school for a long time um we're in pretty good shape you are I think you know from both aspects right so fiscally when you look at that Surplus and that capital reserve um you that's terrific um you know you did a big project project right and so now you're going to have to deal with all the other projects that come along and for Clifton you know those are larger dollar values so somebody may look at you know $20 million and say oh that's that's a tremendous number but if you're going to compare that to a a k to8 District well yeah it would be but it's all relative in size so um you know I think that that's the key right yeah you're able to then maintain and improve the the the services you're trying to provide the facilities uh but then from an accounting perspective and trans actional perspective uh again it's it's this is not an easy report to come up with with the final results of where you are um you know a tremendous amount of time I mean you're talking you're talking over 400 hours of of of man and woman time so yeah it's it's it's a lot of lot of time a lot of documents we look at so and uh Mr Lurch last thing when you say um the two recommendations that neither of them are material um that means that a a material uh recommendation would be a major flaw is that another way to that you would would say it is that fair yeah that is a fair way to to describe it um from my perspective you know material could be two things one is a dollar value materiality right so but really what's more important is the systemic issue right so do we have a control problem that we're seeing that could lead to a larger issue financially right so that's and if that was the case it would be sitting in your in your gas opinion and we' either have some kind of compliance or an internal control violation that um you know that we're not adhering to that we feel unchecked could lead to a larger issue and so these things are smaller and they're only in the AMR and so that's where you're seeing them you're not seeing them in those other opinions if if there was a real problem you would go to that gas opinion and you'd read through that and look that there's no issues on compliance or internal controls being reported so that's important to see as well as the superintendent I'm very pleased to to hear this audit report and I I believe the board is to of course you guys can speak for yourselves but on behalf of the administration I want to thank Mr shahada our assistant superintendent for business his entire department for uh almost the Flawless audit on uh almost a $300 million budget in a district that might be the 10th or 11th largest District in the state 1,800 staff 11,000 students um um outstanding job Mr shahada and uh grateful to have you on our team thank you very very [Applause] much anyone else thank you Mr Lurch thank you and uh we do appreciate the opportunity to serve the district as well so good night everyone thank you uh we're going to move to public recognition Mr shotti said we we don't have a virtual one today right correct so I just need a motion from somebody to suspend policy 0167 just a virtual portion please I'll make the motion to spend 0167 motion to suspend by commissioner bassford seconded by commissioner Kenova all in favor uh so moving to public recognition yes he can come now he can come now for public recognition no you missed it he was he's raising his hand though yeah Mark you'll come up now and you can come up at public recognition when he makes the announcement he's he's there with his hand up and I'm I want to like Wasing yeah no it's okay uh so this is I guess directed more to just close the virtual portion just we got you don't worry we got you though I need to open the public portion here so one moment 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 are directly related to the operation of the Clifton Public School System 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 in one appropriate the board asked 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 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 or identified in their comments and be aware that they are legally resp responsible and liable for their comments all right yeah so um this was just a question I guess to to direct it towards Mr shahada regarding the personal accounts so uh you mentioned that the clubs uh personally I do I'm a president of the investment club and we purchase snacks to uh sell and that is something I purchase through my own personal account and that I get reimbursed for so moving forward will will that still be allowed or uh is that going to be changed um it is going to be changed and I am working through that specifically at the high school because you guys just it's monstrous over there with 550,000 clubs so I'm working with Mr hamda to try to figure out a way to do it so we are in compliance and none of us go to jail yeah I understand so there will be more uh on that in the future and if anything I should talk to Mr Honda regarding that policy yes okay thank you so much thank you Mark anyone like to speak um no you want to wait only because I know what you're here to talk about and you might want to wait for personnel um okay anyone else I appreciate the excitement though right employes good evening my name is Martha Andrea Oro and I'm kindergarten teacher in the district I'm here to discuss the Clifton education association's pep and fast programs uh pep which stands for public education partnership aims to highlight the achievements of our Public Schools while fostering a community support and involvement uh families and schools together work for children is simply known as fast that's our other program that encourages family engagement in education supports academic progress and promotes a welcoming environment in all our schools the ca consists of our teachers par professionals nurses guidance counselers and various other educational support professionals I would like to take this opportunity to highlight some of our events that we have sponsored these include the veterans brunch at WRA Wilson which cost 1,497 and88 cookies with Santa at school 17 where we had a professional photographer offer free um photographs with Santa for the families for 1,490 56 uh dinner with Santa at school 12 where we provided dinner and handed out a free toy to every child totaling $ 3, $68.7 additionally we have been committed to Don donate $2,000 worth of food for the little uh for the three free little pantries in Clifton that for February that we saw this great initiative brought up at one of your previous board me uh meetings furthermore we are proud to support the drama clubs at both middle schools so we are here to announce that we are providing all senior citizens free admission to our Middle School's drama um shows for the spring and we encourage everyone to come out and enjoy the performances of our talented students this here as you can see what we did in just in November and December how the CA and our volunteers are here to donate our time and create a fun welcoming events for Clifton Community sorry uh we have many more events planned throughout the year and we hope to see many of our families enjoy thank you thank you so much would anyone else like to approach the podium of course good evening to all my name is Lori Lama and I'm the president of the cea tonight's discussion has to do with immigration there are the critical steps school districts and staff in New Jersey should take to protect students and ensure compliance with the state and federal laws regarding ice Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents these are the key points immediate notification if ice agents arrive at a school staff should immediately inform the school administrator and the district superintendent verify credentials and purpose staff should request information from Ice agents about their credentials the purpose of their visit and any documentation authorizing School access warrant requirements ice agents cannot enter a school without a judicially signed War warrant or a recognized exception to a warrant warrants must be viewed by the school district's legal council to determine their validity a legitimate warrant must be signed by a judge and specify the correct I highlight correct date and location administrative IM immigration warrants which are not signed by a judge do not Grant ice agents access to school property policy updates school districts are encouraged to revise Pol uh policies to protect students during registration and while on school grounds super superintendents and school boards should consult legal counsel to prepare for changes in Immigration policies the cea will be sending membership important information to ensure proper handling of such situations schools should be proactively communicated policies and updates for families in their preferred language to build trust and keep them informed these measures aim to safeguard students rights ensure compliance with the law and provide a safe and supportive educational environment the associations throughout the state recognize Our obligation to our students and to their parents who entrust us with their education and their safy every day we will never be deterred from standing up for the students in New Jersey all right okay super orto ad in imig inter JY anyone else anyone else would like to speak this evening motion to close motion to close by commissioner bassford second and by m m all in favor I okay um we're going to move to adoption of minutes from the December 5th meeting and I'm also going to couple that with the January 2nd meeting I do have a statement concerning the January 2nd meeting I'd like to State for the record that an amendment was made to the minutes from the organizational meeting which was the uh January second meeting this amendment is reflected in the minutes we're approving tonight and is also notated in the board secretary's office uh the item change amendment was under item B1 Professional Services section three appointments appointment of board secretary and assistant board secretary commissioner Suarez abstained from voting on the reappointment of uh Ahmed shihada so looking for a motion to approve those motion second motion by commissioner brunak second by commissioner Mahia roll call Mr shahad M bass yes Mr brunak yes Mr kova Dr Danny yes yeso yes M Warz vice president Santiago yes president Paris yes motion carries Dr abosi thank you uh Mr President uh first I'd like to apologize um to the Commissioners and Community for being a few minutes tardy tonight I was on the phone um with a parent um it just took a little longer than expected so my apologies uh for being late um I want to thank uh all of those who came out to our first strategic planning meeting on January 9th um we had a great turnout of Staff um a variety of stakeholders who came out uh parents and community members um to identify the strengths of our district and the areas where we need Improvement and we're not shy to admit that there are certainly areas where we need to improve um so thank all of you for coming out and I strongly encourage if you can to please come out to our next meeting which is the second of three scheduled meetings which will take place on February 6th at 700 p.m. at Clifton High School uh if you at the first meeting we hope to see you again if you couldn't make it that's okay you're still more than welcome to come to the next one if you can't make the next one come to the third one we would love to uh hear your voice um and also thank you to um Miss Oro spoke to tonight about the uh the pep and the fast uh grants from CA so thank you to um to miss Oro and the ca for not only providing all of these things for our our students and families but they Al also provided the refreshments that night for our strategic planning meeting so thank you very much for that more importantly for all the things you do for our students um continuing on with my report I'm I'm pleased to report that our referendum projects are almost all complete um there are still a couple big things going on like the woodro Wilson excuse me the Christopher Columbus uh Auditorium um but most of the items left are some of the smaller uh things like electrical components that are needed for a few schools uh we need psng to do a switch over and they do that on their own time um on their own schedule uh but we anticipate final completion of of our referendum projects by the summer of 2025 so let me take that and put that into perspective this community on April 20th 2021 voted overwhelmingly to approve what at the time was the largest referendum in the history of New Jersey $168 million to improve the district's facilities since then we have upgraded the heating ventilation and Air conditioning systems in every educational space in the district we've renovated every bathroom in the district not only to make them look aesthetically pleasing but to be ADA Compliant Ada is the American Disabilities Act we've completed building enhancements such as school security VES vestibules at every school we've completed enterpr comprise level surveillance cameras in all buildings both exterior and interior and when I say we've completed they'll all be done by summer of 25 we've upgraded our em emergency notification systems and PA systems in all our buildings both Middle School auditoriums completely renovated as I mentioned Columbus is in is in progress right now and if you haven't seen uh the completed wood Auditorium came out beautiful and Columbus is also going to be um pretty amazing nice place for our students and staff and community members to to come out and and join us for a show or for any event an addition of an elevator at CCMS it will be done by summer of 25 a state of the-art wait room at the stadium a new turf baseball field and soccer field at woodro Wilson Middle School with the addition of a Fieldhouse those of you who remember what our varsity baseball field looked like before that it was a little scary and boiler upgrades at in several buildings which definitely came in handy this week uh for sure and again a line I always use nobody really cares about the boilers until a week like this and and one goes there down um there are other projects that were completed those were were the biggies and um it it's amazing the amount of work that was accomplished during that time I I I thank um the Board of Education and previous board members for their support um I thank all of our faculty and staff for their patience um some more than others were inconvenience depending on the school so uh really fantastic stuff some other good news I was recently informed that um Mr Andy Jagger the principal of woodro Wilson Middle School has been selected to receive the prestigious New Jersey music educator Association School administrator award Mr Jagger was nominated and selected because of his significant contributions to music education within our one Clifton Community uh in our district and Beyond actually the njmea recognized Mr Jagger's exceptional dedication to supporting the Arts and fostering a thriving music program for our students so congratulations to Mr Jagger truly is a an inspiring award uh and your leadership if you're out there Mr Jagger well I know you're out there if you're watching your leadership inspires us all including me uh and it underscores the importance and what this District believes in about Arts education in shaping a well-rounded creative and accomplished youth group young people uh so congratulations Mr Jer we will recognize him at a future uh our future Awards meeting on February 20th thank you I want to address a um a two more serious issues um the first is I'm sure um I know our staff have noticed and I'm sure our board has noticed and our community has noticed that there has been a recent uptick in um non-credible threats to schools this is not just occurring in Clifton this is occurring all over our state and and and national uh perpetrators um are using apps uh to manipulate manipulate their voices and phone numbers to call in fake threats in order to cause a disruption and to scare people um they also want to see what the responses both on the school districts end on the police's end I want to assure the community especially our parents who send their kids to school every day that we are doing everything in our power to make sure your kids are safe while they're with us and to our staff we're doing everything in our power to make sure that you are safe as well these tactics aren't new but technology has made it more difficult to apprehend suspects and artificial intelligence has become more sophisticated making it more difficult to trace some of these apps and and phone numbers and things like that but any threat we get whether it's deemed cred rible or non-credible is investigated by the Clifton police department and additional agencies um I have been assured by the CPD and I have no reason not to believe because we have an outstanding relationship with the Clifton Police Department um that they've made progress on some of these threats and some of these investigations um they will continue to pursue these means we might not hear about it for months months at a time and then one day you're going to hear and I won't forget because as soon as they make an arrest we're going to we're going to announce it and we're going to uh make sure that the community knows that that we didn't forget um it's important to know that as a school district we respond accordingly we have protocols that are very clear but also allow us to be flexible in how we respond but any threat we involve the Clifton Police Department before we make any decisions the Clifton police alongside the administration make the final determination as to whether a threat is credible or noncredible sometimes that can be determined in minutes sometimes it takes hours but as soon as um our school day is disrupted by a threat um we do our very best to try to resume normal school activities as soon as possible while making sure that everyone is safe and that we're not just um that that we follow the proper threat assessments and make sure we do everything that we can do so um it's been a lot it's very frustrating from the administration's end I'm sure it's very frustrating from faculty and staff and students um that their days are disrupted it's unfortunate that this is a society that we live in that that people do this for for fun um but we will always respond and we will and we will always make sure that our people are safe we'll do everything we can so if anybody has any specific concerns or questions of course you can always reach out to me but I'll probably reach out to our director of security so you might as well reach out to her first anyway our director of Safety and Security is Megan uh she can be reached at 973 874 2223 or at MZ zenola Clifton schools.net it's that old adage if you see something say something it may not it may seem small it may seem minimal but it could be the one thing that we need or that the police need to crack the case so we're aware you're aware please know where doing our best and I'm sorry that we even have to deal with this and then finally tonight um I want to take a moment to address a topic that many school leaders have been discussing uh this week Miss Lama mentioned it both in English and in espanol tonight uh I will not be doing that um but I think it's important because I want people to hear from me as the district's educational leader um and the topic is regarding uh the recent decision by uh the president of the United States to resend the Department of Homeland Security's policy that restricted immigration enforcement in schools and other protected areas like hospitals so prior to this decision there were areas like schools and hospitals and other churches that were deemed um safe zones meaning meaning immigration would not conduct their work in these zones that um that policy has been rescinded and but now it is unclear and I think that's what's causing some people fear it is unclear whether this policy change means that ice or the Immigration and Customs Enforcement uh agency we don't know whether they will take action on school property but just the mere possibility of it happening has caused members of our community many that I've heard from to have concern and to have fear so while I can't do anything about federal policy what I can do is I can assure you what the Clifton school district is doing about this so let me do my best to ease some of the concerns first of all back in 1982 the United States Supreme Court issued a very famous decision in the case called pler vers doe which basically said that all children regardless of immigration status have the right to a public education schools cannot deny a public education based on immigration status the majority of the US Supreme Court at that time and by the way it was a five to four Decision One vote the other way and we'd be living in a much different [Music] world the majority of the Supreme Court at that time was wise enough to know that if we prevented a segment of society from getting an education that the results for those students who one day would become adults would be devastating not only for them but for our society as a whole imagine having a a segment of our population not receive an education so because of the United States Supreme Court decision when a parent registers their child for school I'm not sure if people know this but we don't ask whether their their citizenship status we're not permitted to ask their citizen ship status and quite frankly don't take this the wrong way we don't really care what your citizenship status is we're going to educate your children and the reason why I'm saying that is so we don't even know if a student is a citizen we have no record of it if anybody came knocking on the door and asking so ice don't come to Clifton we don't have the record we don't know in addition there's a federal law called furpa or the feder uh family education rights and privacy act it protects the privacy of student educational records and restricts the sharing of personally identifiable information without parental consent now why is that important because although we don't ask if a student is a citizen there may be something in a student's file um that inadvertently indicates whether or not they're a citizen so what's important to know is that furpa explicitly supersedes any state or other federal law that conflicts with the attempt to mandate the release of protected student data additionally furpa generally prohibits schools from sharing Student Records with immigration or law enforcement that mean generally then means that unless a parent allows us to or unless there is an order signed by a judge we don't share Student Records with anyone and you see that lady right there she's all a 4 foot 10 95 lbs but I know that she almost got arrested in a main office high school because she refused to give up students records because there was no warrant signed by a judge that was you that was a friend my office it was your office yeah I remember that day very clearly so the law is the law we're going to follow the law and furpa protects students privacy so it also means with the exception of limited circumstances we won't allow any federal state or local AG to interview or speak to a student without a parent or with without an appropriate warrant signed by a judge I don't know if that eases anybody's concern but my principles know what to do forget about ice if the CLI Clifton police want to speak to a student we have protocols in place and if somebody's not sure they call me and I call all that that nice lady down at the end who she looks nice but she'll cut you and finally I think it's important to note that despite the rhetoric in our nation right now regarding immigration and I don't care about the politics I don't care if you're Republican Democrat Maga where red hat I don't care doesn't matter despite the rhetoric I would be very surprised if schools become the center of the government's attention on immigration however if it does my duties as a school superintendent and a district leader remains very simple I will provide every child in the one Clifton Community with a learning environment where they feel safe welcome and prepared for a bright and productive future do everything I can under the law to protect our students and our administrative team who I met with yesterday I'm sorry I have it on do not disturb but my children uh have the break have the emergency breakthrough and um I apologize and they know I'm at a board meeting maybe they don't they don't listen to me other people's kids do a better job of listening to me our administrators who I met with um yesterday are on top of this they know what to do and as a team we are committed to uh protecting the rights and well-being of every student in our schools not worried about politics my priority is taking care of our kids our schools will always remain spaces of opportunity for all I hope that if there is someone out there with concerns that maybe something I said tonight might alleviate a little bit of a concern I'm not sure that it will um but I thank you for allowing me the time to share that and now I'm going to do the whole thing in Spanish um Mr shahada you want to share something yes I do I definitely I'm not going to touch that that was a lot more in- depth than we rehearsed earlier but um no So speaking as the assistant superintendent here um I know during our meeting yesterday the commissioner of Education sent down some really in-depth guidance something that we haven't always gotten from past Commissioners so I know that our administrative team is is coming through that and it's going to do a great job of implementing it and and safeguarding our students and I also just have a pre-written statement of something I just uh felt that we should share as somebody who's in charge of all the facilities in the district and you know a large portion of our staff um you know the Clifton Board of Education is steadfast and its commitment to ensuring that every student in our district regardless of background Identity or circumstance is protected and supported we recognize our legal and moral responsibility to provide a safe inclusive and highquality environment educational environment that is free from any political interference Our obligation is clear to educate and Empower all students consistent with constitutional protections issued by the Supreme Court in 1982 as a district we remain Vigilant in safeguarding our schools as safe spaces where students can Thrive academically and socially without fear or Prejudice we will continue to uphold these principles and work collaboratively with our community to ensure that every student has the opportunity to succeed and our offices are in constant communication with the doe and I am confident that we will have a resolution or some guidance that we can share with the district that is a little more reassuring than what you guys are hearing online thank you president thank you Mr shahada got pick it up man I will in a second um so um thank you uh Mr shahada um finally uh tonight by the way I don't think I said anything controversial there's no politics here I'm we're going to protect kids right um and if anybody thinks that's controversial then you know what to do with it um there was something else I wanted to say um oh just Mr Paris uh after Personnel gets voted on tonight we do have a couple staff members in the audience who were couldn't wait till I stopped talking so that we could vote on Personnel so I'm going to stop talking right now and I'm so happy somebody brought me flowers um Mr uh president Paris can we move Personnel first this so this change the order please thank you okay um sorry to Personnel we are going to I'm looking for a motion to approve items one through with me one moment one through 38 motion motion by commissioner Mahia secondz commissioner sarez thank you uh roll call Miss oh discussion anyone okay roll call Mr shahada M passord um voting yes on everything and abstaining on my name only on P35 thank you Mr Brak yes Mr Kenova yes Dr Danny yes Mr Mia yes Mr siano yes abstaining on P35 my name only Mr Suarez yes abstaining on P11 P35 my name only and P36 vice president Santiago yes abstain on P36 president Paris yes I'm standing on two standing myself on 35 and abstaining on 36 motion carries thank you I would like to invite up anyone would like toh say a word at this point in time good evening everyone um president Paris vice president Santiago Commissioners Dr Roberto Mr Jenaro Miss kuchel levit and Mr shahada my name is Courtney spini and I'd like to take a moment to express my sincere gratitude for the opportunity to be appointed as the first assistant principal for school school 11 school 11 is known as the heart of the community which is so fitting as its students families and staff have been a part of my heart since the beginning of my career it is both an honor and a privilege to step into this new role and continue the great work that is happening in our building I have spent nearly a decade serving the community of school 11 as both a teacher and as an administrative intern this year in this time I've been able to work on numerous projects serve on all committees and Implement our robust pbsis program to help the wonderful children in our school succeed I've had the privilege of collaborating daily with my principal Miss shabby beginning last year with my academic internship and I look forward to continuing and further developing the work that we have already begun as well as incorporate the skills that I have learned in admin Academy to work toward achieving our school's Vision I also have greatly benefited from a year of classes with Professor robertto I'm so grateful to not only have the mentorship but the confidence that Dr robertt toy Mr jenero and Miss shabby have in me and providing me this opportunity this extraordinary opportunity to be of Greater service to our district I'd like to thank all of my incredible colleagues and mentors that I have been fortunate enough to learn and grow from throughout my tenure and I truly appreciate the guidance and support that I have received from my fellow staff and administrators lastly I'd like to thank my family for their unwavering support especially this past year as I embraced motherhood and and a new career again I thank you for this opportunity and in this new capacity I'm very eager to help the students celebrate their strengths and achieve their goals making a stronger one Clifton thank you congratulations is saw the little guy here earlier it's bedtime I just had to shut my uh baby monitor alarm off okay all right congratulations thank you is your anyone else out there who would wishes to speak hello everybody my name is edua Suarez um I am appointed as the new assistant principal of school 12 Annex I want to start by sincerely thanking the Clifton Board of Education Dr Rober toy Mr Jenaro and the entire interview committee for this incredible opportunity I am truly honored and excited to officially join the Clifton Public Schools family I also want to thank my amazing husband Dany my wonderful daughters scarlet and jasine my beautiful mom Rose your love and support mean everything to me and I'm deeply grateful for each of you I'm thrilled to bring my passion for education to this community and help create meaningful opportunities for our students to succeed and Thrive thank you all for trusting me with this important role I can't wait to get started thank you [Applause] anyone else okay Mr shahad you want to address the group you guys approved my contract too thank you I got you guys on me for another year so good luck thank you Mr shahan speak absolutely congratulations um okay going to go back now to uh next was my announcements I'll hold my comments till the end uh unfinished business seeing none we'll move on um uh we have an expression of condolence for the zelasco family commissioner brunjak could you please read that thank you thank you Mr President whereas on December 4th 2024 the community noted with sorrow the passing of Miss Agnes zasco and whereas Miss zasco had Serv the Clifton Board of Education and the children of CLI Clifton faithfully and consciously for 21 years Miss alasco was a school psychologist in our special education department as a valued member of the child study team AB agie took great pride in her work and she truly made a difference in the lives of both Children and Families she worked with she was always readily available for her students to assist them in any possible way and value and a valued mentor to her colleagues her passion for Education was coupled with the pride of Heritage agie utilized these qualities to inspire students and others by frequently presenting her history of being a child of immigrant parents Aggie's decision to her work and compassion for our students and families made a lasting impact on our community now therefore be it resolved that this resolution be forwarded to her bereev family to serve an as an expression of the great Regard in which Miss alasco was held by the Board of Education the Administration Employees and peuples 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 thank you commissioner Brak um we have another expression of condolence this evening to the palad family commissioner Suarez you please read that thank you president Paris whereas on January 16th 2025 the community noted with sorrow the passing of Mr severon palovich whereas Mr palovich had served the Clifton Board of Education and the children of Clifton faithfully and conscientiously for 33 years Mr palovich was a teacher at Clifton High School of Russian and German and was the youngest vice principal ever hired in the Clifton High School System Mr palovich was known as a staunch disciplinarian he became a renowned coach and excuse me coach in Clifton of the soccer team which he started as well as the tennis team he won many county championships as well as a state title in soccer he was always ultra competitive and gave of himself fully and completely to his players that he mentored with unwavering commitment now therefore be it resolved that this resolution be forwarded to his bed family to serve as an expression of the great Regard in which Mr palovich 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 peruse thank you thank you commissioner Suarez this month is School Board recognition month commissioner bassford you please read the proclamation School Board recognition month in New Jersey whereas the New Jersey school boards Association has declared January 2025 to be school board recognition month a time when all residents can acknowledge the contributions made by our local school board members and whereas the Clifton Board of Education is one of 581 local local school boards in New Jersey which sets policy and overseas operation for public school districts and whereas the clipon Board of Education Embraces the goal of highquality education for all New Jersey public school students and whereas New Jersey's local school board helped determine the educational goals for approximately 1.4 million children in Pre kindergarten through 12th grade and whereas New Jersey's 5,000 local school board members who receive no renumeration that means no money for services acts as advocates for public school students as they work with administrators teachers and parents for the betterment of public education and whereas School boards strive to provide the resources necessary to meet the needs of all students including those with special needs and whereas Boards of Education provide accountability to the public they communicate the needs of the school district to the public and they convey to school administrators The public's expression for the schools and whereas New Jersey can take pride in its schools which rank among the nation's best in key achievement indicators such as National assessment of Education progress scores and the preparation for college through the advancement advanced placement offerings and SST satat assessments now therefore be resolved that the Clifton public the Clifton Board of Education does hereby recognize the services of school board members throughout New Jersey As We join Community Statewide in observing January 2025 as school board recognition month and further and be it further resolved that the clipon Board of Education urges all New Jersey citizens to work with their local Boards of education and Public School staff towards the advancement of our children's education thank you thank you commissioner Bast about a round of applause for our Board of [Applause] Education okay thank you um this month is also Muslim Heritage Month uh commissioner Santiago could you please read that Proclamation yes thank you president Paris whereas on April 29th 2023 Governor Philip D Murphy signed joint resolution number six by the Senate and the general assembly of the state of New Jersey designating the month of January of each year as Muslim heritage month and whereas Muslims are the world's second largest religious group practicing the Islamic faith with approximately 1.8 billion followers representing approximately 24% of the world's population there are about 3.45 million Muslims in the United States from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds the Muslim Community represents 1.1% of the population in the United States and whereas Muslims have made significant contributions throughout history including notable achievements in philosophy mathematics chemistry physics astronomy medicine music architecture literature and the Arts their philanthropy humanitarianism civic responsibility and culture helped to enrich the United States socially economically and historically and whereas there are nearly 300,000 Muslim Americans in New Jersey representing one of the largest Muslim American communities in the United States their contributions help fortify and strengthen the economy and diversity of the people in our state and local communities now therefore be it resolved that the Clifton School District Board of Education affirms January as Muslim heritage month thank you commissioner Santiago all right Commissioners I'm looking for a motion to approve under B education Administration items 1 through 15 motion second motion by commissioner Suarez seconded by commissioner Mahia any discussion commissioner Brak thank you Mr President the only question I have the only um issue that some parents gave me beef about the calendar would that was that it's pretty late in June is that the way is that just the way the calendar Falls or what CU I think the the school year end is ending this year in 2025 June 20th but next year it's ending 2th June 25th so is it just the way the calendar Falls yeah you know uh thank you Mr BR it's a it's a good question and it's one I was also concerned about um depending on the year and depending on whether the religious holidays that we traditionally take off for fall on a weekend or a weekday depends on how late we go in the year so next year just so have happens that several of the religious holidays that we close are on weekdays as opposed to um I think this year there was one that fell on a weekend last year there were two that fell on a weekend so just kind of way the calendar Falls and um if you remember a few years ago I think you were on the board when we did a kind of a calendar review and one of the things we talked about and it became very controversial was not closing for religious holidays uh we did a survey and we got the Community involved and um we had decided pretty overwhelmingly that it it was best to to close on all religious on the on the religious holidays so as to not seem to be favoring one over another um but the the fact of the matter is we we're not required to we do that out of respect for our community's diversity thank you any other discussion commissioner thank you president Paris um I was just I know this year there was a conflict for juneth U because it it connected with the last day of school and logistically it was uh challenging to take off I was curious about for the 25 26 school year um what was the rationale to not have juneth off thank you uh Miss Suarez when uh when we did that calendar review and those who were on the board if if you remember um and can uh back me up on that that was definitely a topic that came up juneth and the discussion centered around the majority of the board at that time if that has changed we can always change it but the majority of the board at that time felt that juneth in particular was a holiday that if students weren't in school to learn something about it that they might not learn about it at all because it was the end of the year typically by June 19th or whenever the day Falls we're we've already started half days and final exams it was decided that it would be better for the kids to be in school now of course we can always revisit that we'll do what what a majority of the board wants to do thank you Dr Rober toi I I see because that this coming or next year it's on a Friday and a half a day um you know I think about how we acknowledge MLK and of course we need to keep that um but you know how often do students you know sometimes there's sports events on that day and it's not acknowledged similarly so I'm thinking if we can acknowledge um you know our black folks in the community our African-American folks in the community as a way to see this as a national holiday um and and commemorate it as such I think that it's a I think it's important for our community um and then if and I don't know if anyone else has the discussion on it I cuz I last year I mean Grant said he was in second grade at the time um my son did not learn about anything I I said I asked him like did you did you discuss anything about juneth he had no idea what I was talking about so he had like a sever conversation at home um so you know I think sometimes it happens in the acknowledgement of if a day is off they may at least ask why the day is off or at least some kind of acknowledgement whereas if the a day of school goes by it seems like another day of school with potentially no acknowledgement um so I'm open to discussion but that's that's my idea and thought of acknowledging it um to honor U the people in our community as may I just add one more thing before Mr Bron I I hear you absolutely hear you and um Administration directs juneth to be discussed whether or not it was discussed in your child's first or second grade classroom I can't be sure but I believe your son um but the other thing is it's not always on the 19th so the state and federal holidays are both different I think New Jersey celebrates it on the day and but the federal holiday is observed on the Monday or that might be vice versa and again no problem if the majority of the board wants to close on to that day it's very simply all it would do is it moves the calendar back another day and we would close on June 26 but I think Mr Brak wanted to say something commissioner Brak that that wasn't the only issue so both my kids they learned about it that day like you know last year I so I just want to let everybody know if administrat directed that that that's fine but they they did learn something good and the thing is too I I think a lot of other districts they don't have it precisely because of the proximity to the end of the of the school year as well so you're going to be extending another school day and we try to be inclusive with everything you know but at some point I I think a decision was made so that's what I recall from the past couple of years regarding the school calendar so I I just want to tell you what what's happened over here CH basford we were I was on the board with uh Dr Danny and Mr Kenova and we were also worried about it was half days learning it was also the heat so my question is are the air conditioning going to be ready by the end of the month in June okay so I'm open for anything it's only one day people are sarking about the 25th now they wanted it earlier but because of all the holidays so I don't know maybe if you have to invoke the whole committee again and revisit the calendar but I I wouldn't have a problem with moving it to the 26th because you this is a year almost two almost two years technically yeah because you don't have to worry about graduation and all the other things that you have to plan for that graduation is always everything revolves around that graduation date once you set it in stone correct that's correct Mr bassia The Graduate even if we um if we don't use the snow days and even if I took a couple days off the end of the year or if I recommended to the board and we did that um graduation would still stay on that day so that that's another variable um to think about is snow days if we don't use what we've done in the past is maybe add a day on Memorial Day weekend to lengthen that and maybe take a day off the end of the year so there are some things you can do with that too but again um calendar is one thing that is the board's prerogative right so I'm happy to do what the majority of the board wants to do um my preference is that students are in school that day and learn about it and maybe Administration has to Mr Brun X says his kids learned Miss Suarez says her son did we just have to do a better job of making sure that something is done uh if we're going to be in school if that's the justification for staying open then I have to do a better job of making sure that something is taught that day please don't if you guys have to St to ad please just you know hey anyone else on this top commissioner so um the other the other piece of it from what I recall is that this also ties to Columbus Day because we said if we give this day as a day off then you need Columbus Day as a day off which is is considered a half day now and the idea was that exactly that I I I remember Jim D even saying it that you know we want people to learn about these days a lot a lot of kids when we talk about Labor Day Memorial Day they don't even know what that means right so um I remember that was the logic around it but again I'm open to revisiting anything but then if you're giving both those days now you're talking about the following Monday you're off instead of that Thursday and people already complaining about a long calendar vice president Santiago so I'm open to discussing that wherever that is policy or wherever that goes to um Columbus Day there is an early dismissal juneth there is an early dismissal not because of juneth however correct right whereas Columbus Day there is an early dismissal because of Columbus Day there's no early dismissal for juneth because of juneth this just early dismissal that whole last week of school whatever that is um can I say something about a different holiday really quickly just to clarify so on the calendar Veterans Day says observed and you know you look at it it says school closed School Clos not school school's not closed on Veterans Day that's just there we observe it but school is open right or else would have said School Clos on account okay thanks um I think perhaps we can get some recommendation options let's say uh to bring before the board to consider and discuss maybe maybe there's a few different options we can look at Mr it's I would recommend you know board passes this calendar tonight and we decide to change it next month it's not I don't think that's a big deal I think there's plenty of notice um but it's a real simple thing unless there are other problems if if it's just juneth it's we close that day and we add a day at the end that that would be really the only thing that would be different or the only other option is to reduce a um instead of three snow days go down to two so that's another option it's really just a matter of whether we close on juneth or not now Dr Rob if I if I could just say I do believe that we have to school has to be done by June 30th so if we run out of snow days I think it happened in Lyndon one year you had to go to school like on a Saturday or something like that we had like four hours on a Saturday so that's always something to keep in mind we've been very uh fortunate for the the snowstorms you know it's just been freakingly cold but you know we don't know what's going to happen next year so that's something to be mindful of I don't think anybody wants to come to school on a Saturday okay well we'll look at our options and bring some recommendations back to the board to discuss and consider um president Paris I'd like uh to make a suggestion if we can bring it to the education committee that there is some kind of um standard curriculum that day per per School level and also maybe making it m the students involved in some kind of community service that day project or to you know bring awareness that would be my recommendation to the education committee if I can make a comment we already actually do have that embedded uh we do have a uh K through 12 mandated and Multicultural um curriculum crosswalks document um it is recommended that teachers incorporate these we would we can make that more mandatory um the majority of teachers should be doing a lot of them already do um juneth falls under although it's a different month we one of the mandates is African-American history month or Black History Month um but we also do have a component on MLK where lessons are pushed out through the social studies Department to all of our teachers and the same is done for juneth um but we can make sure that um our administrators do confirm when they check lesson plans to ensure that this is being done because I know that uh we had just recently just done so for Martin Luther King day um and that was just pushed out um this is actually a I'm looking at the document now I want to say it is a 77 page document um of recommendations uh that address all of the different Multicultural and mandated components such as Amistad black history Hispanic History juneth um Holocaust and so on Mr Paris okay so yes um I just and and again it's it's what you know but you know the only thing is if you want to keep that date listening to Mr um shahada said about you know watching out for the days and keeping days there and you want to keep that on the Thursday cuz you don't want to go any longer I mean you know I would hate to do I mean it's but like the only two option things is Seas like either that February that 17th taking that day out because that's not and then moving it to the 19th or or you know um somehow taking out the the staff professional development okay I'm just saying it like BR bringing students in on the third and giving them a half day and a half day professional development and then another half day for students in a half day professional development so it's not a lot so the so the teachers would come in on what is it the the second on the third students would come in and third and fourth would be a half day and this way it's like students are already in and then you're did you know what I mean like I don't know seeing I think it's just important to note too I'm referencing September Dr Danny that I I don't create this calendar in a vacuum this calendar is made with feedback from multiple staff members including our district collaborative team which is a team of 20 or so people from every um bargaining unit and every um job category so yes there are a myriad of things we could do we could take that 4-day weekend away in February and make it a three-day weekend but the reason why it's in there is because the staff really really like that and February is a tough time the the dark cold days of February it's people look forward to if you remember a couple years ago we had the week off in February and some people asked for that I I I really enjoyed that but then you're in school till July you know it's it's a lot so um again you can do anything you want with the calendar you can't do everything so we kind of got to prioritize but I think it's a good discussion for Education committee we we will bring it back up and and look at it uh roll call I think we need a roll call so quite point a point of reference uh so we're going to vote on the calendar tonight and then make amendments as we go look at into mod if we need to modify it right uh so we had a motion by Miss Suarez and a second by Mr Mahia correct uh Miss bassford yes Mr brunak yes Mr Kenova yes Dr Danny yes Mr Mia yes Mr SEO yes Mr Suarez yes vice president Santiago yes president Paris yes motion carries uh next would be request for a motion for Def financ and Facilities item number one through 18 motion by commissioner brunak second by Dr Dany discussion uh I have a a question and I didn't get to call you earlier today um about the use of facilities everyone is current that are paying for the use of facilities or is anyone in uh on this list uh no everybody on this list is paid to date okay thank you um Can is there any way in the future if we could just like put a little asteris next to or something you could put some kind of symbol so we know so I don't have to bother you I wouldn't recommend that I wouldn't I wouldn't feel comfortable singling out a single organization just so I'll just call you you can call me you can always call me okay thank you okay any other discussion okay real call Mr M bassford yes Mr brunak yes Mr Kenova yes Dr Danny yes Mr Mia yes Mr siano yes abstaining on F18 checks 29938 and 22266 on Tomahawk promotions Marez yes abstain on f17 check 29934 vice president Santiago yes president Paris yes motion carries thank you um board member comments we'll start with commissioner bassford good evening even everyone uh last week I had the privilege of attending a conference hosted by assemblywoman Allison colazo as a representative New Jersey school boards Association 27th legislative district the event was held on uh focus on immigration rights and included presentations by the ACLU make the Road New Jersey and the Lowenstein sandla LLP group um I'm proud to share that the Clifton Public School District was well represented that day there was a lot of people there at the conference there was the the discussion was highly informative and the connections made with fellow attendees was invaluable um everyone got information so I would strongly encourage my fellow board members to engage with our Administration inquire what steps the district is taking as we heard with Dr uh robot's report I'm sorry I uh you I wrote this before you spoke to ensure that all students feel protected and supported regardless of their circumstances it was a really good conference and I hope hope to have another one next year we we've learned a lot um um I attended the big North event on Monday to watch out cheerleaders CHS CH lead shine it was a proud day to say well all Mustangs way to go girls you did an amazing job I would like to extend my gratitude to the business office on their extending work with the audit and ensuring that the Clifton Public Schools remain fiscally sound so Kudos your dedication does not go unnoticed okay a heartfelt uh thank you and uh well-deserved to the Clifton Education Association the ca for your gener generosity and positive impact you make throughout your events your um efforts truly enrich the lives of so many in our one clipon one Community I would like to express my heart sh uh felt thanks to Lori lman for your unwavering dedication to our students I saw personally the questions you were answering the notes you were taking last week I I I was just amazed by that that all you put all students first in their rights to be protected and to feel safe every single day so thank you your passion is evident every time you step up to the microphone it is clear that you don't just talk to talk you walk to walk so thank you for all you do um that's all I have looking to forward to many different events coming up in the next couple weeks so thank you everyone and have a good night thank you commissioner bastard commissioner brunak thank you Mr president I want to thank the administration and staff in our district for an exceptional audit based on the presentation by Mr Lurch tonight the opinion provided was unqualified which is the highest possible grade that you could get in an audit tonight we also renewed Mr shada's contract and I'm pleased to have him here for at least another year as he is a sought out by other districts I'm sure I I certainly suspect that to be the case so looking forward to working with you for another year sir finally I want to thank all the volunteers in our city there's almost always something going on in this city and in a lot of the school facilities as well so these are not all school-based some of them are are clinics for uh from the wreck department across the street but our we provide the facilities for them but a lot of these clinics and tournaments a lot of them wouldn't happen without the volunteer work so I want to thank and give a shout out to all of you uh there's a wrestling tournament this Saturday and I'm really pumped up for it um a lot of the kids that that my um son plays baseball with they're going to be competing in this uh this Saturday and that's in the lower gym at CHS so uh if anybody has any time you you know come spend some time over there it's it's um absolutely amazing very high energy so just wrestling Mr BR yes sir Clifton Jr Mustangs and so I just want to give a shout out to all the volunteers none of this would happen without your generosity of and you are Priceless the value is the time and all the um energy and resources that you put into this so thank you everybody who Volunteers in Clifton thank you for your time and God bless America have a good night everybody thank you commissioner brenia commissioner Canova all right good evening um I want talk a little bit about the strategic planning that that we all all attended it was great seeing representation from all the schools and all the public um I would like to see more student representation so if we get out to the students and maybe somehow uh you know we talked about homework homework pass or whatever we want to do but I I would like to see more student representation in some of those meetings um my condolences go out to the Zano and palovich family um our band room Renovations look fantastic I was very pleased to see rededicated to Mr Morgan um he was a pillar to our community and and to making the CHS band the show band of the East that we all know and love um I was able to attend the big North event for the Clifton cheer team they did an amazing job came in came in first once again uh so congratulations to them and uh congratulations to our own Mr shahada on another great financial report I know $300 million is a lot um and just having a few minor minor minor infractions is uh phenomenal so thank you and that's all I have thank you thank you commissioner Canova commissioner Dr Danny thank you president Paris um thank you to all the speakers who came out and spoke um thank you to the Clifton Education Association um to Mr Lurch for the um comprehensive audit um congratulations to all of those who advanced their careers were recognized tonight and Mr shahad thank you for all you do keeping us in compliance and doing a great job and happy to have you here and uh Happy Chinese um Lunar New Year and um cuz we're off our District's off another holiday that we're off for you know and yeah we yeah oh we got add that add that one start adding them um and um happy birthday to my grandson Noah cuz he's four years old so made me first Grandma nice thank you Dr Danny you guys got a top Chinese New Year so commissioner Mahia good evening ladies and gentlemen I just want to it's going to be very brief I want to congratulate coach lri on being coach of the year for p County um on top of that our boys indoor track and field team did win County championships um a few days ago so big congratulations to them um to all the coaches who are part of it huge congratulations to our cheer team they're always doing amazingly every time I see see them perform I just get so pumped the way that they're doing all these flips and everything most of you guys are probably going to get a college scholarship if you decide to do tumbling so keep on going at it um thank you to the community for coming out for our strategic planning it was great you know that was the first she I remember it happening during covid but this was the first one in person and it was amazing to see all the staff faculty and community members that were out there um next up I want to thank U Mrs Laura Lama thank you for saying those words in English and in Spanish I remember in sixth grade when you told me that you spoke Spanish and people were trying to fool around and say you know words you actually knew what they were saying so when you spoke it just remind gave me a big flashback of being your computer literacy class um and finally thank you to Dr uh roosi um as our chief education officer um sharing those you know strong words of remark to our greater Community here in Clifton I know you know probably gave a huge you know thank you so thank you for those thank you commissioner Mia commission shano thank you um thank you to all the speakers thank you to mark for the student rep report uh Mr Shahar very happy to have you for another year and I'm very happy with the audit uh Dr Danny uh Dr Danny Danny Roberto you have a lot of fans out there so somebody sent me the New Jersey Education Association review with an article about you a superintendent shares LMC journey and results so you have people just sending me this that's how many fans you have uh I was happy to read it I have it here if anybody else does we're very lucky to have you thank you I want to provide everybody with one year update on my progress and efforts as a commissioner several members of our community have expressed the importance of keeping an open dialogue and sharing updates I wholeheartedly agree we should always strive to honor the wishes of the community so over the past year I've made it a priority to grow as a commissioner and serve our district to the best of my ability to enhance my knowled and understanding of our responsibilities there's numerous webinars and classes I've taken on that keeping myself informed about the current and potential changes at both the state and federal level levels uh I served on several committees with my Commissioners uh including facilities security residency and technology and negotiations additionally I chaired the municipal Alliance which provided valuable insight into our District's needs and priorities uh the Committees have allowed me to work closely with my fellow Commissioners gaining a deeper appreciation for the ch challenges and opportunities that we all face beyond the committee work we all attended the conference in Atlantic City where I participated in various courses enhancing my Effectiveness as a commissioner throughout the year I also made it a priority to listen to the voices of the community I have fielded calls from many of you regarding concerns and suggestions bringing these insights to the attention of our Administration I want to express my gratitude for the administration for working diligently to address and resolve these matters uh first year was both both enriching and eyee openening I remain committed to serving our community with transparency accountability and dedication lastly I want to send my condolences out to the friends and family of Carmine Simone uh I went to school with Carmine and even though we grew apart as most of us do uh we still send each other messages touching bass and keeping in touch with each other Carmine was a good friend to me when I was in high school and I am truly and deeply sorry to hear of his untimely passing life is not guaranteed and we all need to remember that and treat each day like the gift it is thank you everyone and have a good evening thank you commissioner sio commissioner Suarez thank you president Paris good evening everyone um this month I had my first strategic planning meeting and it was I was really pleased to see the community come together and um happy to be a part of it um to mark your student representative thank you for sharing the information about student initiatives that prepare for the cell phone ban and as well as checking emails more frequently I think that's really great to to see the students really care about their future and uh creating PR good practices now that adults struggle with so uh kudos to you all um thank you so much to the ca for all that you do for our students and families it's really beautiful to see that you truly have their best interests at heart I'd love to hear everything uh that was shared tonight um and congratulations to the new assistant um principles that came out tonight I'm excited to have you in the community uh and lastly congratulations to Med shahada and his team uh to have a near-perfect audit is not an easy feat um and I see personally his dedication and I know um a lot of work goes into it so congrats and I'm happy to be a part of this clion team good night everyone thank you commissioner Suarez uh I also add my thanks to Mr shahada and especially your team oh I'm sorry Tony uh yes Vice it's okay I'm sorry VI president Santiago everybody get used toies everybody get used well let's start with that so this is um really our first comments of the year so I just want to thank everybody my my fellow colleagues here for um electing me vice president I think you know we've done a lot of good things last year as a team and if we continue to focus on what's important which is our students and providing a quality education for them then we're always going to be doing the right thing and doing good things for them so I look forward to continuing that so um Dr Rober toy thank you very much for the uh comments on the sensitive sites as well as swatting because that is an uptick and there a lot of concern I see a lot of parents you know there's a uh there's another one and that kind of stuff and then there speculation and then there's an all clear and there's still speculation but thanks for for uh mentioning that um please go out and support our teams that are uh competing this weekend we've got hockey we've got Varsity wrestling I believe also girls wrestling and and the cheer team I look forward to the Sweeney Todd play can't wait for that that's always a good one um thank you to the cea and to the volunteers um for your grants and for everything you guys do um happy Muslim heritage month and Luna new new year happy muszle month New Year to all of our uh students family and the community celebrating um thank you to Mr shahada for another good audit um keep up the great work uh if if you have not seen the music Suite or our band rooms they're amazing go see them please um thank you to uh Bob Morgan for his 40 Years of dedication to our students amazing um I think that's all I've got for now have a great night thank you commissioner Santiago my apologies for skipping you was unintentional um again thank you to Mr shahada and especially your team the results of your hard labor or clear in Mr lurch's report and uh you make our district very proud um thank you to Mark our student representative and uh piggy backing off of what commissioner Suarez said the thing that impressed me the most is we have students that are helping roll out our policy cell phones to their fellow students um just a team and Cooperative approach is fantastic and I think Mark and the student Council and the student body for uh for being such great teammates for us um some dates I'd like to just remind the public of February 6 everybody has mentioned is our strategic planning meeting part two if you didn't come the first time you missed out on a very productive and great meeting come on out and see what it's all about um the more the merrier February 20th um we will be holding district and student awards that'll be at the high school uh that's a quarterly event now so put that on your calendar February 13th is our next regular Board of Education meeting uh February 1st is Christopher Columbus and woodro Wilson basketball team rivalry competition at Clifton High School so come on out and see the see the two teams play that's at 9:00 amm on February 1st uh February 7th School 9 PTO is sponsoring pocketbook bingo so for $35 you might be able to win a designer pocketbook um February 21st is wo Wilson's HSA Gift Card Bingo all different kinds of organizations you can win a gift card too it's $25 to attend um they're both great events to support our kids in their hsas um and condolences to the uh zelasco and and padovich families uh on their losses condolences um that's all I have have so the only thing left is uh new business opening up for new business I have a um a request um we all received an email about an incident at CER B I would like that that um issue to go to facilities and also security um committees about seeing what we can do as a district because I know we're we're up against um a wall and I think that if we all put our Collective Minds together for those two committees and then bring something back to the wood that we can come up with a solution for the parents that are having issues at CA well we'll also bring it up as a municipal Alliance thank you we we have been discussing CA be every meeting uh but I I think it's time that we have to bring the ball back to this court and we have to play it because I don't think we're going to get anywhere on the other side of the street I'm sorry that's just my personal opinion but I think that we we need to be more proactive especially after the email that I received today so I I'd like to see some motion on this side of the street move forward thank you anyone else I just want to comment on what she said so I think it is up to us because according to the city we're on Municipal Alliance we've heard several times they're not ever going to put a crossing guard there because that is a school where the parent is supposed to cross the child so there's no need for a crossing guard there is no intention because of that I think it's it's going to fall on us they have no in ention of doing anything with that school other than speed bumps and a FL not even speed bump I think a flashing sign is what we're getting out of that yeah but tra control of traffic is Clifton Police Department yes and that's really I think what this incident comes down to a lack of traffic control so perhaps they can reconsider maybe a police policeman to get things organized there bit um it it is their responsibility we're actually to meet so we'll put that on the agenda we have definitely have to talk but we also will discuss what we might be able to do on our own as well to help did they say speed bumps at the last meeting I don't recall that you know so we talked about speed bumps and bump outs at a few different locations but I don't think that was one I think pedestrian improving the uh The Crossing with some flashing lights you know like pedestrian crossing lights um but that was again something had to be in the budget for next year in addition to that they plan to put what I'm going to call ballads in front of CA B uh in the vicinity right where students and families can cross uh to so parents can't park there to hopefully clear that small area uh that is uh underway as we speak yeah that is what they discussed the meeting remember they did mention that they mentioned that they would do that and because I brought up the fact that it's just you know a something waiting to happen I brought that up at the last um Municipal Alliance Mr President commission over so I have a we're talking about just ideas I have a crazy idea but I think it would work um so right now CA B is only prek and we have another school that we're talking about putting Middle School in if we took um all four of those in put middle schools so Columbus woodro CA be and this new school and figured out six six to seven goes here or or five five and six goes here seven eight goes here so separate them that would leave more space in all our lower elementaries which is what we want anyway and it would be a lower set of prek in there you would only have 25 20 students or whatever it is in those prek so that could alleviate them being all in one section anyone who's strolling a child can get them there without having to be a drop off like you do for like professional you know um pre where you pay for um so I know that's totally crazy I know that's totally crazy especially no it might not be crazy it's AE since CA be is set with the bathrooms being lower and like we have to think about the transportation aspect of it we are already cross we are already Crossing town left and right barely making it by the skin of our teeth we'd have to rezone for those yes for those areas well rezoning is obviously is part of the issue but just getting from one zone to the other within you know the time frames that that are required because every school is stagger the way you know the Administration has done it like Elementary at 850 or or whatever they start and then it kind of Cascades down from there so I know my Transportation director Liz Nick is sitting at home listening to this and her brain is exp literally about I think she should be a part of the meeting if we're going to have a meeting of that I think she should be a part of that meeting so I think we could brainstorm ways to get there it's going to cost um and we just need to set a goal is to really what we want me personally I would love to see prek of the elementaries I that considering you only have one car in a family and and one's off at work and the other parents bringing the child to school I don't know I just feel like that's the best place for it we're set up for local schools when they're younger so if that's the way we go then that's the way we go um but I'm open to any conversation and I could be a part of any committee so this is a really good PSA to people to come out to the strategic planning if they have what you have also I just I I just that email really resonated with me because I remember you know my days bringing my children to school and as parents we mobilized and we made a safe drop off space for our children you can't do that with a prek because it's you know they're here and then then they go to another school it's it's a quick turnover with the student population I've I'm a bi-week B monthly attend D of Council meetings Allan with all due respect I really think that this board the nine of us and with the administration have to come up to a solution on our end I'm just because I don't think it's going to happen Joe with no disrespect to you in the committee for municipal Alliance I think we'll have be having the same conversation the next meeting and then the next meeting I think we take action now that's just me and I'm really worried that after reading that email and I know the family it came from Die Hard dedicated to Clifton it was it was very heartfelt because I know they were concerned for safety of all the students so that's just my two cents thank you Mr Paris I just wanted to say um you know I do I do agree with you miss bassford that I think because I've been on munis Alliance forever before Joe and then that and that I mean we've had traffic issues the whole time and I was actually I got caught in the dismissal by CA be and that's why I brought that up at the municipal Alliance meeting because it was just Mayhem I mean I don't know if anybody has ever gone there at dismissal but it's like everybody's just it's it's and I said because there's like little children Crossing and parents and and you know cars just swerving around and just traffic and then people getting annoyed and trying to cut you know people off and it's it's like just really terrible there I mean I I was caught in it and I was like as I was sitting there in the traffic I thought this is just an accident waiting to happen so you know um again I I just think that it's something that we got to come up with with something so I don't know about the bar I don't know how much that's going to help with things but it's literally like parents just crossing people getting annoyed and you know and and like I really do feel that a crossing guard there would help like somebody who comes out maybe just you know or or either an officer or some you know something because it's just it's a tight and and everybody's trying to get in and everybody's aggravated and little children are crossing the streets and parents are crossing ing them with with all these cars going and it's like you either stop or I'm just crossing anyway because I'm frustrated so not me personally like that's just what you see there so president Paris if I may I know Joe siano has a municipal line so we'll start there and then we'll Judy's going to remind me tomorrow morning to put it on facilities and we kind of put our heads together and we can uh regroup at the next board meeting when we have a little more information okay perfect anyone else okay we do have some things um for executive session um so we have both some uh personnel and some legal discussions action will be taken will take approximately 40 minutes okay about 40 minutes uh motion to adjourn from commissioner B second by commissioner check take five break and we'll see you in the back room thank you everyone 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 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 we got five yes let's go okay we are uh returning from our executive session uh roll call Mr shahada miss bassford here Mr brunak here Mr kov here Dr Danny she is present uh Mr Mahia here Mr siano here miss Suarez here vice president Santiago here president Paris here we have a quorum okay um from executive session looking for a motion to approve items two through seven motion second motion by commissioner Suarez second by commissioner Mahia roll call Miss bassford yes Mr brunc yes Mr Kenova yes Dr Dany she recorded her vote as yes in the back Mr siano yes Miss Suarez yes vice president Santiago yes president Paris yes motion to adjourn motion second by commission bassford second back commissioner Brun have a nice weekend C wasn't