check one two check check so Okay we're going to start the meeting please stand flag salute i pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands one
nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all roll call please mr shei here mr vichel Patel here miss Pang here miss White
here mr romano present miss Angina Patel here mr lugo here mr ronac Patel here mr erico here you have a quorum okay opening statement
okay in accordance with the Open Public Meetings Act public law 1975 C231 Sunshine Law the Edison Township Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having the date time and place thereof posted in the Board of Education administrative offices copies of these notices were
sent to the Home News Tribune and the Star Ledger thank you very much so um you know as uh the tradition every March we have a a presentation of our preliminary
budget so take it over John yes sure so we have the uh 2026 preliminary budget it's not much of a presentation we'll see that at the budget yeah there is we'll see that at the budget hearing correct dr alderelli more than myself will dazzle you with our public speaking skills that being said uh we have a
budget roughly um $378 million of which $235 is the local uh tax base uh this budget um allocates money towards obviously contractual increases in salaries um health care expansion of
courtesy busing um some new programs uh continued use of the local funding of prek and other things um roughly 22 million in uh capital projects so all in all it's uh a great thing for the
district and for the taxpayers thanks okay all right so uh this is just a preliminary we send to the uh the state and um the final presentation will be in May and we can make adjustments um for
um you know for the final between now and and and May okay so since this is due this month so we're going to have a motion uh to approve the preliminary budget can I have a motion motion okay
second i second okay bishop Patel and Ron Patel okay mr erico yes mr ronak Patel yes mr lugo
yes miss Anja Patel yes mr romano yes miss White yes miss Pang yes vice President Patel yes president Shei yes motion carries okay so
um president comments yeah so um you know um we have worked very hard with the administration and and John uh especially the finance facility committee and as you can see uh
on the agenda uh the uh tax levy is flat so that means no tax increase for Edison taxpayers no increase for taxpayers five years in a row five years
in a row there is no other school district was able to achieve that no school district was able to do it in New Jersey and this is uh we all know we had we um lost a grant for $6 million for
our prek program we paid it with our reserve and it's a public information we lost another $2.5 million this year uh from the state aid despite with all these uh you know $
8.5 million we're still able to deliver a budget with no tax increase to the taxpayers so a thank to the administration team i thank to the um finance facility committee uh um on this
and we're going to work more on the details um you're going to see the detailed presentation uh in May thank you so superintendent report thank you very much uh Mr shei pardon my voice tonight as the uh season's kind of changed along
comes my uh allergies as well so um I am going my voice is a little bit raspier than normal this evening so please forgive me um but as the weather has definitely changed um it looks like we are um in the midst of getting out correspondents in relationship to our two built-in uh emergency days um
barring any unforeseen circumstances uh the district will remain closed on those days as scheduled within the calendar it is the extension of spring break um uh that following Monday as well as the Friday before uh Memorial Day um information in relationship to that it'll be forthcoming out of our office
mo most likely tomorrow um a couple other pieces before I get into the agenda uh I I had the opportunity one of the greatest you know parts of of of my job is when I I'm able to get out into into schools especially during ReadAcross America time um you know I
was a former elementary principal so it's it I get right back into my wheelhouse with you know riing up the kids and then leaving them uh for for the teachers to to kind of calm down at that time it's was one of my specialties as a principal too and then handing out like extra recess and all of that other
stuff too all the things that you weren't supposed to do um but um I I just want to thank all of our teachers our building level administrators everybody that participated in the event right um not only fosters the uh the love of reading but just a a great time to get in in and out of classrooms uh I
want to kind of harp on and piggyback on what uh Mr shei said board president she said uh we're in the midst of budget season right now uh I would be remiss if I did not thank Mr toth and his team um for the tireless work you know he's usually relegated to his office you know
from January on um and has had multiple meetings in relationship to this i want to thank the work of the finance committee meeting i want to thank every principal supervisor uh assistant principal anybody that's kind of contributed to the efforts for this year
um and uh we will be doing a formal presentation uh in our upcoming meeting uh in April uh last but not least uh always a highlight subscription busing information went out on Monday I believe of of this week um information and we
will be periodically updating and reminding parents um about the window and eligibility and things along those lines um I'm going to move on to the agenda items we have a a a pretty light agenda um for the board uh we have our second reading uh of the policies from
our previous uh board agenda which were approved um these uh policies are in the final form um and ready to roll for your approval uh you have the approval of our HIB report um for February we also want to acknowledge a resolution that is on
the board april uh 2025 is autism uh acceptance month uh a time to foster understanding and acceptance of autism within the community as well as celebrate um neurodeiversity uh moving along to the curriculum and instruction section we have the approval of a few field trips
that are there as well as our professional development for our staff um we have our final section for this which is our student services the approval of our outofd district placements as well as uh one professional service contract for the board um and that will conclude my
report mr she actually it'll conclude mine i'm going to turn it over now to my colleague Mr toe for the finance resolution thank you Dr alder Alderelli um my section is uh pretty lean as well uh we don't have other than the standard you know monthly financials and minutes
bills list which is all there uh no contract awards or or procurement items at this time facilities we have one uh change order on the JP Stevens uh additions and alterations project it's for $29,000 uh there's going to be some additional gas electric fire pump
cabling and access points uh for the new addition uh 29,000 it's going to be charged to the allowance so there's no change in the contract so that's great news uh grants we are going to accept a new grant so it's called the project lead the way grant for 14,000 for JP so
thank you to all that that applied uh for that Mr cohen uh Miss Lopez we appreciate that and that's all I have at this time thank you very much very uh lean and short agenda uh now we are open
for public comments so yes good evening matt Revnack president of the Edison Township Education Association the ETA i'm here to speak about the funding for our school system including the 0% tax levy budget as you are aware the
Edison school system has had their state funding cut by 3% for a total of just over $2.8 million prices for everything from basic school supplies to utilities are rising the district is now at a deficit in
funding in comparison to this past year based on these conditions this does not even include the unknowns that are occurring at the federal level with the cutting of the department of education which occurred today executive order and cuts in funding for breakfast programs lunch
programs which I will address on Tuesday the board of education has adopted a 0% budget for the past four years i am also a taxpayer and yes I prefer that my taxes do not rise at least not significantly however if you raise a
taxes or a levy of $120 that comes out to 33 cents a day i don't know anything I can buy for 33 but an investment in the future of our children and our country to me is worth
33 cents a day the law allows the board to raise property taxes to fund their schools by 2% had the board adopted even a 1% increase over the past four years that would have bought an additional $25
million cumulative over that time money which could have been used to further the necessary construction that has been taking place the math just doesn't add up prices are rising new programs are being added more clubs and sports all
important things to the benefit of our students and their experiences yet funding needed to pay for these things are now going is now going down we have been fortunate that the state funding has increased for Edison over the past four years that well has
now dried up it is naive to think that the state at some point was going to continue to fund the district at the level it has knowing that there has been no tax increase local taxpayer for the last four
years raising the tax revenue by even 1% this year would offset the loss in state funding the primary purpose of the board of education is to make sure that the students of Edison receive the best education available based upon a
fiscally responsible budget i do not want to see the Edison schools negatively impacted as had happened about 15 years ago staff was cut which affected class sizes programs were eliminated or
changed and not for the better the possibility of eliminating co-curricular in sports programs for example many of the other districts around the state including one of our neighbors East Brunswick in Middle Sex County are having these exact issues as
we're speaking bertham is another one thank you these districts have to make unwanted decisions perhaps taking some drastic measures based on funding cuts in closing I wish to state that the
future of the Edison School District is in your hands i don't envy the decisions that you have to sometimes make however it is fiscally irresponsible to continue on a 0% budget tax levy and I challenge you to work
along with your chief administration namely your superintendent your business administrator and their staff to consider the funding process and the proposed zero budget before sending it to the county superintendent for
approval thank you for listening and for your consideration in this matter and I would just like to ask because I do have something else to say later um I like to save my minute and 50 seconds in case I need it later on thank you
but that one's not about the budget by the way thank you thank you so um you know um you mentioned about uh you know staff cut and program cutting it's not going to
happen okay we tight up our our belt on some other areas but not not anything that our students experience so you will see the detailed budget at the next meeting and if you want to have a copy I I'm pretty sure that you know Mr toss
will be happy to provide you a copy thank you anybody else yes please hello uh dear board dear Edison board of education members name please i'm sorry i have like a plan okay good evening and
thank you for your dedication towards the academics emotional support and safety for all the students of Edison my name is Kim Lley a mom a former teacher and an Alban resident tonight I would like to speak about rescending policy 5756 in lie of the recent rulings that
is not mandatory and schools can choose to abolish it policy 5756 is a catalyst to separate the child from the parent this evening I would like to review policy 5756 and the breakdown of the teacher parent relationship policy 5756
is a schoolboard policy that was suggested by Strauss Esme strauss Esme was the third party is a third party to interrupt school board policies mandatory this was told by attorney Bruce Badulla in the New York Post the article common sense prevails in New
Jersey as school districts allowed to drop transgender student policy after a year's long fight by Kristen Feming this particular policy encourages students to make complex decisions as young as five years old without parental involvement in schools distributing aspirating
requiring par requires parental authorization going on a school trip and even taking a photo of requires parental authorization teachers are not required to inform parents of their child's gender identity a separate folder is kept with a child's new gender and sent to the state in the school the student
will be recognized by the new gender identity parents are notified that their child is being addressed as a new gender identity the student is living a double life with a parental knowledge in addition the school social worker is able to stand on behalf of the student when the parent will not be supported
for new gender identity how and when did the school become the moral fabric of a family policy 5756 does not cause causes division this policy divides the teachers and the parents with who are critical people lives these two parties play a
significant role on the child's development when the teacher and the parents are working in tandem t students benefit a recent article the long-term impact of parental involvement academic success and beyond is based on findings of numerous benefits when a successful
relationship is formed more high more high school graduates improved focus during lessons more student participation and more homework completions to name just a few teachers are encouraged to have the clear communication lines with the parents due due to all the positive outcomes policy
5756 breaks that trust that is required to have a solid teacher brand relationship when a teacher does not have to reveal important information about that child how do you trust when would a parent know when to trust the teacher what signals does the child get
when they advised that they don't have to tell mom or dad this is extremely concerning in the elementary years of the student the mom and the teacher are the two most important people in their lives the hip harassment policy has been established to protect all students they can use this policy when they feel they
are being bullied in school the hip harassment is in place for all students and therefore you can resend policy 5756 in closing please resend policy 5756 thank you for your time thank you anybody else
yeah you could go it's public comments thank you my name is uh Tarendra Lakhankar i'm Edison district resident i have I'm father of the son who is going to the middle school now going high school next year and I'm fighting this issue of
equal opportunity for almost one year and I had a meeting with couple of people i spoke to most of the board members and still follow there is a no equal opportunity provided to the students of Edison we are picking top
20% of students and give them all opportunities and those opportunity also based on the grade fifth grade they moving to sixth grade okay you since you you categorizing those based on their skill in fifth grade kids can learn any time in their life people can if I fall in love in
mathematics in seventh grade or eighth grade I can do better but your class systems allow them hey in sixth grade you have math prime algebra then seventh grade algebra 1 and geometry what happened the kids cannot learn so that's
the one issue I'm fighting for from last one year and I'm disappointed with the administration that even I sending multiple emails there's no response from your office you mentioned that okay let's talk s meeting I send them emails but there is no response from your
office and almost one year okay why this matter why I'm bringing this issue to you all of you here because and one more thing STEM biomedical science is a science it's not math Math science math also part of science I
understand STEM SD AM is also there is a math is only one part not three more parts are there but what you're trying to do you're picking geometry is the one criteria to bring the science okay first is again your classification fifth grade sixth grade second is the stems only
geometry can we rethink on that admission process okay third thing we are additions I just two minutes or three more minutes we are living additions we A lot of wealthy peoples lot of poor peoples big diverse ground lot of people goes to different classes
we have a lot of classes here geometry mathematics right what about those childrens who who are who are fathers are not enough money to pay them tition fee $200 per month is tition fee cost for learning mathematics can we think of that children's also or we only become a
children schools for teach kids and give the chance for STEM Academy or biomedical science four things your placement again I brought you to that your placement why not chance that because high school is a one step big step for every ski childrens can you go
chance to equal up with all the students take a test everybody and wherever you want to go go for that not from beginning hey sixth grade you have prime algebra 7th grade algebra one as a joint then only get chance can you think on that directions I mentioned final
last I mentioned briefly that great brooming students students can learn anytime anytime they fall in love with subject they can do much better in that subject so can you think in that direction also so my request that what I'm asking for for your STEM and bary
science program allow a larger pool of students so give the test I'm not asking to increase the number of students for that particular programs but allow everybody to apply for them take a test then select I'm not asking extra seats same number of seats but larger pool of
students Right second thing reviewing the see this uh this policy might help to the inclusion of everybody whether we kids and poor kids and that will also help to reduce the undue pressure in seventh grade and sixth grade hey you have to go
to joinment in eighth grade then only you can qualify otherwise you are doomed so you're forcing that kids from sixth grade to all the way there let them grow naturally and let take a test thank you very much i hope to hear favorable response from board and administration right
thank you very much um just want to uh add uh this year we have increased the STEM population from 24 students to 48 students and we also added uh the um bio
medical academy and you raised the issue and uh superintendent sent an email to everyone so everyone had a chance to apply so uh you want to add some additional things yeah so based on the feedback and the discussion because we we've had several conversations in
relationship to this um that we did we did open this up to every eligible eighth grade student regardless of path anything along those lines and any stu and uh there's a rubric that that was associated with that now any student that um did not have geometry did have
the opportunity to take an assessment as a matter of fact we we administered a few of those this week um right so and and Mr cohen could probably go into a little bit more in-depth detail with you but yes the these these components especially with biomedical
moving forward were open to all students regardless of path regardless of whether they took a geometry test we opened it up to everybody the second point is I 100% agree with you all kids can learn throughout any point in their life that's why we're opening up pathways next year too so for students that
didn't meet that uh that um academic component they can still take these exact same courses the exact same courses our goal here and part of our strategic plan is that every student by the year of 2030 walks across the stage with a credential in one of the pathways
of their choosing computer science biomed pre-law engineering STEM um what else am I missing Mr cohen ess we're we are launching a robust platform in the year 2627 about 10 10 pathways in in order to make sure that
those students that might not do well on tests right i was one of those students i I didn't do well on tests but I had aptitude and and and a drive and a desire so I want to make sure that that pathway is good i think of my own kids for those they're not good test takers
as well but if they had these opportunities to take the pathways during their coursework right they might be set on a little bit of a different path right now as far as our meetings I thought we had a couple of them scheduled i don't know if it was my fault or not whether I missed the mark but my door is always open i think the
board will tell you um so I would definitely love to continue the conversation in here i've got a really bright guy um in Mr cohen in relationship to these components of the pathways um but I agree with you uh we're we're we're we're moving forward
with equal access um and there's going to be more information in relationship uh forthcoming especially on Tuesday so let me turn so uh you know um as uh Dr artelli said uh you will
hear more presentations on Tuesday okay um and uh I think I have mentioned to you on oneonone conversations we have moreademies coming up so why don't you wait till Tuesday and look at what we are presenting and uh then you can come
back right so so the thing that you know we open up everything to our students okay and if you want to talk about STEM it's too late because the process already started okay okay so it's already started we're already starting recruiting kids we're not going to go
back so moving forward for next year yeah we can look into it you said you've been you've been doing this for a whole year i was not on the board i I you know I'm I'm sorry uh but we did increase the population from 24 to 48 okay so um um
just just leave us that and come on Tuesday take the presentation uh you know take a look at the presentation Mr uh Cohen is going to present and we can go from there okay thank you anybody else yes anthony Mara 5 KTO court in Edison
i'm here again to speak about policy 5756 and you're coming here for about a year i've seen uh no substantial movement fact I rarely get any in fact I don't think I get any comments others who spoke here today about the budget
but other matters I get comments from the board I get nothing neither did uh did Kim i mention God a lot when I speak here and the reason I do that is because he gets the final word you get the final decision as to what whether to retain
5756 but he gets the final word as to what happens as a result of your decision frank if that doesn't put fear in someone's heart I don't know what does this board doesn't seem to have a fear of God it seems to have a fear of the LGBTQ
community that's bad you're not going to stand before them on judgment day we'll stand before God he says in the Bible "A man who remains stiff necked after many rebukes will suddenly be destroyed without remedy." Of course that applies not just to a person it points to governing
organizations bodies boards and so forth jesus said "Have you not read that he created them from the beginning made them male and female two genders it's not male female and a dozen
others for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh so they're no longer two but one." There's two genders unfortunately the board doesn't seem to understand that one of my favorites is the golden
rule do unto others as you would have them do unto you you can't argue with that rule you can't it's it's it's fundamental it's human nature i'm confident there are members of the board here who are parents do you want done to you what you're doing to
have some parents keep them in the dark because you know 5756 says if a student says I'm changing my gender and informs one of the school uh staff you're to be kept in the dark you're not to be
told that's ridiculous the most important person in the student's life is mom and dad and you keep them in the dark that's wrong if you don't like it what do you do to other parents in medicine that's
hypocrisy which leads me to the fifth commandment honor your mother and your father are you honoring mom and dad by doing that by keeping them in the dark by saying "Mom and dad you have no right to hear what we've heard as as educators that your son or daughter wants to
change gender." That's absurd you have every right to hear about what Heather doing on their grades in in math and science all this all the other subjects but you have no right to hear about what what your son and daughters
decided you're not mom and dad you're educators fact you should be educating them about this about the consequences not too long ago I sent you a video about a girl named Payton McNab high school student playing
volleyball and the and a student on the other team was a ch transgender student he spiked the ball right at her she suffered traumatic brain injury she's not the same person anymore is that what
you want is that what has to happen in Edison one of the students gets injured by a transgender student in an athletic event maybe a lawsuit i I know that perks ears no one wants that is that what has to happen here hey
gosh then of course you've got males sharing restrooms with with the girls and that that is an abomination but what about regret student says I'm going to change gender does so five years later 10 years
how however many however long it goes by oh my gosh what have I done what a what a terrible decision I've done i I can no longer have children or this likelihood of happening is substantially reduced what are you going to say to
that student we gave you what you wanted is that what you say to the student suppose you said I want a hypodermic needle with drugs in it illegal drugs so I can shoot up would you give him that i I think not of course not well that's basically what you're doing because that student is taking hormone blockers maybe
has had surgery to alter his his or her body including reproductive organs he can't have children anymore she can't have children anymore what are you going to say to that student he comes back five years later 10 years later why didn't you stop me we gave you what you want is that what you're going to say to
him my gosh then of course there's unfortunately the the tragic reality of increased suicide even the LGBT community doesn't deny that and I remember at the October
meeting many of the LGBT community testified to that and and it is tragedy but keeping 5756 does not stop that if anything I think it increases it because the statistics show the increase of
suicide is there for the LGBT community you need to wipe out this policy abolishing 5756 does not transgress New Jersey law new Jersey law against discrimination remains in effect what you need to do is to adopt a policy
where a student is counseledled about the the consequences of trying to change gender please abolish this policy please abolish it you You'll be blessing the Edison township and students thank you
thank you very much anybody else public comments yes oh wait wait wait wait do we have a first timers yes Charlie sorry sorry you can come back after first timer now we know where the union r
you know we share time here because it's all in the end is all about the kids i'm still trying to make up my time at the podium for missing January charles Ross principal Edison High School 50 Boulevard to the Eagles um I'm so glad that you know in the last meeting we talked about moving forward with the additions that are easing the
overcrowding supporting our music programs and the way that we're expanding themies at both of the high schools now with the compside the biomed all of the different things that are opening up having more STEM students one of our STEM Academy students Fajetic Arc just won a hackathon at MIT and that's
after her sister graduated from there last year another Edison High graduate it's always been people first and program second you know the people including the you know the students their families that's what Edison's about the teachers the custodians security the district staff the administrators that's the core about
what's great about the Edison Township School District and there's pathways for every student to take a rigorous AP curricula and Edison students from both the Edison High and JP go on and soar at America's best universities the people on the board are you know living proof of that they know from their own kids
and so many of us here know that too but nothing's more important to people than the health of the children and I'm back again to remind everybody that our school district team it's not just me there's teachers there's people from every unit people from maintenance custodians we've got students involved we're raising money for St baldridge
Foundation to fund research to stop children's cancer i haven't gone to see local business shout out my um Edison High alum Savannah at Salon Doce Vita in uh Wix Plaza i won't have to go see her until the summer because on Saturday afternoon along with some students some
staff from Edison High we're all getting our head shaved and we've been raising a ton of money i made the autoshop teacher dress up as a leprechaun sorry Mr revnik um you know I got a student who's got the better a better head of curly hair than anybody in this room who's who who I'm bringing there and he's going to get
his head shaved and when you guys see me next Tuesday at the board meeting aside from telling you what's great about Edison High you're going to see me clean shaven and hopefully I'll be able to tell you how much money as a team we all um raise to fight children's cancer so please you know give as you can there's nothing more important you know than our
kids and I know that's why we do all of this stuff the QR code is at the podium or you can check it out on the way out thank you guys thank you sir anybody else okay this is going to be a long one so I don't know if I'm going to have enough
time so I apologize if I don't finish um basically I just want to put last week please Brian Rivera Edison so good evening everybody uh at the January 25th meeting I addressed the board as a
member of the public for the first time in three years i stated that it had been a long time since I had compared what the public the public sees on the agendas to what the board education sees i then asked the board a question the bill's list uh considered privileged information i inquired because I
couldn't find it online when I searched for it jerry responded by uh stating that the bill's list is not privileged information and emphasized twice to me that you had nothing to hide um since January I've repeatedly stated at board of education meetings that sharing the
bill list with the public before board approval is crucial for transparity transparency accountability and community trust providing access to this information in advance allows taxpayers to review how their money is being spent and voice any questions or concerns before final
decisions are being made at the end of last uh month's meeting um Mr president you launched a tyrant filled with spin and name calling uh defending Vishel Patel your vice president and chair of the finance committee who supported your bid for
president to remind everybody Mr patel sued a board after rightfully refused to cover his personal legal fees costs incurred due to his own actions and actions as a board member despite multiple uh requests the board considered rejected Mr patel's attempts to use public funds for what we believe
was inappropriate expenses i want to remind the public that rather than covering his own legal cost Vicial Patel dismissed his lawsuit hoping that the newly configurated board would rule in his favor and that's exactly what happened members of this new board concealed the
payment within the bills list which the public had no access to an attempt to slip one by the goalie and it was successful while it was presented as routine business the reality is that this was a political payback this raises serious concerns about potential backroom deals including board decisions
influencing board decisions people often distort the truth push their own agenda but let's focus on the facts bishop Patel has a well doumented history of missing committee meetings and board of education meetings as recorded in official minutes which are publicly available for
verification notably he was absent for a meeting while traveling to India for a hair appointment and missed another while skiing in a vacation during where he sustained a hand injury however despite his injury he made sure to attend a reorganization meeting where he sought position as board president after
failing to secure the presidency his attendance at subsequent meetings noticeably declined based on this information the board president Bureau Patel invoked policy 0145 which allows for the removal of the board member who misses three
consecutive meetings with good cause he met individually with board members to advocate for Bishop Patel's removal concerned about potential backlash from his community Bureau Patel asked Vice President Joe Romano to lead the process believing it would not reflect well if
one Indian board member removed another from an elected position romano carried out the request while Bureau Patel continued meeting with members to discuss Vicel Patel's character actions as a board member and attendance worker seeking for support for his removal at
the last board meeting I was encouraged to file an OPA request regarding the situation i thank you Jerry for that for the suggestion and it led me to some information I wasn't previously aware of and some of the some of which was quite revealing one of the te documents I
obtained was the email exchange between Vishel Patel and Bureau Patel which visual asked Bureau to speak with our attorney and Bureau essentially questioned why um based on this decision um I don't understand how we paid uh legal fees uh based on this email i
think it's absurd but I do have several questions my first question is directly to Vish Patel aside from that email what other I'm sorry i apologize through the board member you I'm trying to rush this i pause my time i got some This is long
thank you i have several questions through Jerry to Vicial uh aside from that email what other correspondence did you have with Bureau Patel regarding this matter also through Jerry to Vicial did you contact the New Jersey school boards association this is the organization that could have guided you
through this process this goes to Dr ali and Mr toth how many times is Vicel Patel's claims submitted to the insurance company and were they approved or were they denied and if they were denied can you please explain to us why they were
denied those are my questions for you two individuals the reality is that Vishop Patel should have contacted New Jersey school boards association regarding this matter he was informed that there was no mechanism to pay his attorney and he chose not to listen he ignored it the school board's
association would advised him that since he was defending himself as an individual he would typically be responsible for covering his own legal expenses i know that because I reached out to school boards the board of education's attorney is hired to represent the board as a whole and protect the district's
interests not those of an individual member if the board is voting on removal the attorney's duty is to rem to the remaining board members and the district creating a conflict of interest defending the member facing removal while also advising the board on the
matter would be an ethical violation the attorney role is to ensure the removal process followed legal proceed guidelines not to advocate for against the accused member the reality is that Vic Patil knew there was no mechanism for the board to cover his legal fees but chose to ignore it the board was not
obligated to pay these costs and I I'm asking the board that maybe we should submit a demand letter for reimbursement it should be considered can we pursue this this is a situation is this this situation is a clear example of why the bill should be made public to ensure
trust transparency and accountability thank you for your time see I did allow you to go over six minutes i appreciate it okay thank you so um you want to address the the bill list all right so there is no statutory
obligation I'm sure as you know Mr to produce any draft to the public until the board votes on it and makes it final the determination um of the board is that the bill list is draft was not made public it has not been made public as
far as I know starting with this board I can't speak really what happened before I was here um so there is no statutory requirement it is a draft i am loathed to offer my opinion to publish a draft
document that may or may not be passed so now we would have two documents out there and a draft providing a draft to the public um that may or may not pass in its entirety uh would be something that would be it
would be remiss of me to make that as a legal opinion no no back and forth okay so to uh you've been bringing this up for the past for several months but let let me uh let it's my Okay i
gave you more than six minutes let you finish let me finish okay so the whole thing started is we shall miss three meetings yes he did but if you look at the policy it says the board member could be removed if you misreie without
good cause he has good cause and the policy did not say you know any of these three uh meeting if you miss as long as you have one good cause it doesn't apply so he had three good causes why he
missed a meeting so talking about cost okay this is your colleague you should help him okay he has his family issues has personal issues instead of helping him you guys started to remove
him the the whole cost is started because you guys action okay so um he should not be removed because based on the policy it says you know without cause but he has
cause that's First item second as you mentioned the you know the board attorney is for the board it's not an individual so he is entitled by law to seek opinions from board attorney you
have requested you have requested the the Oprah you saw the communications the communication said you know we shall ask the board president or he wants to speak to the attorney okay okay it was denied it says you can only send your question to me so
I'll forward to the attorney or you talk to the attorney with me on the line or me or vice president on the line which violates his policy violates his rights okay that's number two number three you guys voted here on one of the Tuesdays
to have a hearing for his removal so by law he is entitled to legal representation since you're not giving him the representation from the board attorney he has to go out seek uh
attorney for his for his rights so if you're talking about the cost of this it's because you guys you guys call the cost okay if you want to pay you should pay for it you guys should pay for it okay at the end of the day what happened you had a meeting to uh to have a
hearing and then you you decided not to to do anything okay it's your action caused all the legal fees all right so you as far as you talk about is that his personal expense no
it's not personal expense it's a board action against another board member i gave you another example about other board members who had issues yeah so yeah hearing was notified by board attorney so it was it was a hearing so he's entitled to legal
representation period okay excuse me okay so if you want to talk about cost it's all your cost it's it's because your irresponsible actions by you guys okay so at the end of the day
the $3,500 and uh I you know even if he was wrong even if he was wrong it's a business decision it does not warrant you know having attorneys continue to fight for
this it does not make any sense you talk about submitting to uh the uh risk uh insurance we have a $5,000 deductible anyway so whether they accept they do not accept board has to pay anyway so I don't know what the argument
is you've been bring for the past four months you know for this the board has trying to move forward with a lot of good things and we'll try to you know academically all themmies and all the other stuff we try to you know achieve our long-term goals and we we are
achieving a 0% tax increase you know for for for the new school year and something like this you know I hope this this is the last time I hear but if you want to continue to uh bring it up feel free okay but this is my point the whole
cost is because the action from you guys who caused it whoever who Excuse me excuse me please please you have I'll give you a rebuttal just remember last year the board has no
rebuttal okay i gave you a rebuttal all right at least say something positive for that okay so uh anyway uh that's my response to you right if you have other questions you can send your question to Dr hus we'll be happy to address them
all right so any other uh public comments any any uh any first- timers yeah you go anthony Damron WY F um the uh the building and at Herbert Hoover uh
there's a there's a structure I believe it's off of Lidol at the where the where Lidol meets the greenway is that our is that your board of ed building or is that a you know what it's you know which one I'm talking about it's like an old building yeah so um
the uh I just that was the first question is second question um or suggestion regarding Hoover i was uh recently at a council meeting about a week or so ago and I brought this up uh to uh the police uh officer that was there captain or lieutenant uh regarding
the traffic at Hoover um and I know the administration at town hall wants to uh eminent domain or basically uh widen the road which I think is u not going to do very much um I brought up the suggestion of of if you if they decided to not make
not allow any vehicle to make a left or a right down Jackson Avenue for let's say an hour in the morning an hour in the afternoon instead route all the traffic to Coolage and Hoover A which then goes to Wagner left onto Wagner and
it goes right into Hoover and then what you do is basically you buses and could go right around the you know basically around that U and then right down Jackson Avenue and no traffic will come that way so I don't know if that's possible they like the idea actually the
traffic guys they so um I don't know with tractor trailers you know I don't know how you would work that out but they're going to look into it i don't know something maybe to follow up on um but also I I'd like to see you know the greenway is right there you have the greenway right now there's a lot of children that live in my neighborhood
which I'm on the forge side of Woodbridge Avenue right I'm actually right next to the greenway my a block away from the greenway entrance and it's a shame because you don't I brought this up before previously you know you don't have kids utilizing that greenway it's a straight shot right down to Hoover it's
it's there's no cars the only problem is is you got to cross overbridgeidge avenue so if you had a crossing guard at that location there you would have a lot of kids um you know and you would you would eliminate a lot cars and traffic you know uh car vehicle traffic um that
will you know would help out with the traffic over there instead of again taking people's property but um I have another suggestion as well i'll save that for another day uh maybe next week but um just a couple things that's that's it thank you poor president okay thank you thank you Anthony uh um we
we'll look into this property and just make sure based on you know the feedback from the folks it does not belong to us but we'll look into it and uh yeah it's a good good suggestion of using the greenway just to come to school but you know nowadays that uh you know parents want to drop their kids right in front
of the school right in front of the building okay for some reason okay and I don't know why but you know yeah um I hope that the the principal can communicate to the parents there's another way to come to school so walk a couple steps especially when the weather
is warmer and it's good for them so um you know thank you for suggestions and uh you know the the traffic pattern and we we you know um we were able to work with township you know to make it you know certain hours the rush hours they
don't come in and I I know that street it's very narrow you got a 18 ler coming there's no way you can go anywhere it's just one way so so I hope that also the enforcement um you know uh from the EPD uh on that that that will help so uh
thank you for suggestions and uh you know you you have another piece of information you want to hold it for next meeting okay all right thank you anybody else okay all right you want to come second time any any first- timers
okay Anthony uh talk to Yes yeah so another idea of course I am looking for this program called bike to
school bike to school right and I spoke to mayor uh last week and we thought that this could be program which help to make our kids healthy livingings from beginning so what this program I see in uh when I was been to California that
all the paths goes towards school have a small zone of green zone of two feet or 3 ft wider where kids can ride their bike or scooters to the schools right and it bring good choices right so is there a possibility that uh we can work
with the board of education or somebody from your office right with the mayor's office together and happy to volunteer my time to find the path and and locate those path where You can make a small green jar bike small biker not not motor bike school scooter bike or small and uh
and think and work out so that's bring a healthy living in Eden Township okay agree so uh yeah it's a fine opportunity to uh get that worked out uh I I do see that we have quite a lot of kids use uh use the bikes already uh if
we can you know expand that that'll be great and um um there's one thing I actually I I mentioned that to some of the the council members is um since you you you talked about it is is about sidewalks um I I did mention to them if they can
pass a ordinance for all the new house no new houses being built to add the sidewalk as a requirement because I see in my neighborhood I live behind John Adams and if you look at the Mount Pleasant multiple new houses has been
built but several of these brand new houses and no sidewalk so and the kids walk from John Adams home using you know Mount Pleasant so if if anyone from the council is is is watching this I hope that uh you can recons you know consider
my suggestion is you know grandfather for all the others but any of the new houses when they build put the sidewalk in if they actually put it in the sidewalk we will have a a a sidewalk on the other side so um you know good suggestions and uh we'll we'll definitely look into it thank you very
much okay yeah Matt before I start on my second piece here there's two things I just want to mention number one unfortunately I went to a funeral home yesterday edison lost another one of our finest uh English teacher AP teacher Denise Wigle passed
away longtime uh staff member over at JP Stevens so may she rest in peace uh secondly I just want to piggyback Dr alderelli's with ReadAcross America i'm fortunate one of the things I love about being president I can only get to one or two buildings as a teacher now I was able to get to pretty much all of them
it's a wonderful wonderful experience right now we have the art competition going on for ReadAcross America which will be finishing this week tomorrow um you might want to mark it down although I will send you all an email inviting you to the ReadAcross America celebration that we throw uh awards
ceremony over at Ben Franklin School on April 30th at I believe it's 6:30 but I'll let you know in the email okay I know I have about two minutes plus my minute 50 hopefully I'll get it done in that time if not I just ask for your patience so hello again Matt Revnack ETA
president i want to speak to you about an event that took place or in our case did not take place yesterday you may have heard or seen about a walk-in that occurred nationwide yesterday the purpose of the walk-in was directed from our national affiliation the National
Education Association or NEA as it's known the purpose of the walk-in was to take a stance in support of public education and the intent is to get staff parents students and the community members involved in support of public
education i am not here to play politics this is not about being Republican a Democrat or independent if it was a Republican president doing the same thing I'd be standing up here giving the same speech however what did I say oh I'm sorry Democrat
excuse me slip of the tongue i also want to emphasize that education however is governed by political entities we are governed by laws and funding which is appropriated through politicians that being said this is
about public education it is clear based upon statements by the president secretary of education Linda McMahon and as listed in project 2025 that the dismantling of the department of education as well as the
push on charter schools school vouchers and privatization is part of the platform if these things come to fruition it would take away necessary funds from our public schools and that would be devastating to public
education if that were to happen it would have a negative impact on school programs especially pertaining to our special needs programs but it can also have a trickle down effect to other programs as well so you may ask why didn't the ETA
participate in a walk-in we were never informed of the walk-in until last Thursday night with little direction through discussion with members of my executive committee the decision was made that we did just did
not have enough time to properly organize this activity i did ask my members to wear their ETA Unity shirts which we have in either red or blue and if they did not have a ETA unity shirt to just wear the color red
and blue by the way that night I also did text Dr alderelli i informed him of this invited the administration to do as well as well as Mr ross for the administrators and part of that so is they weren't blindsided to why all of a sudden teachers were like doing this or
not doing it we also took into effect other possible effects of a walk we did not wish to be negatively perceived as a job action because there's no reason for us to do a job
action this is not an issue with our administration the school board or the school community in fact we want these groups to be on board with us as this is about our students and the Edison
community we also did not wish to affect the operations of the school or to possibly make buses late to school students late to school or parents late to work so we took all the stakeholders into
consideration however in the future we will most likely participate as requested by our parent organizations the NEA or the NJA we hope that if this were to occur the parents and community would join us
in solidarity for the benefit of our schools our students and the Edison community if this does occur in the near future we will have a structure in place so that we can get this information out to our
members and to the other stakeholders in the Edison community with an invitation to join us and in closing if anyone is concerned with the effects on public education one of the things you can do is reach out to your senators and your
members of Congress to discuss your concerns about potential attacks on public education via email or call their office thank you for listening thank you all right anybody else second timer
okay Brian jar I do want to thank you i appreciate the time it's not always hostile between you and I i actually like you and respect you i just comment the way that you comment to me it's called fair is fair all right so let's go back to I always ask questions and they never
get answered so Vishel I know you don't have to answer my questions but I did direct questions to Dr elderelli and Mr to again how many times was Visual Patel's claims submitted to the insurance carrier were they approved or
were they denied and if they were denied can you please explain why and now that I have time I'm going to continue speaking about something else now that I have time rebuttal right rebuttal it deals with the same thing now I got more time to finish so I appreciate the the time at last uh again
deals with the bills we were talking about money so at the last board of education meeting the amounts of legal fees uh that were acrewed by board members was discussed um there was a bill for 6,480.50 um it was mentioned it was linked to Mr romano uh while there was
another bill for $22,1291 but there was no name mentioned without specific association so once again I was encouraged to file an Oprah thank you Jerry uh on this information I I under unc uncovered jaw-dropping
information while only two bill payments were mentioned at the meeting uh only one individual was singled out however I I received the records and there was four names that were given to me the $22,1291 bill was linked to Bureau Patel
yes mohen Patel had a bill for $116 and then Jerry had a bill for $5,147 i find it interesting last month only Joe Romano's name was mentioned to me it felt it was a clear attempt just to smear Joe's name um I am particularly
astonished by the amount of Bureau Patel so I have five six questions here how many ethics complaints contribute to $22,129 in legal fees are these complaints ethics related what are the
specific complaints and what are the costs for each are there any open ethics complaints if so will there be additional legal fees and are the the legal fees for the other individuals listed or they finalized or should we
expect more payment from the board so I just gave you nine questions and I have 20 seconds six seconds left i figured if I stand here maybe they'll get answered probably not or as am I dreaming you can
sit down i'll answer you so why Joe was the name brought up because you're talking about individual expenses that was example okay that's why Joe's name was brought up you were correct okay transparency i have nothing
to hide yes the $22,000 in change is bureau and yes I also incurred $5,000 charge it's because an uh um Tony D pascal filed a ethic charge on me it was a bogus charge and was dropped and uh
you know at the end okay and you mentioned about Mohing yes there were something about hundred something dollars okay and uh how many ethics charges filed for for bureau i'll tell you there are four okay two cases has
been settled and two two of them are ongo so so you know the answer whether there will be more expenses or not so I'm very transparent i have nothing to hide all right so I think I answer all your questions so do we have any other public
comments no they don't need to answer it but at the end of the day I told you it's $5,000 deductible for every case three questions for you they don't have to answer it you know you can send the questions to uh Dr hus we'll get back to
you i I'm not going to have a back that's not not back and forth want to answer my question you have your three minutes i I answered all your questions be having back and forth anyway it's very difficult for the transcript so please yeah can you just
Okay so uh do we have any other public comments second timers see none uh can I have a motion to close public comments motion second second okay uh Mr ergo and uh Mr romano all in favor i okay now
we'll open up for board member comments any board members anything you want to say yes Chris uh thank you President Xi um Dr alder Derelli um I believe I had a conversation with you um and I believe
you said that Bureau's case was denied twice from uh when it was submitted to insurance um not for Vishell um for for uh for Vicial um that's to answer your question um I I I I don't know i don't know the answer to
that but I could say that I was told twice um and um maybe that I could and if it's not correct you could feel free to jump in and uh correct me that's fine um but I could at least say that
okay any other board member comments yes Joe uh the other day I was invited to uh the opening of a cricket uh establishment uh I just have to tell you
that the kids were having a great time uh it's a facility i I can't tell you the name titans uh and I for for fear of saying it and I would
be uh I was saying that a board member was saying that you know that's this is another place but I I just wanted you to know the kids the whole thing is the
kids they had a great time the kids were learning how to play uh the parents that were there were very very understanding they explained everything to me and Dr
uh if there's any way that our students you know could use those facilities uh you know transportation from the schools you know not for nothing kids to learn how to play it's
that's a great thing i know that we have facilities uh that are under construction right now our sports fields uh and I know for a fact that you know not for nothing if maybe once a week or what have you maybe
we could work on that as you know something that we could do i I'm telling you uh that to me is a great program uh the Edison Jets uh I just wanted you to know that uh that facility is almost ready the field
is almost ready and uh maybe we could reach out to them or they could reach out to us for a little help they might need a little help getting some things together uh number two oh that's number
three number I'm sorry Jerry uh the Edison the North Edison Library right now has been moved to Oak Tree Road it's right across from the uh old Edison uh family restaurant uh that construction's
probably going to go on for about 17 months okay there's they're naked they're expanding the walls and every uh it's going to be a great great asset to the to the town uh also the main library
they're having some issues over there with where they're actually remodeling one floor of it uh that one floor is almost done so I just want you to know doc uh they're doing a great job uh and
as far as I know according to what I was the information I was given there's no cost overruns i mean that's a big thing okay uh and I just want everybody to realize if you
can call up go on the website and get a library card i mean reading that old saying reading is fundamental but we have libraries uh we have facilities that
students could use so please get a library get a library card visit the library you'll really be surprised at what we do and what we're going through over there at the expansions thank you
Mr she thank you thank you anybody else jenny okay I'll be quick all right we went to uh I was invited to uh and so were the other board members to uh Herbert Hoover Middle School uh for their youth
participating action research it's y a r okay and they had a group of students there that had questions and they fielded them with uh Senator Dyen who was so generous with his time and his
stories of his past and uh you know but the questions that these students came up with were really amazing they asked very very important questions and you know and he took the time with each and every one of them and you know explained
and added and tried to guide him in the right direction it was well worth the time i think we were there maybe what an hour hour and a half it was worth every every minute you know and uh I would be so happy to go again to see you know what they're going to come up with next
it's a new group and uh you know if we get invited again you should really try and make it the other thing is um I went to Edison High School's play they did the Adams family it was a musical and I
wish you could have been there i mean our students are so so talented i mean they they were just they were just great i enjoyed that so so much and the music pit the the people that are in that pit are either
alumni teachers you know that are on their own time friends of teachers and it was just a it was just beautiful the show was great and uh you know it had to be so successful for them and lastly I was at Edison High School again and that
was last night i went for their varsity awards for winter sports and you know it's amazing our athlete our programs are so so good our athletes are incredibly talented you know we have so many state qualifiers and you know and
beyond and um you know it was you know I just love going there to see how what a good job they all do and uh it was good but I everything I did was on the south end sorry next time I'll go to the north end
it's closer i'll try to share myself you know I'm waiting for JP Stevens play to come to Edison High School because you know we're under construction you know so but uh Edison High did great you know but thank you thank you for listening well Mr ross echoed your your assment
and Friday oh next Thursday and Friday jp is okay friday yes i'm sorry yes what uh I don't see anybody's hair shaved shave i mean really you know not for nothing i mean you know I had to do mine
you know mine was done you know I mean you actually were the ones who said "Yo hey Mr romano how about getting your hair done?" I mean so you know I'm still waiting buddy you see me on Tuesday okay so Joe you can you can join him on Saturday i can join him right yeah saturday come take a picture okay sir
thank you thanks for Thank you thank you for everything really thank you okay anybody else okay so um um to answer your question uh Mr lugo uh
as I mentioned that there's a $5,000 deductible so it doesn't matter whether the insurance company accepts or not there's a $5,000 deductible but I going to ask uh you know Mr toes or or Dr rally to address the question of why yeah i I think your question was the the
rationale for it being uh the claim being denied i think it was sent submitted twice at two different times yep um and the I think the correspondence was it was related to it being a valid 18A claim 18a claim that's what the correspondence was okay thank you all right so no back and forth come
on okay you can talk about this other you understand when you were sitting here right so hope you honor that so hope you honor that and anybody else okay see none we're going to go to the
adjourn to a privilege session oh next come on Rob rob it's public meeting you jumped the gun so uh according to NJSA section 14.4-12 the Edison Township Board of
Education adjourns to confidential session for the purpose of discussing the following contract yeah confidential personnel and board matters contracts pending litigation student matters legal matters so can I have a motion to adjourn to
privilege session motion to uh to the public second in Mrs white okay mr romano and Mrs white uh all in favor i Okay uh do we plan to come back
no we we don't we don't have any actions so uh see you guys on Tuesday in John Adams john Adams next Tuesday all right thank you