Good evening and welcome to our board of education meeting of the Elizabeth Board of Education. This is a combined regular agenda and business meeting of the board of education pursuant to New Jersey statue and the rules adopted by the board of education.
Notice of this meeting was sent to the star ledger and cable vision of Elizabeth on January 16, 2026. In addition, this notice is posted on the bulletin board in the lobby of 500 North Broad Street. And pursuant to this act, a copy has been filed with the city
clerk of Elizabeth, New Jersey. We want to welcome everyone present here at school number 51 to our television viewers to this January 22nd, 2026 meeting of the board of education. We are here to govern, provide management, oversight, and make policy for the
district. The superintendent manages the district. This is a meeting of the board in public, not a meeting of the public. This meeting is being recorded and will become part of the Elizabeth Board of Education permanent record so that the recording will be adequately reflected
the proceedings. Please refrain from talking while others are speaking. We ask that you silence the sounds on your electronic devices since it is legally mandated that these proceedings be accurately recorded. We may have to ask for order periodically should noise
begin to interfere with our record capabilities. There will be a public portion for citizens to address the public address the board. Participants for the public portion must personally sign in prior to the start of the public participation portion so that they may
have the opportunity to speak. The signin sheets state the name, address, telephone number, and the reason that the person wants to comment, whether it is an agenda item or a general education comment. We are pleased that you have taken this evening to join us here for
our board of education meeting. Thank you for your interest in the Elizabeth public schools. Mr. Kennedy, roll call, please. >> Barbosa, >> here. Balus Chevresent Noel
>> here. >> Jacobs there. >> Mr. Jacobs is here vid via video. Marina Ortega. >> Yes. >> Present. >> Rivera. Carvalo
>> present. At this time, I ask everyone to kindly stand for a moment of silence for the loss of Montre and D Silva and community leader, namesake of Montenior and school number 31. Diane E. Savage,
food service worker, Madison Monroe School number 16. Gary Michael Fod, retired warehouse driver, plant and property. Thank you. Please remain standing for the presentation of colors by Admiral William F. Hollyy Jr. Health and Public
Safety Academy, JOTC. 4 Board member Stephanie Clairvoyant Noel, please lead us in the pledge of allegiance. >> 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. Please remain standing for the Star Spangle Banner by Francis Scott >> Keylight stars through the perilous
fight or the ramparts we watched were so gallare bursting in gave proof through the night
that our flag was still Oh, say that star spangled yet wave for the land of the free
and the home of the brave. Ready, go. Special thank you to our ROC. At this time, I would like Vice President Stephanie Gonav Pashana to
please lead us in the pledge of ethics. public school understandably when someone else is speaking by paying close attention. Speak in a calm voice and use proper language. Dress appropriately for teaching and learning. Inspire the best
inselves and others by celebrating successes and learn from mistakes. Care about others by demonstrating acts of kindness. a lifelong learner to learn others. >> Thank you. Please be seated. >> Mr. Kennedy, can you please introduce
our student representative? >> Superintendent will introduce. >> Sorry. Good evening. Kayla Hernandez proudly serves as one of the eight student board representatives across the Elizabeth Public School District.
In addition to holding the role of student government president at Alexander Hamilton Preparatory Academy, where she champions the motto, today's learners, tomorrow's leaders. In these leadership roles, she represents the student body and works closely with school administrators and district
leaders to ensure that student voices are heard, valued, and represented in decision-making. Kayla is deeply dedicated to fostering a welcoming, inclusive, and supportive school environment where all students
feel seen and empowered. As she concludes her high school tenure, Kayla has remained actively involved in her school community. She is a member of the National Honor Society, and participates in several clubs, including
the Avid Readers Club, the Newspaper Club, the Literary Art Magazine Club, the Multicultural Club, and the Future Educators of America. In addition, she serves as the vice president of the leadership club where
she mentors peers, models responsibility, and encourages the growth of student leadership throughout the school. Kayla's strong commitment to academics, service, and leadership reflects her passion for making a meaningful and
lasting impact during her high school journey. Through her dedication and involvement, she proudly represents Alexander Hamilton Preparatory Academy and her peers with integrity, responsibility, and pride.
Good evening everyone. Before I open for public participation, Mr. Kennedy, can you please include our student representative in the roll call to have the records reflect Kayla Samantha Hernandez's attendance this evening? >> Duly noted.
>> Thank you. Welcome, Kayla. Before I open for public participation, I do have a few words to say tonight. On behalf of the board of education, I would like to address an issue of substantial concern to our parents and school community. There has been
recently there has recently been misinformation circulating on social media relating to Elizabeth Public Schools and alleged interaction with ICE and federal law enforcement agencies. I wish to assure everyone that there has not been any ICE or related activities
within the district, nor has there been since these issues first arose. The district has and continues to follow the attorney general's immigration trust directive governing law enforcement activities and directives from the New Jersey State Department of Education
precluding entry into school facilities without a judicial search warrant or exigent circumstances to ensure the protection of our students in these emotional and stressful times. The spreading of false, inaccurate, and
unsupported information is harmful and hurtful. The board and administration will continue to ensure that the welfare of our students is protected. Thank you. At this time, citizens may address the board. The microphones are open for
public comment to those who have signed in prior signed in prior to this session. Each statement ba made by participants shall be limited to three minutes in duration. The total time of public comment shall be limited to 60
minutes. No inval no individual is able to yield their time to another individual. All statements shall be directed to the presiding officer. No participant may address or question board members individually. Each speaker
shall comply in all respects with board policy 9322. Copies were provided next to the sign-in sheet. The following rules shall apply. Time limits will strictly be enforced. No personal attacks on individuals or
naming of individuals. No vulgar or indecent language. A person may address the board no more than once during a single meeting. Comments will not be debated. Any person in violation of the policy will be warned and their comments
terminated if needed. As a reminder, this is a meeting of the board in public, not a meeting of the public. At this time, thank you. At this time, I call Jennifer Devilla. Good evening.
>> Hi. >> I'm sorry. I have a question before the time starts. This is my first time here, so I'm not allowed to name anybody? Nope. >> Okay. >> I'm sorry, >> ma'am. Here. You are not allowed to name anyone.
>> Ma'am. >> Okay. >> Please, please stand closer to the mic so we can hear you. Okay. Thank you so much. >> My name is Jennifer. I'm a parent in district and a PTO vice president at school 50. Um, superintendent, I am glad to to know that I can find you here
today after reaching out to you for over six months. You and I met in June. Hello for nearly four hours regarding serious concerns involving inappropriate, threatening, and racially discriminatory conduct by one of your employees at school 50. Conduct with which continues
and has escalated out of control. Since that meeting, I have attempted to contact you over a dozen times in person, by phone, and by text, all without a single response. during that meeting. Oh, I am here tonight because I am outraged and disgusted by what occurred at a recent PTO meeting and by
the ongoing lack of accountability regarding safety and discrimination at school 50 as well as other schools in our community. During that meeting, the principal at school stated that if ICE were to come to the school, she would open the doors and allow them to enter the building. She said these instructions came directly from you. The
manner in which this was said was rude, dismissive, and completely unprofessional. I then informed the principal that Barry's parents had reported seeing ice in the Sierra's parking lot, a parking lot that is shared by the school because we can't use the school parking lot because it's dangerous. While I was telling her this, she cowardly nodded her head in
agreement. Confirming that she knew ICE was in feet of our school because many were parents were attending virtually and could not see her, I had to verbally inform the viewers that she had nodded in agreement and that she was aware ICE was next door within feet of our school and that she had chosen to remain silent. No notification was sent to
parents. No transparency was provided. No safety protocols were put out in place, nothing to protect our school community. The following day, a watered down version of what occurred strategically worded by the school's PTO president, who also happened to be a district employee, was posted in the PTO chat. The message then spread across
Facebook community groups, causing panic, confusion, and fear. Some parents pulled their children out of school. Others were in disbelief that a school administrator in our community would say something like this. I along with many other parents in our school community have experienced racial targeting and discriminatory treatment by this principal and her secretary. This
behavior toward parents, taxpayers and members of this community is completely unacceptable. No one should be treated differently, intimidated or disrespected because of how they look, where they come from or what language they speak. I am American born and both of my parents are US citizens. These issues do not personally affect me, but I will be the
voice for the my school community. I will speak for the parents who are afraid to speak up, for the families who are scared to leave their homes. For the parents who have been discriminated against in our schools and me and mostly importantly for the children who cry in the morning because they don't know if they will be the last time they see their parents. Many of these children understand what is happening. Many of
them are scared and they are still babies between the ages of three and 5 years old. We do not believe ICE is coming to schools for children. We believe parents are being targeted when they are most vulnerable during drop off and pickup. Schools should be safe spaces physically and emotionally, not places where families are feel unsafe, unheard and disrespected. So tonight, I
am asking for clarity and accountability. What exact instructions were given to staff regarding ICE presence near or on school grounds? Are parents going to be notified when federal agents are stationed near schools? What safety measures are actually being enforced at our schools? And why are serious concerns being dismissed instead of addressed?
>> Thank you, Sheniqua. Garrett, please. Ganet or Garrett? >> Garrett. >> Good evening. >> Um this is good evening. This is a letter um a email I wrote with the um sisters of Christina. I attached it to
Oga Huga Charlene Balis Diana Barbosa. I am writing to request an immediate meeting regarding my daughter and ongoing failure to protect her from severe bullying and the harm that has resulted. My child has repeatedly my child was repeatedly bullied at school based on her weight and race. Despite my efforts to seek support, the school did
not take adequate steps to intervene or protect her. On October 29th, my daughter was wrongfully suspended following an incident that was labeled a fight, even though it was horseplanned. The other student involved initially told one version of events, didn't change her story after immediately treated after being immediately treated
as a victim. My daughter's account never changed. The school was aware that the other student's story was inconsistent and there was clear evidence in including multiple Tik Tok videos supporting my daughter's version of events. I also have recorded videos and phone calls related to this matter. Following this incident and the
continual bullying, my daughter's grades declined, her mental health and physical health deteriorated and she has required multiple therapists. She has been struggling with severe depression as a direct result of what she experienced at school and a lack of appropriate support. Tragically, this past January 10th, my daughter attempted suicide. She
is currently hospitalized. I cannot adequately express the urgency of the situation. I need immediate answers and actions. I am requesting an emergency meeting as soon as possible. A full review of how bullying complaints were handled. An explanation of the disciplinary decisions made on 102925.
Information on how to formally report the school's failure to protect my child. clear steps the district will take to ensure my child, my daughter's safety, support, and educational access move forward. Th this is no longer just an academic or disciplinary issue. This a ma this is a matter of student safety,
mental health, and accountability. Please respond immediately to schedule this meeting. I left my name, my number, my email, my daughter's school name, and her um her name, and no one responded to me, and that's been since January 16th. >> I I don't want to say your phone number
in public. I just want to make sure that I have the right number here. Can Would you mind coming closer or I could come to you? Thank you, Maria Loren. The assistant superintendent will see you now, ma'am. >> He's right in the back. Thank you.
>> Sorry. >> Good evening. I came today for the same reason that the lady here uh came was because I saw the posts that were going around on Facebook. Um the principal must permit
access to ICE agents was what was stated. ICE should go directly to the principal's office cuz that's going to work, right? They got authority and they just going to comply with going to the principal's office. I thought that was kind of cute. Principal should notify
the superintendent, the assistant superintendent, and the security director because you obviously have more power than ICE and they're going to comply. Correct. Treated on a casebycase basis. That's very vague and not very descriptive. It
says that agents won't have access to the kids, but you're giving them access into the building. Double doors separate the kids from the agents because who are we kidding, right? We can kick down doors, right? It's impenetrable here in Elizabeth. We just saw a car go through a whole brick wall the other day.
Protocol established by the pre by the superintendent. When more info is available, the community will know. My question is, madam superintendent, and you know, your political affiliations are not a mystery to many here. We all know you're an undercover. You posed as a Democrat, but you're really a
Republican. Is why doesn't the community know now? Why is there no communication to the community on any of this? Why are we paying a public relations hack your spin doctor if he can't relate to the
public for you? I mean, I can understand you not returning people's calls. You've done it to me. You've done it to several people here in the district. You have an aversion, a social aversion to speaking to parents and relating to them on a human level. So why the person that you're paying
your hack, why is he not able to put something out? I am getting to the point. >> Please do. >> If you're going to interrupt my time, then you're going to reset my clock. How about that? >> We're not resetting your clock. >> Yeah. Then shut up. >> You're not going to speak like that. >> Then shut up. And I want to know what
staff training. >> Please. Thank you. >> Quesan little. >> Quesan little. >> You could scream all you want, ma'am. Officers. officers.
>> Quesan Little, you are next. >> Yes, >> Kesan. You're next. Thank you, >> ma'am. >> Thank you. >> Let's go. Quan little. Nope. Ma'am,
>> let's go. >> Let's go. We have the business of the board to do. Thank you, Quesan Little. >> Welcome, Mr. Little. >> Yes. So just Oh, Madame President, you do not
discriminate against the commentary of somebody's free speech because you disagree with it. That's not how it works. So in case if you need a reminder, your No, no. You're not going to just cut me off either. That's not how this works. >> Your board attorney is not advising you correctly. That's ineffective counsel.
Okay? So let me speak and I'm reclaim my time. I do. If you can stop and I can speak, you can be able to hear it. It's yours. But you can't. No, it's not mine. It's cuz you're disrupting me. The floor is yours. >> As I was stating before I was really interrupted by you, it is a real threat
and it is a real emergency going on. You want to come with a middle of the road approach and not be empathetic to what's actually happening. And your faces right now is disgusting. You're making your faces. You're rolling your eyes. You're doing all these weird things with your lips. Where's your
empathy in this moment? You have babies being followed home in unmarked vehicles by ICE agents that have checkpoints throughout the city and you want to come and act like that during the meeting. You think that is unacceptable?
That is what we're talking about. This is a state of emergency because kids are off limits. We protect kids regardless of where they come from or who they belong to and that is your duty as well. So you want to come with that approach.
It is disgusting and you should rethink it over and reflect on that because nobody deserves to live in fear. And that was said by Linda Trebino because she had parents that stated that that that was actually stated by that principal. And madam superintendent, you
need to address that because if that directive came from you, we have a right to know who actually said what. And if it did not, please go on record tonight and say that you will address that from your from your staff member who told a group of parents that that was stated that night. That is unacceptable.
ICE has no room in Elizabeth. They have no room in Union County. They have no room in this country because their sole mission is to rip and steal and destroy families and separate families. Families belong together and especially babies. And I'm sure you've seen the news just
like I seen the news. A 5-year-old a fiveyear-old baby was detained by ICE in Minnesota. A 5-year-old. So if that happened there, it can happen here. Nobody is exempt and
no place is safe. And that is why we need you to be on a mandate in full defense of those who are hurting and suffering the most in this moment. But to have that attitude like you had, that's unacceptable. And you should go home and rethink that over before the next meeting because that's don't show
no empathy. Folks need you in full defense of them right now. >> Thank you. At this time, I close the public comment portion of this meeting. At this time, our superintendent of schools will present the community
updates. Good evening. Our board president commits to the review of district systems through regularly scheduled presentations as part of our board meetings for this school year.
The process will involve having each of our divisions provide an overview of their departments at our regularly scheduled board meetings. These presentations will incorporate a review of structure, process, and metrics.
This allows the opportunity for the board to be able to understand the um importance of the work being conducted in each of our departments. This evening we will have Mr. Mike Rejo who is the director of
transportation provide our community with a presentation and this will allow a wonderful overview of his department. And I see that several of our team members from the department of transportation are here this evening. Um, and we thank you for
that. So, at this point in time, I would like to turn to Mr. Rejo to provide the presentation. Uh good evening everybody. So um I'll be presenting u the transportation department uh overview of
the the whole department. And as I look at the first slide here, I noticed that I missed something in the presentation. You see the bus with illuminated stop sign and the school bus sign. That's something new that we've added and I didn't put that in the presentation.
So uh let's begin. Uh, a brief overview of the transportation department staff. We currently have 44 full-time drivers, 10 subd drivers, 46 multi-purpose bus attendants, eight subbus attendants, two
transportation coordinators, one transportation specialist, four secretaries, myself, uh, for a total of 116 employees. Um, our department normally runs from 6:30 a.m. to 4:30
p.m. Uh, this is uh the budget for the 2526 school year. The budget is managed with a efficiency and accountability. This budget primarily reflects personal salaries, personnel salaries, and contracted bus routes and maintenance.
Uh our in our fleet we currently have uh 53 54 passenger buses, two 20 passenger buses, two wheelchair accessible buses, two 10 passenger transit vans utilized for district intakes for a total of 59
vehicles. We normally keep five of the larger buses as spares for breakdowns or while other buses are being maintained. Each bus is inspected twice a year by the New Jersey Motor Vehicle School Bus Commission. Uh preventative maintenance is performed on each school bus twice a
year. All Elizabeth public school buses are equipped with air condition and two-way radios for communication. As we continue on our fleet before every driver departs to perform their bus routes daily, they perform a safety pre-trip inspection of their bus. Also,
designated lock crew members uh top fluids on the vehicles address minor repairs in the house as needed. Uh maintenance records are kept on each vehicle for the lifetime of the vehicle. Each bus also in addition to the preventive maintenance undergoes
quarterly maintenance inspections. Our bus fleet is relatively modern with the oldest bus being a 2018. As of 20120, we have cycled through our fleet with 34 new school buses. This is able to help keep our maintenance costs down
along with a lot of in-house repairs we make. electrical school buses. Under the EPA grant, the EBOE is going to receive approximately $3,889,000, representing 100% grant funding to acquire five electric 54seater type C
school buses, four electric 20-seater type B school buses. The grant funding is also paying for 100% of the cost of the charging stations. Uh we are slated to receive the first batch of these electrical buses this spring. uh cameras. Each school bus is equipped
with five HD interior cameras. These cameras are placed to cover every angle of the interior of the school bus. Each school bus is also equipped with an exterior HD camera to record vehicle violating school bus stop signs. These
these videos are sent to the Elizabeth Police Department for summons to be issued to these drivers. Uh this is a new thing we have. In addition to the cameras that are already on inside the buses on and the exterior, every bus is equipped with an AI powered
dash camera for our fleet management. This system provides real-time video, GPS tracking, and telematics. Enhance driver safety, detect risky behaviors such as mobile phone use, drowsiness, and tailgating, and delivering automated
incab coaching alerts. This system also automatically uploads critical incident footage and data to the cloud for streamline review and reporting. U basically this new system we're able to see the video live as the bus is moving uh
rather than waiting for the bus to come back and retrieve it. And the GPS system as well you are able to see it live rather than have the five minute pings. The child the uh child detection sensors all school buses have child detector
sensors on the front and rear. In addition to those sensors, the newer buses have backup and front cams for the driver to visually see as well. Uh just recently we installed tablets on all our school buses. All district owned school buses are equipped with tablets
used for driver instructions, student attendance tracking, and these tablets also provide turnbyturn directions for each bus route. Uh the new GPS system we just acquired provides enhanced capabilities including real-time vehicle movement and location
tracking, detailed records of all stops with timestamps, geo fencing by designated zones, speeding, idly alerts and integration with our routing software as well uh to compare for performance. This system also supports mobile tracking
with push notifications for check engine alerts, heavy braking, and also fuel usage reports. Also, our routing system is also new. It allows us to build routes more efficiently while maintaining more detailed, informative student profiles.
The system also fully integrated with our GPS system allowing to improve tracking and route performance analysis. Uh continuing to routing. Once a student is routed in the system, the software automatically assigns a pickup time. A letter is then generated and sent to the
student's guardian with route details along with the school bus rules and safety regulations. Schools are notified of their routing information and drivers receive a roster sheet with the new student assignments and turnbyturn directions. The new
routing system also allows us to securely share route information with schools and contracted service providers, improving coordination and communication here. Sorry. Um in our office we have an interactive dispatch board with live
data of all the district routes, bus assignments, bus drivers, bus aids. Uh the board uh keeps everyone in the office informed with relevant and up-to-date information that is helpful when answering phone calls. It also allows us to make informed decisions
regarding substitution and uh route adjustments. So the steps to get a child transported uh first would be a request for um student transportation which comes in the form of a ticket
and second we route the student and third the guardian and uh the schools are informed of the students transportation arrangements. This is the the transportation request form that all the schools have access to and uh other divisions in the district
where they submit this request and we get it then we process the the request. So for the 2526 school year we transport a total of 4,254 students 1,697
of those students were magnet school students 672 students attending school 4 1,61 in district special needs students 410 out of district special needs students
115 pre uh prek students 22 students receiving courtesy busing 181 non-public schools uh for Aiden Lau and 96 uh vocational school students. The district operates a total of 302 bus
routes. Of these 45 special needs routes are staffed and operated by Elizabeth Public Schools bus drivers and aids, while the remaining routes are contracted out to approved transportation vendors, field trips. So for the 2025 and 26
school year, we are as as at this point we are at 891 field trips. Uh the field trips are requested also through a web-based program accessible to everyone in the district. Uh the system assists with scheduling, generates unique trip
ID numbers, and automatically sends confirmation emails to requesters. Uh we also uh do daily athletics uh athletic shuttles for our high school kids and uh weekend sporting events. The band we also provide transportation
for the district's band to multiple locations for competitions and special events. Uh weekend trips. On the weekends we provide transportation for the following events. uh athletics, uh school 4 weekend program, band, ROC, forensics,
and the uh city recreation program. Uh this past summer, we transported a total of 736 students for the school for uh summer school program, the speech program, ESY, promotion retention, and
the recreation program. completing all routes in house without contracting a single one. Uh as required by the law, we conduct school bus emergency evacuation drills on on site twice this school year. Our drivers conduct these drills under the
supervision of the schools. Drivers must immediately report an accident or an incident to dispatch. The transportation office will contact the local police department and EMS right away. The school will be promptly notified along with a list of all the students involved so parents can be
informed. A transportation coordinator or the director will be dispatched to assist the police and the EMS with the students identification and coordination. EMS will also evaluate all students and report all injuries with result in transport to the emergency
room if necessary. Finally, accidents must be reported to the the Department of Education if they involve injury, death, or property damage exceeding $500. uh we do all our u training in-house with our transportation specialists. So
all our drivers and bus attendants receive uh training multiple times a year from our transportation specialists on safety practices uh student management, pre and postrip inspections, monitoring for se sleeping children and uh transporting students with special
needs. So the last time I did this presentation, we I had some goals that we I had set forth and uh these are the goals that uh we were able to acquire uh accomplish.
So we were able to uh get a grant for the electric buses. We increased our fleet size. Um we put the student identification system on buses with the tablets. uh upgraded bus camera systems with live AI technology, upgraded the GPS system
to live time, implemented a structured training system to support ongoing development for drivers and bus aids, and a new routing system. Uh this is uh one of the most important things I feel that I I can't stress enough.
Uh every bus is equipped with a child check button. If the driver does not physically walk to the back of the bus and press this button within one minute of shutting off the bus, an alarm will sound. This system is designated to ensure that the drivers perform thorough
post-trip inspections. All drivers are required to complete a child check at the end of every route. We consistently emphasize the importance of performing a child check through both training sessions and verbal reminders. And this is uh our friend, Mr. Bill, who
is no longer with us, but I had to add him in there. And uh that concludes uh my presentation. Um the transportation department would like to thank uh superintendent, board members, uh Mr. Quest, all of these guys for being so
supportive of us over the years. And uh I open the floor to any questions anybody might have. Yes. >> Thank you, Mr. Rejo. Any questions from the board members? >> Yes, madame president. Thank you. Uh first, um I want to say some words, no
questions, comments. At the end, I will make a question. Uh first, thank you for Miss Director Reho for your report. Um I want to say thank you to the transportation department.
You oversee 4,252 students. It is not easy, but you make that possible. Our children are safe in every single ride. Thank to our drivers and I personally want to
congratulate the team because I received feedback from the community especially this beginning of the school year like the process was so fast. the district transportation form make a huge impact and different and I want you explain me
uh how was different this year like the community make a phone call and say Rosa was one two three a special thank you to the director Mr. Rihjo Mr. Cardinas Mr. Lang Jada Mr. Espinosa, our
secretaries, Mrs. Fera and Ernnandez. This year I received five phone calls to say any I didn't receive any any phone call for any kind of issue at the beginning of the school year. I really
appreciate your hard work and dedication. Uh it is an important department that all the department put transportation department is the department like put our children in different places. I'm
glad to see the report and extremely happy with the department. I want to say um the best I want to congratulate the drivers. It is not easy is pay attention to the streets and pay
attention for our children at the same time. That mean congratulation. My question is I know it's something different with the new form. I heard the pattern like the process is faster than previous years. Can you explain me what is different this year?
>> Thank you. So this year in the beginning of the school year, in the past we would uh route the students before the school year starts and uh print out the letters and just mail out letters informing the parents of the bus information. Uh this year we teamed up with uh the technology
department and um aside from the letters going out. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Teamwork makes the dream work. >> Yes. uh they were able to uh uh I gave them a list of all the students routed
with information and uh parents were bl received a blast with text message with the their bus information uh emails and uh robocalls and I believe uh it's also tied into powers school. I I haven't checked that but I think that was
something that >> they're all nodding their heads. Yes. >> Yes. So that that made a huge difference uh this year. uh it eliminated a lot of the the normal traffic we get to the transportation office and to the Mitchell building and I'm hoping it
continues for the next year as well. >> Well, that's amazing also um Rosa just because we all know how mail works lately. I think ever since co the mail has been very wonky and people never actually received their letters in the mail about their bus routes and everything. So using it and the technology to actually relay the word
via text messages and you know email blast really prepared our parents as well. >> Yeah, it worked really well this year. I I mean the letters also we we do receive a lot of the letters we send out we end up getting them back. >> Right. Right. >> So this is the most effective way going
forward I believe. >> Right. >> Thank you so much. >> Anyone else? >> Madam President. >> Yes. >> Sure. So, um, Director Rachel, thank you for your services and to your entire team for servicing our community and especially our kids. Um, we truly truly
appreciate that. So, I might have a little idea for another accomplished goal of yours. We're going to tune it up a little bit. Same way how um the parents have an app and are able to be aware of when their kids are picked up and dropped off. How do we
make that trickle down to the field trips? for the field trips. It >> is that a big ask? >> Um it is because those are two different systems we have. Okay. Um the routing system uh focuses mostly on the routes
and the trip system doesn't really take students into attendance there. It just they they request a field trip where they're going time and so forth. So there's no student data in that system. So for that to be tied into I I have a
feeling that the program we use is going to have a trip uh system uh capability soon. >> Uh they don't have it yet but once they do I I am going to look into that >> if it's something that is you know out there. I think that being that all not
all parents are able to be chaperrons on field trips and not all field trips are open to the public where a parent can meet the you know student at the location like a zoo or whatever the case is. It is a comfort and it is a transparency and it is you know a form of communication where a prek3 student a
parent is more comfortable knowing that the you know child has arrived on the field trip and you know back at the school. Sometimes that's not always you know relayed on class dojo. So >> that that is definitely a goal because we we've uh basically consolidated
almost everything except the trips. Mhm. >> Um once they're able to do that, then it'll be all in one because now our drivers have the live attendance on the tablets. >> Check the students off. So once that is goes into effect, then it will be all
together. >> Another goal now in the future. Thank you, director. >> Thank you, Commissioner Pristana. Anyone else? If not, I know that Commissioner Jacobs has a question. Commissioner Jacobs. >> Thank you, Madam President.
>> Here you are. >> Okay, you hear me? Thank you so much. Um, I'd like to echo my colleagues um commendations to uh the director and his department for doing an excellent job. Um my first question is um I noticed
that uh oh first I wanted to say I think it's a uh a tremendous effort that's been partnered with the superintendent along with Mr. Kennedy and with the director and the acquisition of the the five new electric buses. We've been waiting for that for quite some time. Um
the fact that the majority of this purchase is going to be grant approved uh grant funded is a great accomplishment for us to be able to do that. I also would like to uh commend the director um on instituting the um the
warning system to let to make sure that no child is left on this bus. We see so many examples uh where children are inadvertently or accidentally uh left on the bus in other districts and this was a concern of this board in the past and
for us to be able to address that issue so that it doesn't happen in our district is also another great achievement. And lastly, I have to ask a question. And I I know in the past um there was a program where parents were able to track their child's bus route
and being that I noticed that our buses are now all GPS enabled and they also include the tablets that do bus attendance um and things of that nature. Do you have any insight on whether or not um that feature is still available to parents or is that something that can
be investigated for the future? So we the parents have an app they can't not track the bus. Uh that feature is unfortunately not available uh only because we can't uh provide that service
for our contracted buses. But the our eboe buses the app does give them um an alert when the bus is like five minutes away from their stop. But again that's with eBe buses,
anything that's contracted out, we don't have that um capability to do that. >> You know, thank you, director, for explaining that because I think that's a helpful feature for some of our parents because we've have heard concerns from the community in the past about this.
And of course, we know that we can't provide that service on our contracted buses, but as long as we're able to do that as well. And in closing, I also want to um add the fact that, you know, um making sure that we have cameras on all of our buses um all of our buses um
and trying to make sure that we can do that with our contracted buses, of course, we know is much more of a challenge, but being that the district has made sure that that um that feature is available on all buses that we own and maintain is another great safety feature. Once again, I want to thank you
again, director, and everyone in your department from the bus drivers on up on doing an excellent job in making sure all of our 20,000 all of our students are transported safely back and forth to school. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Commissioner Jacobs. Um, I
want to thank you, Director. I want to thank uh Jose Lera and also Harold Cardinas because without your team, you're only as good as your team. And I also know that there's a lot of bus drivers and aids here. So, if you could all please stand up, you all deserve a
round of applause. And we want to thank you for all that you do for the Elizabeth Public Schools. Thank you. We appreciate you and uh thank you for bringing all of this to our attention. It is good for us to know how hard and dedicated you all are to
our team. And we learned that you are also partnering with our IT department which uh warms our heart that everyone is working together to uh for the betterment of our children. So thank you. >> Thank you everybody. Good night
>> madam president. At this time I would like to introduce our former graduate from the JBJ STEM Academy class of 2025 Jeremiah Leaport representing the New Jersey Department of Children and Families Youth Council. will be presenting our board with a
congressional commendation in honor of school board recognition month. Mr. Leaport. >> Thank you, Madam Superintendent. Good morning, Madame President. It's been a about a year or so since I got to say that. Uh and members of the board of education, uh I'm honored to join you
this evening in celebration of school board recognition month. This month is not only about recognizing the leaders of this district. It's about allowing those who sh who were shaped by this district to return and say with gratitude and conviction, thank you. I
stand before you today as a member of the class of 2024 and as an inaugural alumnest of the JVJ STEM Academy, an experience made possible through the outstanding leadership of Principal Theodore Pentagon Metriel and the entire staff of the
academy. They did more there to prepare us than just academically. They empowered us to imagine beginning our lives for ourselves. And during my graduating year, I had the privilege of serving as student representative to this board under the leadership of then president, commissioner Charlene Bathus
Delli. An opportunity that provided truly transformative leadership though that role. Through that role, I met community leaders, learned the inner workings of government, and began to see clearly the path I wanted to pursue. That same year, my principal entrusted
me with the opportunity to testify for the Senate Joint Committee. That moment led to a connection with the commissioner of the department of children and families and ultimately to my appointment to her advisory commission where I now advise departmental leadership and the governor's office on impactful legislation. Since then, I've had the
opportunity to work in the United States House of Representatives and now to serve in the administration of the great Madame Governor Mikey Cheryl. I'm also privileged to be pursuing a dual degree at St. Peters University and Seanhole Law and now as of this summer to be a
certified parallegal. None of this happened accidentally. It happened because of opportunities, trust and mentorship I received here under your leadership and with your support. It happened because the district chose to invest in a student before the world
could see their potential. It happened because leadership here does not just govern, it cultivates. Opportunities like these are rare. They are born from a district that believes in its students and from leaders who are willing to invest in them. I could not miss the
opportunity to stand before you today and simply say thank you. The future is brighter when leadership reflects the people it serves and when leadership acts with intention. A community becomes unstoppable. That is why I'm proud to join you today with the support of Congresswoman Lmonica Maccgyver and
recommending and honoring you with the following commendations. The Elizabeth Board of Education has exemplified the true meaning of public service and dedication to the public learning community of the city of Elizabeth. Its commissioners lead with integrity, commitment, and pride,
advancing educational excellence, and expanding community-based learning opportunities. I further recommend that New Jerseys 10th Congressional District and the United States Congress join me in commending the outstanding work and leaderships of the Commissioner of the City of Elizabeth Board of Education as
seated. Congratulations, Thank you. Thank you. If the board members could join me up front If I could ask our board members to please remain uh the front of the roof. We wish to express our profound
gratitude to a remarkable group of individuals, the esteemed members of the Elizabeth Board of Education. These nine dedicated volunteers generously dedicate countless hours to ensure that every student in
our district has the opportunity to thrive academically and socially. In observance of schoolboard recognition month, we are honored to present a framed resolution signed by Governor Phil Murphy to each of our board members
as a token of our sincere appreciation for your unwavering leadership, your tireless dedication, and the invaluable sacrifices that you make each and every day for our children. We are truly grateful.
At this time, we would like to be able to share with our board members a very special video. that was uh with the that represents the participation of all eight student representatives.
So, if we may play the video for our school board. In honor of school board recognition month, Elizabeth Public Schools has invited our eight student representatives to the board of education to participate in this celebration. Serving as liaison between the high schoolmies and the board,
student representatives provide a voice to their school communities by sharing student body opinions and issues with the board and the public. >> Good evening board members, community members, and Dr. Huger. I am truly honored to have been selected to represent my school as a student representative.
>> Through their interactions and experiences with the members of the board, they have a firstirhand perspective to recognize the members of the Elizabeth Board of Education for the amazing work they do throughout the year. >> Elizabeth Public Schools serve over 27,000 students in grades pre
kindergarten throughout 12th grade among 37 schools. At the forefront of ensuring our students receive a highquality education are the members of the Elizabeth Board of Education, who devote countless hours serving the community without compensation by providing governance and oversight of school district operations.
>> The nine members of our board work collectively alongside the members of central administration to develop and adopt policies that meet the challenges faced by the school district to empower students to achieve excellence in our school as they prepare for college and career success and pursue their dreams.
Our exceptional board members have also demonstrated extraordinary and consistent support for the Elizabeth Public Schools learning community. They visit our schools to participate in lessons and activities, offer students words of wisdom at graduation and promotion ceremonies, cheer on student
athletes in athletic competitions, and applaud students on their performance stage, among many ways in which they inspire the best from each and every student. During the month of January, school districts throughout the state of New Jersey celebrate school board recognition month to acknowledge their
school boards for the contributions they make to the success of education in their communities. Elizabeth Public Schools is proud to join those other districts by celebrating and recognizing the tireless work and amazing dedication of the Elizabeth Board of Education. with heartfelt appreciation and
gratitude. Thank you for all you do each day to ensure the students of Elizabeth Public Schools are receiving the skills and knowledge necessary to complete and succeed in school and in life. Thank you, Elizabeth Board of Education. >> Thank you, Elizabeth Board of Education. >> Thank you, Elizabeth Board of Education.
>> Thank you, Elizabeth Board of Education. >> Thank you, Elizabeth Board of Education. >> Thank you, Elizabeth Board of Education. >> Thank you, Elizabeth Board of Education. >> Thank you, Elizabeth Board of Education. At this time I ask Mr. Eric Zimmerman from our outside auditing firm Subly
Clooney and Company to come forward to present the results of the audit for the 2024 2025 school year. >> Thank you and good evening. Uh like you said, I'm Eric Zimmerman and we're here tonight to present the
results of the audit for fiscal year 2025. I was the manager on the job and I'm here tonight with John Swisser. He was the partner on the engagement. Uh before I get into the details of the audit, just a little background, you know, why
we're here in January, there was another extension. The statutory deadline is December 5th every year. And this year, like like many others in the past, uh there was an exception, right? Uh this year, we were waiting on the federal compliance supplement to be released.
Uh, so how that affected the Elizabeth board because you had over $750,000 of expenditures in federal monies, you're subject to a federal single audit. So, we had to wait for the compliance supplement to be released in
order to uh release your official reports. So, I'm pleased to tell you that you are have submitted and filed your reports on time with the extension. Um, so that's good news to the board. As far as the audit is concerned, we
issue two reports each year. Uh the one report is the bigger report, the ACER. Uh that's the annual comprehensive financial report. And in this report, you'll you'll find the opinions uh along with the financial statements for the year and the notes to those financial
statements. uh the the opinions that we issued again it's an unmodified opinion on your financial statements which is a clean opinion. It's the best opinion that you can get and basically what it means is that your financial statements
are free from material misstatement and they're in conformance with the rules and regulations of the state of New Jersey. The as far as the finances go that you see in that big report uh again good news for the district. You're your
financial health is is very good. Um, you're able to put money away into your reserves, which goes a long way in future years of taking care of your plan. Uh, you're also set up pretty well now for your next budget year, which is in discussions now. That's going to be
the 2627 budget. Uh, which then brings me to the smaller report of the two. That's the AMR or the auditor's management report. And this report is required by the department of education and basically the department
has a standard audit program that we have to follow each year in the district and they have different groups and departments of things that we look into and then report upon them in in this report. So these would be departments
like bank reconciliations, assa payroll etc. Uh if we find compliance issues or internal uh excuse me, internal control issues, you would find recommendations in this report. Uh again, I'm pleased to announce that there are no
recommendations in the report for fiscal year 25. So overall, this is a clean audit. You have clean opinions and overall a successful year for for the district uh under audit. Uh with that said, we always open it open it back up
to you. If anyone has any questions, you know, we'd be glad to uh answer them. >> We want to thank you for all of the work that you have done. I know you've been working with our committees closely in order to come up with these numbers and to make sure that we have a balanced budget. Uh do I have any questions from
any of board members? >> Mr. Jacobs. >> Madame President, thank you so much. Um I'd like to thank uh Mr. Zimmerman and Mr. for sure and his firm for another clean audit uh this year. Um also a the
fact that we have no findings on our auditor's management report is truly a outstanding um accomplishment also shows the great direction that is happening under Mr. Kennedy and Mr. Multra along
with the business office um direction and making sure that our finances in Elizabeth, can you hear me? >> Yes, sir. >> Okay. that our finances um are sound in Elizabeth with um an independent auditor
verifying um that our that our finances are are sound which is very important when we read the local news of other districts having issues and cause having shortfalls and things of those nature that uh under the toutelage and
direction of Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Multra and the business staff that our board doesn't have to go through those pitfalls. um and areas. Um so once again, I also like to thank all um the members of the finance committee, Commissioner um Pastana, Commissioner
Bathless, um I think I'm forgetting am I forgetting a Oh, uh and President Nuran as well. Um in this last year's uh finance committee meetings, we put in many hours to go over the various financial uh reports to make sure
everything was in line. Thank you once again everyone once again for a great job well done. Thank you. >> Thank you Commissioner Jacobs once again. Thank you to the finance committee for all of your hard work and dedication Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Mahra Jeanie
Ball and your entire team and obviously thank you to your team for all the work and dedication that you have put towards this. Once again we have a balanced clean budget and um we we keep moving. So thank you
Thank you. Yeah, you you stole my my thanks at the end. We always like to >> been doing it for a while. >> Yeah. >> Like to throw it out there at the end. >> Thank you to the superintendent's office, the business office. Uh without their cooperation, you know, this is this is a big undertaking. This is a big
report. Um so without their cooperation, you know, we wouldn't be here today probably. >> Yes, absolutely. Look forward to working with you again. and we've added new board members to the to the finance committee this year so that we all know what's going on and how how it works so
that we never miss a beat. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Have a good night. >> All right. At this time, we will now review the agenda. Commissioners official tab 1A to tab 1B. Are there any
questions from the board? Seeing none, Mr. Kennedy, please add tab 1 A and 1B to the agenda. >> Tab 2A and 2B personnel report. >> Madam President, may I ask Mr. to
provide a summary for the board? >> Yes, please. >> Mr. Thank you. Um, Dr. Higay. So ladies and gentlemen of the board for your consideration we have a number of uh items. I want to start by uh congratulating uh those individuals who
are retiring. Uh all of them are important and I wish every single one of them the best. I just want to want to highlight one individual with whom I had the pleasure of working for several years and that's Kathy Sullivan, secretary of school number 23 uh who is
retiring after 25 and a half years of distinguished service. You have uh nine resignations uh one investigator to security guards, one BCBA and five teachers. Um, you have 18 appointments including uh secretaries,
custodians, security guards, and six-hour uh food service workers. You have a handful of transfers. And just as a friendly reminder, um employees um sometimes request a transfer. Um sometimes there are legal issues for the
transfers um for any for some of these individuals. Um I'm happy to say that there are 29 changes of salary uh due to individuals obtaining the master's degree and in some cases 32 credits u
beyond the u the masters that we we call uh the six-year level uh in Elizabeth and we have two promotions to registered nurses to school nurses. Thank you. >> Thank you Mr. Qua. Are there any questions from the board? Um, Madame
President, just one comment. >> Commissioner Moreno, >> first I want to congratulate our retirement um staff. Uh, you see 25 years, 27 years. That's speak a lot
about about our district and also um it's a challenge. Everybody know 2025 we have uh very very very few districts like can't count as Elizabeth like every time we
have an opening for a teacher they want to work here no more words we one of the best school districts thank you >> thank you Rosa thank you any other commissioners have any comments or questions for Mr. Madame President, it's for Mr. Quest and
it's actually an overall. Every time I always go through this, I always like to uh congratulate there's always so much movement up in the district and I realize that because you see the promotions, you know, teachers becoming instructional coaches. So, there's such
a, you know, big a big chance and big growth in our district and I'm always proud of that. Thank you. if I madam president if I may say so that's one of the things that I highlight when I meet with new employees like for example next Wednesday uh I meet with the employees
that hopefully will be appointed tonight and one of the things that I tell them is that in the Elizabeth school district if you work hard you dedicate yourself you have an opportunity for a promotion whether you are a security guard that wants to be a teacher a custodian who wants to be a teacher or I always I
always uh often use the example of a secretary who eventually became a supervisor thank Thank you, Mr. Qua. Thank you and your entire team. We know that a lot of hard work and dedication goes to preparing this tab every month and it is not easy.
So, thank you. Any other questions? >> Hearing none, Mr. Kennedy, please add tab 2A and tab 2B to the agenda. Tuitions report. Any questions from the board members? Tab three. Hearing none, please, Mr. Kennedy, add
tab three to the agenda. Tab 4 through 4D, superintendence report. >> Madame President, I would like to be able to highlight a few of the items on the considerations report. Uh first, beginning on page five, uh would like to be able to share with our community that
our director of student services, Dr. Donado, and our supervisor of guidance, uh Mrs. Badya, will be attending a gaggle leadership summit uh in the beginning of February, and they will actually serving on a panel and where they will have the opportunity to share
the importance of gaggle, the implementation of gaggle in public schools. Gaggle is a system that serves to protect our children. Anytime a child utilizes a computer to perhaps write something that u indicates that the
child may be struggling with something, it immediately alerts our guidance counselors, our social workers, our school administrators. It alerts our director of security, our assistant superintendent so that we can ensure that we are immediately attending to the
needs of the child. Um so it's wonderful honor that our director and supervisor have been invited to serve on the panel. So wanted to be able to share that with our community. Also would like to highlight our forensics team that will be uh competing at UPEN and also Harvard
University. a tremendous opportunity for our speech and debate tournaments that are coming up at both of these prestigious universities for our forensics team to uh have this opportunity to I'm sure will be incredibly successful.
Thank you. Thank you. Any questions from from the board on tab 4 through 4D? >> Madame President, >> Commissioner Jacobs. >> Yes. Thank you, Madam President. Um, I was having a a question on tab 4 a item
number five. Uh, whether the sup madam superintendent or director donado can expound upon the educational development seminar when students miss too many days, what can we do about it? Um, that's been a focus of one of these
board's goals is to focus on chronic absenteeism. So, if you can get a little more information on that. Yes, absolutely. Uh, Mr. Jacobs, I would be glad to um expand on that. So, our focus um exactly as you stated, it's one of the primary goals of our board of
education to focus on the attendance of our children and ensure that our families understand uh the state's policy, the district's policy, and ensure that we are working with our families uh to be able to support our children, ensure that they are coming to
school every day. This uh item that's on the considerations report um includes the opportunity for guidance counselors to be able to attend professional development and in turn then turnkey that professional development to the rest of their department bringing back
critical strategies that they can share with other guidance counselors as well as with their school. So thank you so much Mr. Jacobs for having pointed that out. Thank you, Madam Superintendent. And also that leads me to another question that I have and a request to Madame
President if it's possible. Due to the recent events that have been going on around the country and in Elizabeth, New Jersey, I'm wondering about what our student um absenteeism rate has been uh for the month of January. And in
relation to this January versus the last two or three Januaries, is it possible that we could maybe bring this to the educational management committee to discuss to see if there's been a trend of a decrease? Because we have noticed um from last year alone to from last
October 15, 2024 versus October 15, 2025, we lost approximately,00 students. So, it be I I would be curious to know and I'm sure my colleagues would be curious to know um if we're experiencing further loss or or ways
that we maybe can maneuver to mitigate that. Um thank you, Madame President. >> Thank you. Um those answers will be provided to the committee and then will be rolled out at the next board meeting so that all the board members can have those
>> the answers. Thank you. Any other questions on four to 4 D hearing? None. Mr. Kennedy, please add tab four through 4D to the agenda. Tab five, authorizations report. I'm going to ask um Assistant
Superintendent Fitz Johnson to please report out just so everyone understands. There were questions that were uh brought to my attention and to the vice president's attention by the board members while we reviewed the agenda. So we feel that if we're questioning it
that we want the public and the families and the parents at home and the children to know. So an authorizations report if you can tell us about the special Olympics the 4 program and a few of the items that we we requested um answers
on. >> And that's in which >> tab five authorizations report. Oh taking it. Sorry. >> My apologies. Mrs. Finch Johnson um you're going to be coming up shortly. I have two items. Uh Special Olympics. Uh
this Sunday, our children uh were scheduled to have the opportunity to uh compete. Children from school number 22, from school number 28, from school number 29, our Hollyy Academy students and our Bulwitch Finance Academy
children were supposed to uh compete uh in North Brunswick at Bolero. And unfortunately, as a result of the forecasted snowstorm, the impending storm as they refer to it, uh it may be that we will need to cancel this event.
We're still waiting for u additional information by Friday evening. We will be notifying our families, but this is a an annual event that is amazing where our children have the opportunity to participate and and we're able to support them. Uh so that was one of the
items on the agenda that more than likely will be rescheduled. We also have um our supervisor of science uh Mr. Victor that has recommended a partnership with the 4 program of Union County Wonder of Trees and it's an
opportunity for the uh folks from 4 to provide um further instruction to our fourth grade students and they'll have and it's the school six, school 7, school 8, school 12 and school 14 will learn about tree biology, tree products,
tree care and really a focus on an appreciation uh for trees. So, I know that this is one item that is very important to our board president and it's um will be scheduled for Wednesdays in April and May in all of the fourth grade classrooms across the district.
So, we want to thank uh Mr. Victor, our science supervisor, for providing that opportunity to enter into the partnership. I'd like to now turn to Mrs. Finch Johnson, who will provide a summary of our fundraising events. >> Thank you. Um on the agenda this evening
we have 161 fundraising opportunities. Um they include but are not limited to various food and apparel sales, many Valentine dances, flowers and candy sales as well as an ice cream social,
pretzel sales, and many great opportunities for our schools to raise funds for extracurricular activities. Thank you. I'm going to circle back now to our donations. I believe Dr. Sado stepped out for a second. So, we have uh
several donations that have been included in our board report for this month. Uh I would like to be able to highlight a couple of them. First, Progressive Spine and Orthopedics uh is making a thousand donation for our Thomas Jefferson Arts Drama Club. And
those uh funds will be incredibly useful. As we know, we're very proud of our Thomas Jefferson Arts Academy. And also wanted to mention the winter warmth kits from the Alpha Kappa Alpha Omega Sai Omega chapter um providing school
number 23 students um hats and gloves and as we know the temperatures have been quite intense uh in recent uh weeks. So this is wonderful. We want to thank them for that. um as well as uh $250 that is being um donated to the PTO
at JBJ STEM Academy for their science club. So, an opportunity to expand um opportunities at our academy. >> Thank you, Madam Superintendent. Any other questions on tap five? Hearing none, Mr. Kennedy, please add tap five to the agenda. Tab 6 through
6A, finance and accounting. Are there any questions from the board? Hearing none, Mr. Kennedy, please add tap six and 6A to the agenda. Tap seven, 7A, 7B, award of contract
report. >> Are there any questions from the board? >> I can give a comment on tab seven if I can. >> Please, Mr. Kennedy. >> Um, on page four of the war of contracts was a contract with that's awarding a contract to a tech concrete company and what that
is it's as a result of IDA and working with FEMA it was kind of a two-phase things they paid to repair school 26 at 31 for the flood damage that was done there but as part of that repair they
required us to mitigate if it happens again so there was an architect hired and they designed basically a series of floodgates that could be put into effect if >> absolutely >> thank goodness we hope it never happens again but this project does that and
FEMA's also fully funding that so it's being awarded for 821,000 but it's fully um funded by the federal government >> that's good to hear Mr. Kennedy. Thank you. Are there any other questions from the board or any questions on tab 7A 77A 7B?
>> Madame President. >> Yes, Commissioner Jacobs. >> Yes. I have a a request uh to Mr. Kennedy uh in reference to the uh on tab 7A page three the renew
contract renew energy LLC. Um we know that we instituted this program with LLC I want to say approximately 9 years ago. We've seen many um we've done analysis in the past to ensure um that the
service is is worth paying for being with the current climate that we are in with the rising electricity costs. Is it possible that we could have New Oren come in and give us an analysis of our past year's usage and savings to the
finance committee, please? >> Yes, I I know Mr. Milan and I spoke about that. Um I think it'll even be better if New Man comes in to to present to the finance committee themselves rather than through us. So >> yes, exactly. Yes. Thank you, Mr.
Kennedy. >> You're welcome. >> Thank you, Commissioner Jacobs. Mr. Mr. Kennedy, please add tabs 7, 7A, and 7B to the agenda. Tab eight, your student representative. >> At this time, we are going to hear from
our student representative, Kayla Samantha Hernandez. >> Good evening, Superintendent Dr. Huger, board members, and community members. My name is Kayla Hernandez and I'm honored to serve as a student board
representative for Alexander Hamilton Preparatory Academy. I am currently a senior and it is a privilege to represent my school and share the voices, growth, and achievements of our students. Every day in our classrooms and hallways, I see students learning, leading, and
supporting one another, bringing life to our school's motto, today's learners, tomorrow's leaders. This year, Alexander Hamilton Preparatory Academy has experienced significant growth both academically and personally. You can see it in our classrooms, our hallways, and
the way students show up for one another each day. Our students have demonstrated resilience, maturity, and a strong commitment to improving themselves in our school community. Whether through academics, leadership, or school involvement, students are
taking greater responsibility for their futures while continuing to support one another along the way. One major area of growth has been student leadership and initiative, especially through our fundraising efforts. Between classes and during lunch periods, students can be seen
organizing churo sales twice a week, preparing for themed dress down days such as quarterzip day, multicultural shirt day, and Christmas sweater day. also coordinating flower arrangement sales for various holidays along with teddy bear sales. These efforts support
each class, especially the senior class, and helps fund write fund class activities, celebrations, and senior events, making this year truly unforgettable. Our students have also demonstrated incredible dedication to the arts and cultural enrichment. In December, we
proudly presented our winter wonderland dance show where students worked tirelessly during the school day, after school, and in rehearsals that stretched into the evening to prepare performances in dance, acting, and singing. Standing on stage under bright lights, students
showcase not only their talent, but also their confidence, teamwork, and pride. Building on that same passion and dedication, students are now preparing for an upcoming Black History Month show. once again honoring history and culture through the arts.
On October 22nd, a group of our students had the opportunity to attend Hamilton, the musical on Broadway in New York City through the Hamilton Education Program sponsored by the Gilder Lurman Institute of American History. To participate, students were required to submit
original pieces of poetry or songwriting, pouring their voices, ideas, and creativity onto the page for the opportunity to be recognized. Sitting in a Broadway theater and watching history come alive on stage, students experienced learning in a
powerful way that extended far beyond the classroom, encouraging creativity, critical thinking, and self-expression. Academically, our students continue to work diligently toward their goals, especially our seniors, as we prepare for graduation and life beyond high
school. Our teachers and staff play a vital role in supporting and motivating us and their dedication has greatly contributed to our continued growth and success. Overall, Alexander Hamilton Preparatory Academy is a school where growth happens every day. Growth in leadership,
confidence, creativity, and unity. It happens in classrooms, on stages, in meetings, and through studentled initiatives. I am proud to represent a school that values initiative, culture, and student voice. And I look forward to continuing to share our progress. Thank you for your time and for allowing me to
represent my school and my peers. >> Thank you and welcome to the board. >> At this time, I submit my appointments to the standing committees and special committees as well as the designated representatives of the board and ask Mr. Kennedy to have the minutes of the meeting
reflect such appointments. The the standing committees are educational management, legal committee, finance and accounting, school properties. The special committees are negotiations, special education, and added this year will be food and nutrition, school safety, and transportation. Last meeting
we appointed Union County Education Service Commission, Urban School Boards, Union County School Board Association, and New Jersey School Boards. All commissioners have received their um their committees and the times the time
and the date of the meetings and it is already uh on their schedules. Thank you. Uh Mr. Kennedy, please add that to the agenda. Number nine, claims list. Any questions from the board?
Hearing none, Mr. Kennedy, please add tab 9 to the agenda. Number 10, 10 through tab 10 through 10 I resolutions. Any questions from the board? Please note that these are appointments
hearing. None. Mr. Kennedy, please add tab 10 through 10i to the agenda. At this time, the president requests a motion to go into private session to consider matters exempt under the open public meeting act specifically to dis for discussion of personnel matters,
specifically interviews, reorganization, terminations SLS, and resignations JD. Legal matters specifically settlements agreements LG workman's compensation LG
award of contracts New Jersey cool grant contractal matters specifically prevention link survey the board will re reconvene in public and may take formal action. May I have a motion and a second?
>> Has been properly moved and I need a second. >> I second that motion and has been seconded. Roll call, please. >> Barbosa, >> yes. >> Bathless, >> yes. >> Clairvoyant Noel, >> yes. >> Jacobs,
>> yes. >> Marina Ortega, >> yes. >> And Bastana, >> yes. >> Carvalo, >> yes. Thank you. We'll be back. items to be added to the agenda. >> Yes, there are. One second.
>> While you put that together, can I ask the superintendent to do the HIV report? >> That'd be great. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Good evening. Pursuant to board policy 5131.1 harassment, intimidation and bullying in New Jersey statute 18A 37, the results
of each investigation shall be reported to the board of education no later than the date of the next board meeting following completion of the investigation and include any services provided, training established, discipline imposed, other action taken or recommended by the chief school administrator. Since our last board of
ed meeting on December 18th and through January 13th, our school counselors and school-based social workers have completed 46 HIV investigations. Of these investigations, 16 cases were founded for HIV as per New Jersey law. There were 17 males, 30 females, 39
regular education students, eight special education students that were the alleged victims. There were 45 males, 21 females, 51 regular education students, 12 special education students, one non- studentent, and two unknown students that were the alleged offenders. Of the
16 cases founded for HIV, two cases were founded based on race, national origin. Two cases were founded based on color, one case was founded based on sexual orientation, two cases were founded based on gender, and one case was founded based on gender identity and
expression. Two cases were founded on mental, physical or sensory disability and 12 cases were ba were based on other identifying characteristics of the services provided and actions taken for these investigations. There were 12 skill level development lessons trainings, 40 counseling sessions, two
behavioral interventions, 10 referrals, four changes of classroom, four administrative counseling, eight in school detentions, 32 parent conferences, 10 out of school suspensions and 10 cases are continuing to be monitored. The HIV state statute further requires that at the next
regularly scheduled meeting after board members receive their initial report, the board will issue a decision in writing to affirm, reject, or modify the superintendent's decision pertaining to the 33 cases that were reported to you at last the last board meeting on December 18th. In order for you to do
so, the investigation summaries from those investigations which were reported to you at the last board meeting have been provided for your review prior to voting. And this completes uh this month's HIV presentation. >> Thank you. Um Superintendent, can we now
have the uh EPS updates? >> Yes. >> Right. >> Absolutely. >> For your viewers, >> good evening. >> This is a pre-recorded message for our community. um providing community updates for this month of January. I
would like to be able to begin with our schoolboard recognition month. In honor of our schoolboard recognition month, we would like to thank our school board members for their tireless work, their passion for our community, and love for the students, team members, and families of the Elizabeth Public Schools. Our
school board members take an incredible impactful role in addition to their own full-time jobs to foster a culture of continuous improvement in all of our schools. I'd also like to acknowledge our newly elected school board president Maria Carbalo and Vice President
Stephanie Gonzalez Pastana who have both stepped into their new roles this month. As we continue on with our community updates, our next slide, please. It's going. Our next slide is announcing our early
childhood lottery registration which will begin on February 18th and run through March 19th. We will be sending home information to all of our families uh in the form of a brochure announcing the registration, announcing all of the
required documents, and we invite our families uh to access this information and be able to register their three and four-year-olds for the new school year. As we continue on, we're going to be moving uh and announcing our gifted and talented program application is going to
open February 25th and it will close on April 10th. We are announcing this evening the gifted and talented information sessions that will take place on February 25th at school number 22 from 5:30 to 6:30. This information will be posted on our web page. We're
also going to have a brochure that will be mailed to all of the homes and you will have this information readily accessible and we certainly welcome our f our parents uh to this session to learn more about the gifted and talented program. As we continue on we are uh sharing our
district financial aid nights flyer. As you can see we have many dates that we are announcing for both the months of January, February and March, April and May. Uh the sessions are going to be taking place for our students and our
parents at the Johnny Dwire Technology Academy. Important information with regard to financial aid as well as scholarships that are available for our students to apply. These uh sessions will be held in both English and in Spanish.
As we continue on with once again um I've been reminding our community how important it is to protect your health against influenza and RSV. Once again, please visit our website. We have a variety of resources that are have been
made available to our parents that offer information with regard to how to identify the symptoms of flu and RSV, steps that you can take to protect yourself from these illnesses and actions that you can take in order to
most importantly prevent the spread to others. You can find these resources by going to our site, clicking on the menu in the upper right corner under students and families and then you will be able to select flu and RSV. It is critical that we protect our children and ensure
that we protect our parents and their families uh from uh the influenza and RSV that is on the rise this year. on the slide that you see before you are um is the page on our website where you
are able to access these resources. As we continue on, I wanted to be able to provide an update to our families with regard to the fall 2025 New Jersey graduation proficiency assessment that was administered.
And on our next slide, want to be able to share that um this assessment was administered to our 12th grade students across all of New Jersey as a retest of the graduation assessment. That is a requirement for all students graduating
uh as part of the class of 2026. The students that participated on the NJGPA in October are either students who previously took this assessment but did not earn a
graduation ready score or they may have been students who did not previously take the NJGPA but are expected to graduate as part of the class of 2026. We had 292 students take the English language arts test and 534 students that
took the math test. You can see on the slide the percentage of students who passed each test. We're making this information publicly available. Please be reminded that this was a retest. So it's not reflective of the overall performance of the class of 2026. That
information will be reported in the fall of 26. We will continue on with inside EPS state. Thank you for that update. Mr. Kennedy, >> yes, we have some things to add to the
agenda this evening. The first thing is a resolution for appointment of chief information officer technology recommended that Donald J. Shehy be appointed as chief information officer of technology on 12-month basis effective January 23rd 2026
salary 1533. Next is a resolution uh to provide notice to the superintendent as to a term of reappointment. Next is a resolution for acceptance of the New Jersey pool grant program funds of 2,2910.
We have a resolution for dismissal SLS, a resolution accepting resignation of JD, and authorization for participation in a school survey with prevention links. And those are the additional items.
>> Thank you, board members. May I have a motion and a second to approve the entire agenda? I move to approve the entire agenda in its entirety with the added items. >> I second that motion. The motion has been made and properly
seconded. Are there any questions or comments? Hearing none. Mr. Kennedy, roll call, please. >> Barbosa, >> yes. >> Bathless, >> yes. Congratulations. Chev.
>> Yes. With extension on tab 4A and the resolution um from the school service in collaboration with provincial link. >> Thank you. Clairvoyant Noel. >> Yes. With the abstension of tab 4B
>> Jacobs. >> Yes. >> Ortega. >> Yes. >> Kavasana. Yes, >> I'm sorry. Um, Mr. Rivera. >> Yes. Congratulations. >> And Carvalo.
>> Yes. Congratulations to our new IT director and to our superintendent. Congratulations. >> Oh, I'm sorry, Mr. Kennedy. I need to abstain on tab 4B. Thank you.
>> All right. May I have a motion to uh close the meeting? >> I move to adjourn. >> May I have a second? I second that motion. Motions have properly been made.
Mr. Kennedy to adjourn the meeting. Roll call, please. >> Barbosa. >> Yes. Good night. Congratulations. >> Bathless. Yes. >> Chev. >> Yes. Good night. Congratulations. >> Noel. >> Yes. Good night and congratulations.
>> Jacobs. >> Yes. Good night. Congratulations. >> Marina Ortega. >> Yes. Good night. Congratulations. >> And Cavas Pastana. >> Yes. Good night. Congratulations to you both. >> Rivera. >> Yes. Good night. Congratulations. >> Carvalo.
>> Yes. Good night. Congratulations.