agenda meeting and business meeting of the Board of Education pursuant to New Jersey statutes and rules adopted by the Board of Education notice of this meeting was sent to the Star Ledger and cable vision of Elizabeth on February 14
2025 in addition this notice is posted on the bulletin board in the lobby of 500 North Brad street and pursuant to this act a copy has been filed with the city clerk of Elizabeth New Jersey we want to welcome everybody present here today as School 51 and to our all our
television and online viewers to this February 20th 2025 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 the meeting of the board in public not a meeting of the public this meeting
is being recorded and will be part of Elizabeth education permanent record so that the recording will adequately reflect the proceedings please refrain from talking while others are speaking we are asked that you silence your electronic devices since it is il
legally mandated that these proceedings be accurately recorded we may ask for you to for order periodically should noise begin to interfere with our recording capabilities there will be a public portion for you to for the public
to personally um address the board you may sign in prior to the start of the public participation portion so that you may have have the opportunity to speak the signing sheet States the name address and telephone number and the reason the person wants to comment
whether it is an agenda item or general education comment we are pleased that you have taken the time this evening to join us here at their Board of Education meeting thank you for your time your interest and your dedication to Elizabeth public schools Mr candy roll
call please Barbosa here bis carvalo Cheves here Jacobs here Marina Ortega here Galas pastana here
Rivera naron here please stand for a moment of silence for the following students that we have lost at school one and School nine Matthew Navaro Villa Lobo prek student at school
number one and Thomas web seventh grader at school number nine please keep the families in your hearts and your prayers at this time please remain standing for the presentation of Colors by the Admiral William F Hy Jr Roc
p at this time board member Jerry Jacobs uh will please lead us in the pledges for leus the United States of America to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible Liberty this is
for all thank you commissioner Jacobs please remain standing for the star spangle Banner the dawn what so proudly we at the Twilight
last stripes and bright stars through the fight or the ramp parts we watch were so Gall
streaming and the rockets red glare the bombs Bur in air gave Pro through the night that our flag was still
there say does that starled the land of the free and the home of the board member Stephanie pastana please lead us in the pledge of ethics
thank you you may be seated hold up don't sit yet sorry hold at this time you may be seated good evening I would like to be able to share with our community uh some
background with regard to our student representative for this evening from Thomas Jefferson Arts Academy Marca is a dedicated senior at Thomas Jefferson Arts Academy who moved to the United States from Albania just two years ago despite the challenges of adjusting to a
new country she has excelled academically taking AP US History AP Statistics and AP Literature this year she is also deeply involved in the school Community serving as the secretary of the student government and
pursuing her passion for dance as an elective Marca has been accepted to all of the colleges she applied to including Kane University Monclair State University Caldwell University the College of New Jersey Stockton university ruter university and Ramapo
College of New Jersey her top three choices are Kain Monclair and ruers outside of school Marca balances work and family responsibilities including serving as a translator for her mother and holding a job at the mall her dedication leadership and resilience
make her a proud representative of Thomas Jefferson Arts Academy where she has found a strong sense of community and opportunity it is my honor to be able to introduce Marcil baa to our Board of Education
picture later purple for the yes indeed yes indeed let's give Marc baa another big round of applause to our newest student leader welcome to the Board of Education um good evening again everyone at this time uh we want to enter in our public
portion participation um s May address the board microphones are open for public comments to those who have signed in prior to this session each statement made by a participant shall be limited to 3 minutes in duration the total of time for public time is limited to 60 Minutes
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 be strictly enforced no personal attacks on individuals or naming individuals no vogo or indecent language a person may address the board no more than once during a single meeting and comments will not be debated
any person in violation this policy will be warned and their comments may be terminated if needed as a reminder this is a meeting of the board in public not a meeting of the public um at this time we have signed up Miss Maria Ros from Elizabeth New
Jersey good evening Mary good evening um I have a couple of issues I have a parent that she's here she had spoken about for her child okay that has
um special needs and she reached out to Olga nobody reached back to her this has been since October and that's a shame the second thing is the other day I had
business to do in the school the only words I used in there was kick rocks when I was talking to my mechanic and I told I was told to watch my language I asked the security guard why I only said kick rocks and he
threw me out of the school for filthy language I know I have a filthy mouth but I would never use it in the school with children okay his name is James Lewis you cannot stop me from my first
amendment I have the right to say what I want it's a freedom of speech so your rules does not apply to anyone okay so stop with this nonsense saying that you cannot speak about anyone it's freedom of speech so if he's
one turn on my mic try because I promise you I lost my husband I'm not that Cal person no more I'm an angry white woman I'm very angry now I have another child that he
gets bullied in school n they choked him the other day why does a principal say that you have to make an appointment when the child is being beat up and harassed constantly there's a limit to this we're parents
there's a lot of parents that have the right to go in and speak to the principal since when have you put barriers against that you want parents to work with the school when will the school start working with these
parents transparency there's a lot of things that you don't know what's going on you as board members need to go go check out these schools in front of you they paint a pretty picture but to these parents
they feel discriminated thank you thank you Miss MOS mados I'm sorry um that concludes our public portion for this evening um nobody else
has signed on however um there is a parent that you said is here miss Maria where's the parent is the excuse me the parent is here right okay um assistant superintendent s Daniel can you please
see them about the two issues that were presented I think there's the bullying and then there's the special needs parent um with the special needs issue thank you all right again that concludes our public portion of this meeting um at this time
we'd like to Spotlight our um Board of Education board members who have sponsored this month as we celebrate Black Excellence this month um the members uh board members Charlene baffis and commissioner commissioner Charlene baffis and commissioner Jerry
Jacob have been celebrating black Excellence this month throughout the month of February the Elizabeth public schools have been promoting the significant contributions of black Americans here in Elizabeth and the communities across the United States students have been engaged through lessons activities events performances
that have helped them to better understand and learn more about black Excellence the full video of this initiative will be posted on our website at the end of the month um please uh Focus your attention on the screen as we just present to you just a quick snippet
of some of the highlights that you will witness um throughout the month hi I am Elizabeth Board of Education member Charlene Bas and I'm Elizabeth Board of Education member Jerry Jacobs during the month of February under the leadership of President Stanley naron it
is our honor to sponsor and support black history activities and events throughout our schools in Elizabeth that celebrate Black Excellence from the Arts and the Sciences to business and politics African-Americans continue make groundbreaking contributions we see it
on the national and global scale in the Artistry of Kendrick Lamar the scientific Genius of Dr kmea s Corbett and the political leadership of hakeim Jeff we even see it right there in our own neighborhoods through the entrepreneurship of Karen civil the
athleticism of PJ Walker and the continued Community leadership of councilwoman at large Patricia Perkins Auguste black Excellence is more than a recognition of past achievements that have changed the course of history and advanced our society it is about
honoring upholding and setting a new standard of greatness it is a unique group of inspiring examples for our students to be motivated by and to pursue black history is American history thank you thank you boy Commissioners for an amazing job this
month um as you go throughout these schools and you visit and you read stories to children and um to all the schools celebrating um black history and doing the special events and programs throughout the school we want to thank you for following through with these initiatives and making sure that we have a vibrant a diverse Community here in
our in the city of Elizabeth and I also want to thank director uh Samuel Ain for his work and helping to put together our black history month program that was phenomenal we attended that last Thursday so let's give him a big round of app follow us for the efforts he put together thank you so much at this time
I'd like to present to you our superintendent schools who will be sharing with you the community updates thank you president Nan wonderful oh thank you so we begin with our early childhood uh Lottery registration a reminder to our families
that the Early Childhood uh registration be started yesterday February 19th and will'll run through March 21st uh this is all for all incoming three-year-olds who are residents of Elizabeth the registration will be in person by appointment only beginning uh as I
stated yesterday and running through March 31st 21st appointments will be available by visiting the links epsnj.org registration and any three-year-old who registers between February 19th and March 19th has the same probability of
being randomly selected for a lottery School some of our families believe if they're the first regist registrants that's the only opportunity to be accepted into a lottery school and that's not the case uh all students currently in a three-year-old program will be automatically placed in the
four-year-old program so our early childhood U Department sent out a brochure to all of our households uh as reminders with the various dates um and the registration process so I encourage all of our members of of our community to please uh sign on for your
appointment our next slide please this is a very busy month uh we have also our gifted and talented program application a session has been scheduled for our families of our prospective students for Tuesday February 25th at
William howerin School number 22 and that's located at 612 palaski Street and our students in grades 2 to four are eligible to participate in the application process they may do do so by visiting our District web page um and be able to access the information regarding
the orientation that will be held on Tuesday the admission process includes an entrance Examination for our students that are in grades two three and four and the window once again is open between February 25th and April
4th and next slide please and also this month um we are launching our pan family surveys so the El Public Schools so its partnership with Panorama is offering family feedback and climate surveys to capture
the voice of all of our families which helps guide our strategic Improvement our our decision-making at both the school level and also at the district level we review this data very carefully at our meetings and we incorporate those
um recommendations into our following school year at the various uh departments the survey is less than 5 minutes long and available in multiple languages and we of course a reminder to our families uh this survey has been communicated not only through email but
also via text and there will be multiple reminders that'll be sent out again it's opened on third it opened on the 18th and will run through April 16th and next very uh next slide please thank you so over the next few months the Elizabeth public schools and the department of student services will be
hosting hosting scholarships and FAFSA completion nights uh school counselors will be available to assist our students to complete the FAFSA and the application for the upcoming scholarships as well as showing students where they may find additional scholarship opportunities for those who
plan to attend to fill out the applications for scholarships uh please create a going marry account prior to attending and that uh website is has been provided um those attending to complete Fafa form should create in a
federal student aid or FSA ID I'm very familiar with this now as the mother of a senior uh prior to attending and must bring a laptop and their tax documents so a reminder to um all of our families with regard to the various dates uh that
have been posted and you can see on the slide before you February 26th March 6th U March 25th April 16th April 30th and uh May 14th I certainly encourage our families to Avail themselves of these
opportunities and a special thanks to our counselors to our director Anthony Donado for coordinating uh these opportunities for our families and next our high school selection uh information sessions for
the 2526 school year uh our eth grade students will have the opportunity to uh review the various options in our eight High schoolies um and be able to attend orientation sessions and ultimately make
the uh choice for their next four years so we have uh the brochure that is being finalized and will be sent out by the end of next week on February 28th to all of our families and next slide please so next we have an update uh regarding student
assessments uh next slide please so the alternate um access for L's is an assessment that is administered to our multilingual Learners to determine the level of English language uh proficiency this is a paperb based individually administered um assessment to all of our
students in K12 who are identified as multilingual Learners uh with the most significant cognitive disabilities and typically it is double coded for our multilingual Learners and also for our special education students who take the assessment referred to as the dlm so we
have uh the information before you with regard to the results of the assessment uh for the preceding school year and um in the 2324 school year 85 students were assessed with the alternate access for L's and as you can see on the slide
before you there are various categories correct there's assessment of listening of speaking of reading of writing and then you have your overall score um aside from those individual scores so we're sharing with our community uh the performance of the 85 students uh as it
relates to uh the proficiency at the various levels so its proficiency is defined as initiating exploring developing expanding and bridging and as you can see um the strength for our
students is most certainly at the uh initiating at the 52% uh level for speaking correct and then in terms of proficiency uh when we look at bridging we have 22.4% for uh for listening um as
well as uh we have 12.9% for reading at the developing level and those are just the um individual averages that we are sharing with our community and then you're able to uh for families of the 85 students you are receiving in the mail
the individual scores for your children next slide please and then very important to be able to share with our community our spring assessment calendar uh we have the access for L's and our alternate uh access for L's as I just previously presented and that is running
uh the entire month of February uh through March 31st for all of our multilingual Learners we have the New Jersey graduation proficiency assessment which will run from March 11th through March 14th and that is for our 11th grade students and our seniors who have
not yet taken the assessment for graduation we also have the SAT that will be offered on April 29th for our 11th grade students and 12th grade students um who have not yet taken the assessment and that is a graduation requirement a reminder to um all of our students and then we have the dlm the
dynamic learning maps that will be administered uh between the dates of April 8th and uh May 28th and that is for our high school um sorry that's for our students in grade uh 3 to eight and
also 11 in place of the uh new njsa we then have our advanced placement assessments that will be uh administered between May 5th and the 16th and that is for our high school students enrolled in AP courses and lastly we have the njsla the New Jersey student learning
assessment uh for English language arts for mathematics and for Science and that Administration will be between May 6th and May 23rd and that is for our students in grades 3 to8 and um our high school students and that completes um our
assessment calendar uh this information will be posted on our website we will ensure that reminders are sent out our principals always send uh letters to the families and reminders and uh we certainly will leverage um email and text messages as well and that completes
our oh no I'm sorry that does not complete ours uh next slide please ah fantastic so we have three schools that uh were named um New Jersey schools of of characters we want to be able to
celebrate our school number 21 our school number 22 and school number 28 that were um chosen for uh this school year it's it's a very um labor intensive application process so we certainly are
happy to um receive this notification and uh there will also be an opportunity to recognize our schools at a regional event uh next slide please we have three students this is actually um news that we just received
uh yesterday afternoon three students that were selected for the Youth art month state exhibit um three students from two district schools who entered the Union County art education of New Jersey uh youth art month we're selected
to represent Union County at the state um exhibit and that will be held at the grounds for sculpture uh in Hamilton New Jersey so great opportunity and this will take place on March 29th additionally students have been invited to Showcase their work at the Liberty
Hall Museum uh at the Union County um youth art month exhibit and that will be on display from February 25th to March 19th uh so wonderful opportunity and a congratulations to our students from uh
School four uh Danielle Sano School Number Four emaya Shaquille also from school four and Erica Ramone from school number 30 congratulations to our very talented students next slide
please and we have our calendar um of events that is coming up uh we launch on uh March 3rd with the read Across America day which is always such a wonderful opportunity where uh I I think that's the day that central office is
virtually empty because everyone is out in the schools reading to Children which is just a a wonderful opportunity uh to engage with all of our children at the schools uh we also have uh the national school social worker week that is March 2nd through the 8th we have our national
school breakfast week March 3rd through the 7th March 17 St Patrick's Day we have our American Red Cross month which is the entire month uh we have our Irish American heritage month as well music and our schools month National nutrition
month our gifted and talented students month our women's History Month our social workers month and our youth youth art month so the month of March is certainly going to be quite exciting across all of our schools um in the district and this concludes our
announcements for uh this month thank you very much thank you superintendent hug Meer at this time we'll now review the agenda um we want to start with tab 1A official and private minutes of January
7th and January 14th are there any comments questions or concerns seeing none hearing none Mr uh Kennedy please add that to the agenda tab 1B treasur and secretary's report of December 31st 2024 are there any comments or concerns
or questions in regards to tab 1B M cany please add tab 1B to the agenda tab 2A Personnel reports are there any questions from the board Mr President yeah oh go uh yes mam vice president uh question so we have
one two three four five six seven resignations on teachers um and are those I apologize I know can we have um Mr quer can you are
we replacing all of them and when will they start hello yes that will be replaced at the starting time I'm not sure at this time it depends on the subject matter we are hiring quite a few teachers but not everyone who recently resigned is going
to be replaced immediately so for clarification they're not replaced in this agenda this one say that again for clarification they have not been replaced on this agenda I believe they have I don't believe they have
no no I was trying to match them I couldn't any other comments or concerns uh commissioner BFF yes thank you um I know in the past we had talked uh maybe in the recent months that we had discussed um hiring only essential teachers for math autism special
education um science I noticed there were some other teachers that were not part of the uh the group that we had discussed is there a reason for that are we just hiring all teachers it doesn't matter what background around they have I'm sorry commissioner repeat that
I didn't quite hear what you said can you hear me I can hear you now yes okay thank you I know in the past few weeks or months that we had discussed that we were only going to hire essential teachers for mathematics autism special education science and whatever like you know maybe
um teachers who have special language backgrounds and I noticed there was certain teachers being hired this um month that didn't have that background they were just a regular teacher is there something change uh not to my knowledge I believe that uh anytime we have an opening and
there's a qualified teacher we hire a person uh the areas that you mentioned are the areas where we uh usually have the most openings but to my knowledge there are no restrictions in uh recommending the employment of a teacher in any other area Okay that was a
conversation I recalled but back to Maria's question so the people who retired they were not replaced in this agenda retire or resign or resign all of them to my knowledge no okay thank you well superintendent you had a
question you had a comment uh I was just going to ask for a point of clarification because at first um Miss balis I thought you were referring to the incentive for the $5,000 correct um which does cover the categories that you
mentioned with regard to English language arts the mathematic the science the special education ation um and the bilingual of course so those are still being prioritized um with the incentive um so I interpreted your question is referring to that if I'm correct cor
that was a conversation I was referring to thank you for that clarification yes absolutely those incentives continue to be applied we're still recruiting for those positions they uh continue to be critical uh positions that need to be filled absolutely you're you're welcome Mr President I have another question yes
I noticed that there was uh 17 moves under um the custodians is there a reason why we're moving so many custodians all around the district I can't hear youon why the custodians have been transferred that other question yeah like there there's so many moves 17
moves around the district well those those those moves are recommended by by Planet property and uh sometimes there are legal reasons um sometimes recommendations from um head custodians and and those transfer transfers are
analyzed by planted property and recommended to my office plant and property you recommended all those 17 moves okay we could talk later thank you and then I also one more question Mr President I noticed under on page 22
that there was someone moving to custodian was that supposed to go under the custodian Tab and not Food Services was that an error uh you said page 22 correct under Food Services oh from um
locker room attendant yeah was that supposed to be under tab um was that supposed to go under page yeah that looks like it's miscategorized yeah Mr candy you see the tab on page 22 we have
a locker room attendant going the custodian so just yeah that should probably not be under the Food Service category we'll put it under the right category okay thank you that's all the questions I have Mr President thank you thank you commissioner baas Mr Kenny please add tab 2A to the
agenda with that adjustment on page 22 thank you uh tuition's reports are there any questions from the board from tab three seeing none hearing none Mr Kenny please tab three to the agenda Mr President
quick question yes on the tuition's report is there um a particular time of the year that we um that these St that we make the payments to the Adda District or it just depends when they begin at the at a
district schooling because I noticed like now this one's a heavier have your month February is there a particular time frame when we make the payments well these are the tuition amounts for the period
um for each of those students there then we pay tuition based on their monthly attendance so they bill us each month um for the monthly um component of that full tuition but there's certain students that are yearly
right or it's there students that are monthly no these amounts would be the would be the yearly amount or Pro prated for the time period and then they take the number of months that that tuition covers and Bill us monthly for for that
total okay thank you Mr Kennedy you're welcome are there any further questions for tab three seeing none hearing none Tab four to 4 C superintendent report are there any questions or comments Mr President you say forc uh
commissioner Marina are you speaking about forc yes yes okay yes I have I don't have a question I have a comment I I want to say thank you to the principals and also teachers we see um on the agenda
155 field treats that's mean I'm happy because it's experience for our students um and is extremely I was one of the board member who asked for fi Tre different kind of fil in different
school and I see um big big chain I want to say thank you I really appreciate every principal every teacher who dedicate the time to go on this kind of this field Tre and also our directors
and assistant superintendent uh thank you Mr president thank you any questions or concerns Tab 4 to 4C seeing none hearing none Mr candy
please add that to the agenda please uh authorizations report tab five yes uh Mr President commissioner Bas I just have a question for um page two the authorization to accept um did
we send a thank you letter uh to this uh company or Foundation I don't know if that's a gen question every month yes we have uh letters that go out for all donations thanking the organization uh for their contribution thank you absolutely just wanted to bring
acknowledgement to the fact that we're getting some donations to our um Collision Repair program at Edison Academy so just wanted to thank them thank you any additional questions comments please add tab five to the
agenda tab 66a Finance and Accounting reports any comments or concerns seeing none hearing none I have question I'm sorry you have a question commissioner Baffin so for the for the item number three did we pay what page on item
number three on page one okay uh did we pay this individual did he did this person pay out of pocket and then we're just reimbursing them that amount no he gets um he comes up and gets a check before the before the trip it is made out to him and then he disperses it and
then when he comes back he brings all the receipts and counts payable and the coach um make sure that anything that they reconcile on anything that isn't paid he gives back do we do that for all coaches for
all yes for for all the athletic trips out of out of town okay so what's the difference between the number and the first oh total okay never mind thank you Mr President yes vice president uh
page two uh number 28 open systems yes um I asked that um the perimeter security enhancements are broken down in the agenda not just stated as various schools so we know where we're spending the
money Mr candy yes absolutely we have the purchase order that breaks it out better than that so we can show what dollar went to each school thank you that was separate bids if I'm not mistaken that so it it should be on the agenda
separately so Mr Kandy just to clarify would that mean that um it would be on a different line so it' be on an additional line like 28 29 30 um no it should all be under open
systems but we can break out forther so you'll break it down those payments what it might have been just for the sake of argument this 65501 might have been three different locations so we would show the amounts that add up to that
65,000 understood may I ask if the Vape uh monitors were installed in all the high schools and is it complete thank you U Mr President yes commissioner Baff I'm adding to Maria's request for number
26 the installation of the um security veses can you do the same thing with that where it says um various schools so I guess whenever it says various schools if you can just break it down so we can see that please sure no problem thank you Mr candy and 43 and where else whatever
else that we we're not mentioning right now so in all areas where it says various schools we'd like a a detail breakdown yes thank you thank you Mr candy thank you Commissioners any other questions or
concerns please add tab 6A six tab six and 6A Finance and Accounting report to the agenda Award of contracts tab seven any questions or concerns Mr president I'm going to carry you back just a little bit I think there might have been a typo on again um tab
six page three number 44 shouldn't that be under the tuition's report I'm sorry tab six page three number 44 no the tuition's report is the contract for for the tuition this is a listing of a hand check that went to pay
that tuition so one is the contract for the tuition that's over in the tuition's report this is a um summary of um check written a check that was done by hand okay so all these are hand checks no the ones with the Stars with the Stars okay
but these are all the payments that's issued to the vendor and then the just just to as a reminder the ones that aren't starred are also they also appear further on in the claims list so you'll see for instance under open systems you
you'll see the details of all those checks that are on the claims list that add up to that amount award contracts any questions or concerns Tab S oh yeah Mr President yes Madam vice president uh page three contract with
for the mechanical contractors for food service I know we have no one here but I'd like to ask if that went out to bid Mr Kenedy which pay are we talking about I'm sorry page three um contract for Food Services MOS Mechanical
Contractors which one is that it's the last one oh got it it says that he was the sole bidder does that mean he automatically gets automatically it's just a fairly large
contract to only have bid and to just give it to someone yeah it went out to bid and there was just one bidder yeah there one B can we check if we've been using any other company to do minor repairs under
the bid I'm not quite following that question were you who do we use for Min are we currently using this company to to repair to do the repairs yeah I can check that it's easy I'm not going to hold it up but I just want to know if we're using an if
we're using this company now and that may be the reason why we're just rolling this over and they bid and then my other question is going to be have we used another company that's was under the bid process to
repair thank you Mr President I have a question commissioner BFF on page seven the last item on there which is for Mr Marcel he's not here all right I
just wanted to know what kind of security they were trying to get from this company from Arizona and if I can get like examples of what the security was oh you know yes it's a Security based platform that uh we are in partnership with the
Elizabeth Police oh they don't say that here no fucious yes we've entered into that partnership I believe it's two years yeah it doesn't say Elizabeth Police on here that no I know that so I
didn't know that okay yeah okay so are you referring to the camera system that integrates yes we link up our cameras will link up with the police especially in the case of an emergency and on a emergency response the officers can pull
up the actual School the mapping of the exact location where they're going on their phones so this is for the uh the tech software that we yes okay yeah it doesn't we wouldn't know that by reading it so I know what you're I'm very familiar with what you're talking about
just by reading it we would okay thank you thank you for clarifying that appreciate it there any other comments concerns for um yeah Mr President same page thank you the question is for Dr DNE thank you I
see two contracts one we writing revolutions for ELA teachers and the O for K22 and the other one is from Ela teacher from K to fit um what new do you see in these two
company is do you recommend these two while they offer something new to improve the ELA or but different based on your opinion when you uh request these two contracts will be benefits our
teachers so the one uh good evening the one with uh CLI children's literacy initiative it's a partner that we currently have so it's an expansion on what we're currently doing with our staff but uh with children's literacy
initiative our initial Focus was reading we're expanding or uh enhancing our curriculum as far as writing so we're partnering with them to assist with our writing curriculum as well as our curriculum for the summer promotion
retention program and then um with the writing Revolution because we are expanding or trying to enhance our uh strategies for writing we partnered with the writing Revolution and uh we conducted research
on several different uh Consultants to see which one would best enhance what we currently have and just uh provide the the needs that we need for our students in writing thank you for your details
explanation you're welcome Mr President commission B yes on page eight and page nine this is for Dr Dorothy McMullen I noticed that um there's five uh contracts or requests award or
requests for the um indoor percussion assemble is there a reason why we're doing individual contracts there and not putting it through Tab 2 are there outside Consultants or outside people and not people who work for us I don't remember I don't recall any of these
names okay so um we actually uh do go for internal people and we also and if we can't hire people from the inside we then go for contracted people no one wanted to do this not from internally so
we have hired for um external people really that's interesting even the color guard yes the person we have before not here okay that's interesting okay and then
also another question for you on page nine the third one down I noticed that we're doing a unlimited online audio book which is great um how long how many years have we had this prior so we have actually had this prior to covid um we
we have been um utilizing Learning Ally um for our students prior to covid for students that have had um difficulties with reading and we implement it through
our teacher tutors and through inrs for our our students that have reading difficulties great and it's doing well it's doing well yes yes awesome I'm glad that they extended the the contract until the end of the year for free I was looking at the number I was like how
much yeah okay and then I have one more question Mr President and then I'm done for the uh on page 13 one two three down for the safety or the safe driving
club with the road safety Foundation teens kids news are we going to offer that to all the high schools or is that just for Thomas Jeff je Thomas Edison I I can certainly take that question so that was an application um our supervisor of physical education and
health Joe patula made the application available to all of our high schoool um Edison applied um and they were selected for this opportunity intent is to be able to expose all of the high schools um in the future but right now um Edison was selected for uh this
opportunity excellent I would like to hear their review on the process be happy to share absolutely thank you so much thank you Mr President Mr President yes Madam Vice pres I have a question for Mr milanas from plant service plant
and property I don't even know name page nine uh the contract with L uh can you explain a little bit about that project Mr milanas can you repeat that again please uh page nine okay contract with land
Associates it is the new process technology classroom at Thomas a Edison yeah they they're designing a um the process technology uh classroom uh it's it's called in I can't remember the
name inite so they're they are in the process of redesigning that so they they have to uh we have to create a drawing so that we can add the electricity and the plumbing that is necessary to run some of those uh those uh tables that
they have for you know experimenting and things like that so we hire land Associates to do that and they also have to pull a uh actually an application to doe because the classroom that we are that we chose we changing the configuration of it so we need to uh do
a change of use so this is the first phase to S to come back then to the concept so that still they're in the process of Designing no matter what so you know on once they have the uh the actual document from doe then we can go ahead and do construction we can obtain
a a permit and then go construction thank you I'm very excited and thank you for all the work that you're doing at Edison um everyone's really happy over there I have one more question if you could go to page 10 it says renew contract um was that because it
expired I see that they were the sold biders yes they they actually do the uh sourcing of energy for us uh regrettably we're not uh experts in the in the market you know so we don't know how the uh you know the the electricity or the
gas is going to be from year to year so they we use these people to do that they also uh check our bills to make sure that there are no discrepancies and if if they find one you know then we go they go uh you know through the uh utilities and get our money back so and
this is the second time that no this is actually they've been with us since 20 2018 2018 Y and we have records of what we've saved by using this company yes we can you know we can produce uh you know
that they also do um something called demand response which uh what happens is during the year the utilities uh put a bulletin out there asking us to uh drop the power in our buildings so what we do
is we shut off all our uh ventilation systems for an hour and then once that that happens uh and the power is restor then we get actually refunded so sometimes we got checks you know $40,000
$50,000 $188,000 that's exciting news 2018 I caught my eye thank you I'm I'm very interested in in keeping up with that and if you could provide us with some sort of data uh I think we would all appreciate seeing that sure especially
when the superintendent's cutting thank you Mr Milan speaking of budgeting they also tell us what numbers to put in the budget for energy energy also that's really thank you awesome I want to take us back to um
the uh school trips that we were talking about so um assistant superintendent Cortez can you tell us the number of school trips that we've had uh thus far for um the year please turn his mic on so a as of today we have approved 750
field trips for the year beginning in July awesome thank you that's a huge accomplishment thank you for that great work let's give them another big round of applause Mr ceny Please add Tab S Mr President I have last question I'm sorry is this for tab seven you have a
question for tab seven yes okay tab seven Commissioners yes last question page 11 for Dr Sandra Nunes in this um this program is to a student bilingual
student um Alexia yes yeah oh good can you explain a little bit more about is across curriculum because we'll be supporting math uh everything on how is sounds interesting but I want to know a little bit more yeah we started using it over the summer and we continued um and
what we really liked about the it's an online platform and it's to help with listening and speaking and so students go on and in practice and what we noticed with our access scores speaking was one of the domains where we needed to work a little bit more and giving
them more opportunities to practice speaking English so it records them and they use it and it's it exposes them to different content areas so the teachers really really like it um and the students as well so so far so good thank
you thank you so much no more question Mr Mr President one question uh page two there's more questions Comm uh page two this is for the director of student services um Anthony quick question this prevention and mitigation of common
infectious illnesses who's going to serve this webinar will serve for our nurses or this is this oh good evening everyone this is for all of our nurses for our March 3rd half day PD so they're going to be having a live webinar all the nurses will participate learn about common illnesses that affect the schools
in the schools beautiful thank you you're welcome I think all directors have gotten a turn I know whole you were in the right color so you're good all right I'd like I'd like another turn
oh so mlki that um commissioner carvalo was asking about we've contracted with them back as far as 201920 each year was the result of a bid and um up until last year 2425 there was
more than one bidder 2425 they were the sole bidder and they obviously they won and then this new bid for 2526 they were the only biders again but prior to 2425 there was more than one
bidder thank you Mr ceny for clarifying that um Mr President thank you Mr Kennedy commissioner Jacobs thank you so again on the comment for commissioner kajo uh in reference to new energent I'm wondering if we can get an
analysis since they've been on contract since 201920 to see the yearly Trend as reference for the property committee for us to review absolutely we received the request and I gave it to Mr milanas and he told me we would be able to give that
information thank you Mr Kenny uh Mr President I have another question as well sure commissioner uh tab seven page page seven um no I'm sorry that question was answered page tab seven page four uh
contract Cod monkey Studios um what is that contract for director ATM uh page four tab tab seven page four with Code Monkey Studios code yes okay Code Monkey yes so Code Monkey is a
program that we utilize in all of our um Elementary K to8 uh computer classes it's a program that provide kids learning how to code so this year we have it for half the year from um the
month of um February all the way up to June so it's a program that helped kids with learning um coding with blocks and it helped them as they move to high school to start learning other engineering programming so it's a it's a
well worth program kids are engaged in that process and our teachers enjoy it thank you that's well as we know that's most important especially want to make sure that our students are ready for the 21st century thank you Mr President Mr
President yes Commission thank you president nuron um this is just a simple question for um director milanas with page nine contract with fresh and clean custom painting LLC um is it something that will be done during the summer or during like spring break
during spring break okay I just you're good ask ask ask okay um can you tell us when was the school 21 last renovated when it was built built how
many it's been a while yeah that's it's been a while you're speaking on school 21 yes sir so you're not saying when it was built you're saying when it was renovated that was the the last major renovation that was the last major renovation that we done so we you know we haven't done much else to you
know to The Bu 2004 2005 no that was uh 2012 2012 2012 so 12 years y 13 years this is school 21 yes sir okay thank you thank you for clarifying that you're welcome
Commissioners commissioner chz any questions no okay okay commissioner Billa do you have a question you don't have a question all right so we're going to add to tab seven finally be added on the
agenda okay now we're very excited to hear from Marisa Billa student representative and we're going to hear her report let's give her a big round of applause good evening Dr hugel Meer members of the Board of Education and community
members my name is Marca baa and I'm honored to serve as a student representative for Thomas Jefferson art Arts Academy for the 2024 2025 Academic Year I moved to the United States just 2 years ago from a small country in Europe called Albania struggling with English
as my second language and grieving a loss of a parent I was able to start school and continue my education at Thomas Jefferson Arts Academy during my sophomore year all of my classes were in English but through Thomas Jefferson I was able to practice my English speak it fluently and achiev great academic
success now I am proud to be in the top eight % attending students of my class taking AP and honor courses since my junior year as a student government secretary I help organize various events to make school activities fun for everyone we began the school year with
our back to school night where parents were welcome to learn about everything our school offers they had the chance to take a tour walk around the building and meet the teachers next we had our fall play Peter pen where our talented cast brought the story to life with their amazing performances which the audience
loved so much our Halloween metal concert in October an unplugged show two weeks ago showcased the talent of our students who sang and played instruments bringing energy and Life to both the performances now we look forward to our epic raw concert later this year our
students also performed a successful musical grease at our high school for our students and all middle schoolers Mesmerizing the audience with energetic dancing and Powerful acting creating an unforgettable experience for all during during the holiday season the aquapella choir spread festive cheer by visiting
City Hall performing at the Christmas tree lighting in un Square Plaza and sing it at local nursing homes along with other performances around the school we also organized the Operation Christmas Child where students donated gifts and pack them into boxes in total
we collected 197 boxes which were sent to Children across the globe it was incredibly rewarding to see the difference we made in the lives of others for black history month we are sharing a daily Black History Month quote during the morning announcements we also organize a lot of fun activities
for Valentine's Day like wearing a red or pink shirt sending the soda Crush to a crush and watching a movie helping raise funds for future events Additionally the student government is hosting Jeff Tricky Tray where we collect donations to create different theme baskets such as food spa and game
baskets where people can buy raffle tickets and enter them for a chance to win a basket of their choice in the mean time students in at our high school are working hard for our spring musical Sister Act which will take place in March the cast and crew have been
rehearsing tirelessly and we promise an amazing performance that we cannot wait to share with everyone other Elizabeth public school's high schools have also been occupied with various activities Johnny DWI Technology Academy organizes an after school CM PID every other week
for their students which brings a lot of entertainment and interaction jvj STEM Academy is cele celebrating Black History Month by visiting different elementary schools hosting a Black History Month trivia educ educating students on its history they are also hosting a kindness month activity where
staff members give students kindness tickets when they see acts of kindness the this activity encourages students to engage in such important activities and promote a culture of respect within the school community at Alexander Hamilton Preparatory Academy they are having they are having a Black
History Month show which brings the community together to to celebrate and learn about Black History Month through performances they're also organizing a One World Festival where students can dress up to represent different countries allowing them to explore the diverse cultures by trying their food
and learning different Traditions Frank JC Coral Academy had a dress like the 80s for the eigh year day of school and they are also planning 100th day of school where students will dress up as if they were 100 years old to celebrate the Milestone soral Academy is also hosting a Black History Month show and
sharing a black Black History Month quote of the day in the morning announcements J Christen balwi Finance Academy is arranging a dress like a famous African-American for history for Black History Month to honor historical figures Admiral William F Hy health and
Public Safety Academy is organizing a soccer game between Juniors and seniors encouraging friendly competition Thomas a Edison career and Technology Academy is hosting an event where senior citizens will be given makeovers by students a hardware a heartwarming
activity as well as the ShopRite program where students learn valuable life skills that will prepare them for the future thank you for allowing me to share these wonderful activities with you tonight thank you commissioner Bill I just want uh the other student representatives to please stand let's give them a big round of applause all
our students that are here this is what school spirit is all about in leadership supporting each other when you have your fellow classmates and fellow leaders participating you come out and support them so we really appreciate your involvement and your support in doing so so we salute all of you and especially
our commissioner this month commissioner Billa so thank you for that wonderful report and thank you to the principal who's here with them as well let's give her a big round of applause Dr Wess you can stand so the people can see you thank you
thank you for being here all right at this time I want to we want to hear from our uh committee reports um that we have here on our board we have our special education committee presented by our chairperson uh commissioner Elana chz yes thank you Mr President special
ed committee um had the meeting on February 6 uh the members to the committee attendance um the committee reviewed the cad event for the REM of the school year including um the Wednesday March 2 six to that be
a workshop for parting on guardianship we are in the process to wait for Union County Sur to confirm also Saturday May 17 the community Fair focuses on local government and nonprofit resource for families and children with disability
the sead policy was referred to the legal committee for review at the oncoming February 13 meeting the committee also reviewed the extracurricular program offering including Saturday bowling Clinic Saturday soccer athletic Clinic Saturday Recreation program at George Washington
Academy and Saturday special Olympic the 20 uh the 25 Autism Awareness walk is set for Saturday April 5th um this is riging being April 12th lastly the committee also request the district plan for the event for the New Jersey school
Board Association special education week that will uh take place on May 12th through May 16 I don't see the report here but also the committee uh meet met this afternoon to again uh to follow with the
discussion um after the legal committee follow up with the cat policy thank you thank you commissioner Cheves um at this time we'd like to hear from our negotiations committee uh presented by chairperson commissioner Jerry Jacobs
thank you Mr President the negotiations committee met on numerous occasions on January 13 January 22nd January 29th and February 7th a quick synopsis
of those meetings was our consultant deer Lurch brief the committee on the analysis of percent and number of employees and salary dollars at different steps of the guides in comparison to other districts at the following meeting the committee
discussed the EA proposal regarding discounts to chapter 78 and chapter 44 contributions a TR analysis of current health benefits enrollments and new hires and retirements was requested by the committee for the next
meeting at the January 29th meeting our consultant D lurge brief the committee on the effect of the proposed EA salary percentage increase es over the three-year contract the committee reviewed and agreed to proposals from
the EA to be communicated at the January 31st meeting with the EA at the February 7th committee meeting the committee discussed the outcome of the January 31st negotiations committee meeting with the EA the committee reviewed the trend
analysis of current health benefits enrollments and new hires and retirements thank you Mr President thank you commissioner Jacobs at this time we'd like to hear from our Finance and Accounting committee uh chairperson commissioner Jacobs again thank you Mr
President on February 12th the Finance and Accounting meeting met and discussed the current status of the 2025 26 budget preparation process for all instructional and non-instructional departments and recently announced
reductions in federal and state aid the district was recently notified that is semi Medicaid Aid would be reduced from 1.8 million to 200,000 which represents a 80% deduction the district anticipates
receiving a state aid notification on February 28th and the preliminary submission of the budget to NJ doe is is due no later than March 19th I would also like to add um to the board as well
the fact that we have all been seeing what's going on in Washington as it relates to Federal Aid specifically Title One title two and title 38 and as we know our district do benefit greatly from those resources and last year's
budget included $12 million if we already experienced an 80% reduction in our Medicaid reimbursement we could assume that it is possible assume it is possible that we would also receive a significant reduction in those dollars
as well which would have to be made up in other areas of our budget we're also anticipating a memo I think was released on Tuesday by the New Jersey Department of Ed that no District would be have would suffer a greater than a 3%
reduction um in their state aid if they were if they were to be cut we are hoping that we um our district spared any Cuts but we cannot guarantee that we have we are anxiously awaiting the results uh that the governor's budget
address next week and the state aid numbers which will be released three days after thank you Mr President thank you commissioner Jacobs at this time we'd like to hear from our properties committee chairperson vice president Maria carvalo the committee
was the property committee met on February 3rd the committee was advised of significant construction projects initiated by the Benedictine sisters at the convent across the school across from school 4 Annex a status of heating
during the current frigid spell was provided by the director of plant and property and Equipment a status of the EIP air conditioning projects in schools was discussed an update on the vestibule safety projects was also discussed the
trade contract Provisions for temporary mechanics was discussed the committee requested that the the student performance locations be provided to the division of plant and property and Equipment the committee require inquired about the status of the
vacancies in the department thank you thank you commissioner um carvalo um please give us our second report which is the legal committee report by um vice president carvalo
again the legal committee met on February 13th the committee received and revised and reviewed and did the revisions to the CPAC policy and regulations provided by the special education committee the status of the
current current litigation matter was provided thank you thank you vice president at this time uh please add tab a to the agenda thank you Mr Kennedy and Mr Mahone at this time we want to go over
the claims list any questions or concerns from the board yes commissioner Marina yes I uh I don't have a question I I want um to make a comment um at this time I write a little bit a note um
at this time I want to take a moment to congratulate our school Community for organizing such a fantastic event to celebrate Black History excellent um the dedication the effort and passion that
went to making this event as such success was incredible uh as a boorn member we enjoy we celebrate and was great to see our community came together to celebrate and
I feel like it's important at this moment in the time we're living right now do mean I really really appreciate was an excellent uh how our community leaders also principal and teacher
educate our student about the contribution of the black community make to this wonderful country thank you and as a board member we really really enjoy a lot every year is better and better and I want to say thank you to uh
president estan on and Charlene and Jerry we really enjoy a lot the black history mon thank you thank you commissioner uh Mr ceny Please add tab um nine to the agenda and at this time um thank you for
your comments commissioner Marino um we have Tab 10 a number of resolutions which are going to cover youth art youth art month National nutrition month um women's History Month National School breakfast week National School social
workers week uh read Across America St Joseph's Day St Patrick's Day uh we have a resolution for appointing BSN LLC and George Hender Incorporated um the Sportsman to provide
the athletic equipment and supplies for our spring Sports we have another resolution to renew the contract we've been discussing the mousy mechanical contractors for servicing and maintenance of refrigerators and freezers we have another resolution to renew contracts with new Eng enery LLC
to provide energy management tracking procurement and demand response Services we have a resolution for payment of unck of unused sick days days uh payment of unused vacation days we have a resolution to um transfer the
maintenance of Reserve funds uh for use of 2024 to 2025 School maintenance projects associated with the school maintenance plan we have a resolution for Trans transfer of capital reserve funds um transferring
approximately 3.3 million 5876 for the use of the 2024 2025 budget associated with the long range facilities plan we have the resolution for the expansion of the Fieldhouse at Williams Field for the district's
athletic teams huge accomplishment we have the resolution for residency investigations results and actions and that is all uh any questions or concerns from our commissioners seeing none hearing none please add Tab 10
to tab 10p to the agenda and at this time um we would like to take public session into private session um I would like to request a motion to go into private session to consider matters exempt under
the open public meetings act specifically for discussion of legal matters specifically workman's compensation DM LL sement EK tenure charges l s DT and approval of
er personal matters personal report to be appointment andc nonrenewal LS uh the board will reconvene in public and may take formal action may I have a motion and a second I make a motion to go into private I second that motion motion has
been made and properly seconded Mr Randy Mr candy roll call please Barbosa yes pass carvalo yes Cheves yes Jacobs Marina Orga yes gav
Pana n yes thank you um to all the members in public who attended the um first portion of our meeting we will reconvene after private session but before we do that I'd like to have our student representative uh join us up front for a picture uh she can be joined
by her other student Representatives that are here to support us so come on up what would you like to take yes e e e e e
e e e e e e e e e e
e e e e e e e e e e e
Mr KY there any additional items you'd like to add to the agenda at this time yes we have a few items the first item is uh Personnel report tab 2B we have an appointment of intern Varsity wrestling coach we have ter a resolution for
termination of employment LS uh approval of a job description for the director of The Food Service Division and also an authorization to submit an application for new classroom okay Mr candy kindly add those
items to the agenda and at this time uh superintendent will present an HIV report again to go on the record superintendent will present our Hib report sorry for the delay my apologies pursuant to board
policy 51 31.1 harassment intimidation and bullying New Jersey statute 18a colon 37 the results of each investigation shall be reported to the 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 or other action taken recommended by the chief School administrator since our last Board of Education meeting on January 14th through February 12th our school counselors school-based social workers have completed 52 HIV investigations of these investigations 21 cases were
founded for HIV there were 31 males 29 females 53 regular ucation students seven special education students that were the alleged victims there were 46 males 20 females 59 regular education students six special education students and one non-student that were the
alleged offenders of the 21 cases founded for HIV five cases were founded based on race and national origin three cases were founded on color based on color three cases were founded based on sexual orientation one case was founded based on gender two cases were
founded based on mental physical or sensory disability and 15 cases were founded based on other identifying characteristics of the services provided and actions taken for these investigations there were 18 skill development lessons and trainings 43
counseling sessions four behavioral interventions 12 referrals for outpatient mental health treatment six changes of classroom five administrative counseling sessions 20 in school detentions 34 parent conferences nine out of school suspensions and 10 cases are continuing to be monitored the Hib
statute further requires that at the next regularly scheduled meeting after the board members have received the initial report of the Hib investigations that the board issue a decision in writing to affirm reject or modify the superintendent's decision pertaining to the 31 cases that were reported to you
at last uh board meeting on January 14th and in order for you to do so the investigation summaries which were reported to you at the last board meeting have been provided to you prior to voting and that completes the February um um report for
Hib thank you madam superintendent are there any questions or comments concerns okay um being that we have presented these items um to the uh agenda at this time may I have a motion
to may have a motion in a second to approve the entire agenda and the additional items motion to approve the entire agenda with the additional items as well I second that motion the motion has been made and properly seconded Mr candy roll call
please Barbosa yes baas carvalo yes Cheves yes Jacobs yes oh I'm sorry Mrs Carval I'm sorry um
please uh I abstain on Tab five page page seven and Tab S page two apologize Jerry thank you Marina Ortega yes gavas pastana
yes Mr naron uh yes with the exception of tab 2A page 40 and tab 10K and Tab 10 I 10 10 L I'm
sorry thank you so the entire agenda plus the additional items has passed happy than Mr Ken um at this time may I have a motion and a second to um adjourn our meeting for this evening I make a
motion I second a motion has been made impr properly seconded Mr candy roll call please Barbosa yes good night bis carvalo yes good night everyone St Pat happy St Pat Patrick's there Cheves
yes good night everyone Jacobs yes Marina Ortega yes andava pastan yes good night everyone naron yes good night and be safe everyone thank you for your participation