Good evening and welcome to our board of education meeting of the Elizabeth Board of Education. This is a meeting of the board of education. Uh this is a combined regular meeting agenda of the board of education pursuant to the 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, New Jersey on May 2nd, 2025. In addition to this notice is posted on the bulletin board of 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 you everyone here present um both here in the um in the meeting as well as uh watching at home to this May 7th 2025 meeting of the
board of education. We're here to govern, provide management oversight and make policy for the district. The superintendent manages the district. This is a meeting of the board and public, not a meeting of the public. This means being recorded and will
become part of Elizabeth Board of Education permanent record so that the recording will adequately reflect the proceedings. Please refrain from talking or having your electronic devices on. If you do have them on, please turn them
off. We ask that you silence everything that you have your electronic devices or, you know, cause any anything that will cause a distraction. uh please uh keep it silent. Since this is legally mandated that we record these proceedings um and that they're actually recorded, we ask that you um we may ask
for order periodically should noise begin to interfere with our meeting. Mr. Kennedy, roll call, please. Barbosa, here. Bathus here. Carvalo here. Chev here. Jacobs present. Marina
Ortega here. Pastana here. Rivera. Neran here. Again, thank you for joining us. If you can please join us for a moment of silence as we remember um Rexine
Waldin Raleigh, mother of Karen Quester, retired fourth grade um teacher of Wilson School number 19 and mother-in-law of our chief of operations Frank Quester. Thank you. Our hearts and our prayers go
out to um the Questa family and all those impacted by the passing of Miss Riley. At this time, please remain standing for the presentation of colors by the Admiral William F. Hall public safety ROC. Ready
[Music] for work. At this time, board member, vice president will lead us in pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. to the
stands nationy and justice for all. Please remain standing for the Star Spangle B. [Music]
What we held at the twilight last stripes and bright stars through the fight
or the ramparts we were so gallave [Music] through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star spangled yet wave [Music] for the land of the free and the home
of the brave. Thank you. At this time, board member Commissioner Charlene Baths will lead us in the pledge of ethics. I will treat people as they wish to be treated. To do that, I pledge to understand
appropriately for teaching and learn. others. Thank you. I just Thank you. You may be seated again. Good evening everyone and thank you for joining us once again. Um at this time public participation citizens
may address the board. Uh microphones are open for public comment to those who have signed in prior to this session. Each statement made by participants shall be limited to three minutes in duration. The total time of public comment shall be limited to 60 minutes. No individual is able to yield their time to another individual. All
statements shall be directed to the board presiding officer. No participant may address or question board members individually. Each speaker shall comply in all aspects with board policy 9322. Copies were provided next to the signin sheet.
At this time, I'd like to call um Mr. John Griffin. president of our EA, one of my former students. Uh, good evening, Mr. President, Madame Superintendent, members of the board in the community. Good evening. While I might be the president of one of the
largest locals in the state, I'm still a teacher. And as a teacher, I came here tonight to give you the best gift any of my teachers ever gave me when I was a student. I'm going to believe in you. Like your 4,000 educators, I'm going to believe that the success of Elizabeth's
children is why you got involved in education. I'm going to believe that you understand and appreciate the dedication of our educators who show up every day and can be found in every classroom, on every playground, in every bus and truck, in every kitchen and office in
the district and who have dedicated their lives to the su excuse me success of our children. They do this work because like you they care and they are very good at what they do. I believe that you understand education is not an
expense but an investment in our children and the community. We both know that they deserve the best. I believe that you understand our value and you're ready to make an investment in us. I also believe in working with you to get the raises we deserve. I don't believe
that anyone considers us a luxury or that we ever or we are ever available at a discount. We're only asking for raises we deserved and to be treated with dignity and respect. I believe we've earned that. And especially now, I
believe that we need to be partners because we're all in this together. But partnership requires action and now is the time. So, let's settle this contract, not just for the sake of 4,000 educators, but for the tens of thousands of students we serve. Tomorrow, we're
heading back to the negotiating table. After that, the association is holding our general meeting. I'm looking forward to bringing my members good news and peace of mind. I believe you can make that happen. Thank you. Thank you.
Next we have Miss Madrinos. In November of 2024, me and my husband, we took in a child from another country. Couple of weeks after, my husband passed away. This child only has me. As long as
you live in my house, I don't have to give you birth to call you my child. So I send him to school. What happens? The education failed my son. I'm in school all the time when they call me.
When this child started, all I asked is he missing homework. They tell me yes because of his absence because of Dyus has to take him to the immigrations and doctors and everything.
Every time I go to school, I get a report that he's missing work. I turn around, we work together, we get it done. I'm upset because three days before the
final mark ending, I get a call and says he's missing 20 assignments. So, what happened to all that time I've been going to school asking for all his
missing assignments? And then then at the end of the fourth market period, you're telling him 20 assignments is done and he only has three days to accomplish that. No, you these teachers got a problem with my
child and I know because of me. You don't have to like me, but you will respect me and my child. You don't take nothing personal out on the child. I don't care who in the hell you are because I fight for my children and all
of you to know how I am. I don't have to give you birth to call you mine. But if you live in my house, you are my son. Saturday school, it was raining. Okay. He went home to change his shoes because they were soaking wet because they let
all these kids stand outside. The following week, they let the kids in at 10:00. He went to school 9:00. Nobody was allowed in. He went home to change his sneakers. He got back. They wouldn't let him in the school. He got back at
9:40. But they let the other kids in at 9:45. What's the difference? Because he's my child. I called the superintendent. Never got a call back from you, Ogre. Yes, I am pissed.
I don't expect special treatment. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Griffin and Miss Madrinos. Um, at this time, public portion has ended. Um, I'd like to turn the floor over to our superintendent schools who will present the community
updates. Madam superintendent, before you go. Oh, of course. Um, I just need to make a quick comment. Um, again, want to thank our e president for again want to thank our e president for attending the meeting and I just want to say that u, you know, the words that you
echo tonight are the words of the board and what we represent. Um, we do value our educators and all the administrators that stand before us today and we look to work together with you along with our team to make sure that we can negotiate a contract as soon as possible. So
hopefully we can work as a team to make sure that, you know, we move forward and we make sure that we have a successful future as a school community to make sure that our educators are properly compensated um there are no layoffs and that we can move into the future um on a
united front understanding what's necessary to support our teachers and staff and community. So that goes to everybody that's here. Um our supervisors, our educators, our directors, our our our staff, our security custodians, you know, everybody
is um valued and this is what the board represents and this is what we stand on. So thank you for coming tonight and making that statement and thank you for standing with us. You have the floor mate. Uh yes. Um so
if I may, are we ready to display? It was sent to the board email. Would it be easier if I sent it directly to someone else? The board meeting? I believe so. Let me double check for
you. Yeah. Oh, fantastic. Thank you. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. So, this evening we are sharing with our community a few updates. Uh, next slide, please. Oh, wonderful. You don't have to
hear me say next slide, please. That's fantastic. Maybe you do want to hear me say next slide, please. Oh, the green light. Fantastic. Thank you. Okay. And a soft touch, too. I'd like to
remind our community uh this Friday, June 20th, as we celebrate Junth, our school and district will be closed. A wonderful opportunity for all of our communities to be able to celebrate Junth this year. And I am sure that uh
we will have great deal of activities here in the city of Elizabeth. Next, next we turn to a reminder regarding our um summer programs. Our registration will be closing this Friday on June 20th. Uh we encourage our families to
log on and be able to register for the various programs that we're offering this summer. a be a tremendous opportunity beginning on July 1st and running uh several programs that will end either on uh July 29th, July 30th or
that first week in August. It's a wonderful opportunity for our families to take advantage of the multitude of programs everything from academics to the arts to athletics. Next, a reminder to our families uh that our I Prep Academy uh lottery for
kindergarten and other grade levels uh will be closing on June 21st on Saturday. So, once again, um we had brochures that were mailed out together with our summer brochure. We encourage our families to be able to access the link and be able to um register for the
lottery. Once again, it closes on Saturday. Next, we have our eighth grade promotion ceremonies that will be taking place on June 23rd and June 24th. as you can see for the schools that are listed for June 23rd at 9:00 am on the
screen before you and a change that I would like to announce for uh this evening uh as it's really quite interesting the uh we've been enjoying um 50°ree weather or at least I've been enjoying 50°ree weather 60°ree weather
nice and cool unfortunately next week will look quite differently uh we're going to be seeing temperatures in in the high 90s, possibly reaching 100, which is quite a drastic shift. Those are usually temperatures see in the early August, but certainly not in the
month of June. So, as a result, uh we're going to be communicating with all of our families tomorrow. So, all of the eighth grade promotion exercises that were originally scheduled for 1:00 have been moved to 9:00 a.m. Uh, we held a meeting with all of our principles today
in order to inform them it simply will not be safe uh to hold these wonderful events at 1:00 and we want to make sure that our children enjoy their promotion exercises. We want to make sure the families enjoy their promotion exercises. And while the auditoriums
have been uh confirmed to me today that we'll have air conditioning, I just think the best course of action is to move everything to 9:00 a.m. and we will be having a half day. Our schools will be dismissing for a half day on Monday, June 23rd in order to ensure uh the
safety of all of our children and all of our team members. So that is an update. Uh and once again, communications will be going out to all of the families. Uh letters, text messages, emails, pigeon carrier if necessary, but we will
definitely get the word out. And then we continue on for our amazing end of the year celebration, which is our high school graduation, our class awards ceremonies that begin on June 24th. And as you can see the schedule before
you, we have two exciting days um of wonderful opportunity to celebrate our seniors and wish them well and as they continue on their journeys and uh the schedule is posted. Our high school principles have communicated with all of
the parents of our seniors with regard to the arrival time with and the start time for our ceremonies. Um it be a wonderful event. We look forward to this every single year to properly congratulate our seniors that are graduating this year. And as we turn to inside EPS, our news
from Central, some exciting uh news with regard to uh EPS in the city of Elizabeth set the Guinness World Record for the largest human image of a submarine at school number 28. It was an amazing event to have a school of over
800 children assemble uh in the shape of a submarine which I will share with you shortly. Um amazing opportunity. We are grateful grateful um for this opportunity uh to have participated. The Greater Elizabeth Chamber of Commerce afforded us the opportunity and it was
really a wonderful way to be able to honor the site in which school 28 sits, which is the site of our USS um submarine. And now to share with you that image, that is the final image that
uh allowed us to break the world record. So all of the children assembled very very closely together very very tightly and as well as our team members from school number 28 all assembled for close
to two hours before the official designation uh was issued with regard to having um broken the world record. So really wonderful. We congratulate school number 28 and our uh high school will
have the opportunity all eight high schoolmies will have the opportunity in the fall to be able to create a soccer ball. So this is the shape of a submarine. Imagine the shape of a soccer ball. We had a trial run with our high school
seniors. We're going to be able to do this once again in the fall in the cool temperatures and it's going to be a success. And so next, um, EPS was named the 2025 best community for music education. Once again, uh, we're one of 935 district
across 44 states to be honored for an amazing uh, music program that we have, incredible high school band. The the the talent is just uh, phenomenal in this district everywhere from our elementary schools to across our high schools. So,
congratulations to all of the amazing music teachers that have made this designation possible. And next, uh we have two of our Elizabeth Public Schools uh named for the 2025 National School of Character by Character.org. Uh William Howerin,
school number 22, Montalo Darte, Jose Julian Marti, school number 28, were among 71 schools throughout the United States to be recognized as the 2025 National School of Characters. Uh it is incredible work that our schools do in
order to create plans and ensure that our students are uh learning the 11 principles u of character education and uh we are striving to become a charact a district of character and we are well on our way. So congratulations to all of
our educators to all of our administrators um and for our two schools that have now become part of the national school of of character. Uh, next we have our school number 52. Our early childhood center sharing is caring program was named a promising practice
by character.org. So, we're very proud of our early childhood center as uh one of 230 promising practices in schools and organizations that were certified this year by character.org. Um, wonderful opportunity for our early childhood
centers to join uh 35 New Jersey schools for this designation. And next we have our Elizabeth um high school seniors that participated in youth and city government day. A wonderful, wonderful opportunity. We started at city hall and then our
students that were assigned to the administrators um in our organization had the opportunity to spend time with us sharing their future goals, their aspirations, uh the schools that would they would be attending and most importantly the teachers that made a significant difference in their lives.
And it was just one, it's wonderful, wonderful to be able to hear the inspiring stories and the impact that teachers, that counselors, our administrators make on our children's lives. Just amazing. And next we have the um our youth and
city government participating at at city hall and wonderful opportunity to be able to uh sit alongside uh city council president Carlos Sadoho our councilman at large uh Manny Groa Mr. Questa as well, our comm our
commissioners, our mayor. Amazing opportunity for our students to be able to see how uh government in fact um operates and the impact that it makes. And of course, our Elizabeth High School FJC senior awarded youth of the year.
wonderful opportunity to u celebrate uh our students that had went through a very rigorous interview process in order to be uh designated um as the youth of the year and Miss Era who is a student at Elizabeth High School uh was awarded
that designation and of course uh we honored the top 100 students of the class of 2025 our 32nd um academic excellence Excellence award dinner. Wonderful opportunity to be able to celebrate the achievements um our
students across all eight high schoolmies. And next we have our 24 EPS high school seniors that received the Davis scholarship from the Rotary Club of Elizabeth. Uh it was there were so many scholarships that were issued. It took place over the course of two days. What
used to take place on one at one lunchon uh was spread over two days. 24 honores from the class of 2025 were um receive over $49,000 in scholarships. Amazing opportunity. I want to thank our our board members for having attended uh
this wonderful event. Um as well as our assistant superintendent. Uh just great. The Rotary Club does amazing work and works so hard to be able to raise the funds for our students to support their dreams. And next we have our EPS who hosting a
journey through time and culture at our multicultural fair that took place on June 4th. Wonderful event represented by all of our schools celebrating all of the cultures of our children. Um there
were over 600 attendees at this event. Uh parents enjoyed it, our students enjoyed it, all of our staff members. was just an amazing amazing event that took place and I'd like to thank um our Dr. Nunez for having coordinated such a
wonderful event with all of our schools. And that completes our announcements uh for this evening. I am now going to uh turn it over uh to Mr. Donado who's going to present the HIV um rates
report. Okay. Uh, good evening. Tonight I'll be presenting the 2324 HIV self- assessment which evaluates our district's progress under the anti-bullying bill of rights. This process helps us reflect on our current
efforts and identify opportunities for growth. As a reminder, uh this self assessment is for the 23 24 year which was presented in October, but the HIB law requires that once the state
officially approves the district and school scores, which it did on May 7th, we are required to represent this presentation to the public. The anti-billing bill of rights requires all New Jersey schools to evaluate their
performance annually. The state develop a rubric that includes eight core elements and 26 indicators, each scored from 0 to three. This framework promotes continuous improvement and supports the development of a safer and more inclusive school.
The first core element is programs, approaches, and initiatives. And it looks at specific programs and initiatives schools use to prevent and respond to harassment, intimidation, or bullying. Our second core element is training on
the HIV policy. For schools to have met this requirement, all employees and students receive training in our district's HIV policy. This includes education on protected categories and instruction on how to prevent HIV related incidents on distinguishing
characteristics as mandated by the law. The third core element pertains to other staff instruction and training and programs. We ensure that all staff receive ongoing professional development in suicide and HIV prevention.
Additionally, our anti-bullying specialists and school safety team members and school leaders receive specialized training to support our to support a safe and inclusive school environment. As a reminder, our five-year districtwide training will
occur during the 2526 school year. And the fourth core element is curriculum and instruction. This element evaluates how we integrate HIV related topics into our curriculum. Our SEAL curriculum equips students with the
knowledge and skills needed to recognize, prevent, and respond to bullying and support their peers. The fifth core element is HIV personnel who we evaluate the roles and effectiveness of school bas school-based HIV personnel including our
anti-bullying coordinators and specialists who are instrumental in preventing and investigating and intervening in HIV related matters. And our sixth core element is incidents reporting procedures. Each school
follows a follows standardized procedures for reporting HIV incidents as per our HIV policy. This includes a system of reporting new information on previously submitted reports, ensuring no concern goes unnoticed or unressed.
Our seventh core element is HIV investigation procedures. To meet this requirement, parents are notified in all investigations and were informed of the availability of counseling or other related interventions when
appropriate. Schools affirm that all investigations were completed within the 10 school days and a written report was conducted for all investigations. Lastly, after the completion of the investigation, all investigations were reported to the superintendent within
two school days. And our eighth and final core element focuses on HIV reporting. Each school is required to have clear procedures in place ensuring that staff reports whether verbal or written contains all necessary details regarding incidents of
violence, vandalism, harassment, intimidation, or bullying. Additionally, in the interest of transparency and accountability, the district publishes all HIV self- assessment scores on each school's web page. And finally, just as a reminder, um this
is the scoring rubric. Zero meaning does not meet requirements and three exceeding the requirements. Each school completes a self assessment based on the core elements. The process involves reflection, documentation, and scoring. These results are then
submitted to the district for review to ensure consistency and accuracy. Happy to share that our district average score was 70 up from 68 during our last reporting period. And this slide just goes over the
assessment process and requirements from completing the assessment all the way down to submitting the self assessment to the NJ DOE. And finally, we have our school by school HIV self- assessment grades.
These scores reflect how each school is implementing the anti-bullying bill of rights. You see starting off with school number 25 earning a perfect score of 78. In the next few slides, we just work our
way down, but we're all happy to report that the average score for the state to meet expectations is 52, while our district average is 70. and um the lowest score still being a 62, well
above what the state requires. And lastly, just to look ahead, our priorities include analyzing school assessments that drive targeted improvement, increasing parent involvement on school safety teams, enhancing training for team members, and of course, expanding our SEAL and
character education programming. And that concludes our 2324 self assessment. Do you have any questions? Nice and concise. Mr. President, Mr. President.
Yes, Commissioner. Madam President, did we receive Madam Madam Superintendent? Did we receive this report um previously this morning? Yes. And I'm off. The report was made available this morning and I uploaded it into the drive. Okay.
So, it's time to dry. Absolutely. Thank you. Absolutely. Are any com uh comments from any additional commissioners? Thank you, Mr. Dionado, um for that uh HIV self- assessment grades.
Much appreciated and thank you for all your hard work. At this time, we'll now review the agenda. Tab 1A, official and private mean minutes of May 7th, 2025. Any comments or concerns?
Seeing none hearing them, Mr. Candy, please add 1 A to the agenda. Tab 1B, treasures report. Treasury and secretaries report of April 30th, 2025. Are there any questions from the board? Seeing none, hearing none, please add
tab 1B to the agenda. Tab 2A, personnel report. Are there questions from the board? Uh, I have a comment, Mr. President. Yes, Commissioner. Yes. table. Uh, page 10. Um, I'm sorry, what did you say?
Page 10. Page 10. Yes. Thank you. Um, happy retire. Yes. On page 10. 2 A. Yes. 2 A. Page 10. Uh, right here we can witness our retirement um employees at
least 25 years. This mean that show us and the community like this is a great district to work. But I want to highlight one specific person is 42.8
years and her name is uh Joanna Qua. Yes. I'm sorry for the pronunciation of the last name. It is amazing and I want to congratulate uh not only her but you know 42.8 eight
years. I feel like uh I wish the best and God bless all the retirement people and sometime you know we heard comment from some members of the community but data show like people want to stay
with us at least for 25 years. Thank you Mr. President. Thank you. Any additional questions for tab 2A? Seeing none hearing none, Mr. Kennedy, please add tab 2A to the agenda.
Tab 3 and 3A tuitions report. Are there any questions from the board? President, I apologize. Can we go back to 2A, please? Yes. On page 45, I just
uh for the summer program, oh, excuse me, the top part. Why is there only teachers for the Spanish, Portuguese, and Arabic, and then the Haitian crew as an assistant? Why isn't there
45? Page 45. Top of the page. I'm sorry, Miss Batos, do you mind repeating your question? I'm We're looking at the translators at the top of page 45. Yeah, they're all So, the the top three are the teacher salary, but then there's an assistant. Is there a
reason why we don't have a Haitian Creole teacher up there? This is based on the applicants when when it was posted. These are the individuals that had applied. Um so as a result um the posting was for over 10 days once it
closed. Then the recommendation was made. We did not have anyone else apply to that posting other than the individuals that you see on the board recommendation. So there was no teacher correct that could fall under that only the assistant. Exactly right. Exactly
right. Thank you for that clarity. Absolutely. Thank you Mr. President. All right. So that I'm clear to the question and the answer. So we're saying that the teachers are ESL certified. Is
that what it is? The teachers can be either bilingual certified um or they can be um ESL certified. These are individuals and as you can see from the three teachers that are on the agenda, they are uh certified teachers in their
native language. Okay. So certified in the native language, correct? So the substitutes are not certified in their ne native language. The individuals that are listed as substitutes applied to be substitutes. Okay. Understood. And the
person that's an assistant is only an assistant and she's not a teacher. Exactly. Right. Thank you. Exactly. Thank you. Thank you, commissioners. Tab 2A before we move on.
All right. Tab three and 3A. Tuitions report. Any comments or concerns hearing? None. Seeing none, tab four to 4D superintendence report. Mr. Kenny, please add 3 and 3A to your
agenda along with 2A. If I didn't say that, thank you. All right. Uh 44D superintendent report. Any comments or concerns? Seeing none, hearing none, please add four to 4D to the agenda.
Tab five, authorizations reports. Are there any questions from the board? Mr. President, just a point of clarification. Under authorization to accept awards, uh, Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders should say Union County Board of Commissioners.
Thank you, Madam Vice President. Any questions for tab five? Mr. Cany, please add tab five to the agenda. Tab 66 6A, finance and accounting reports. Are there any questions from the board? U Mr. President. Yes, madam. Question
for Mr. Kennedy. Will this be our final payment for the prek3 program for uh Egggan number 13? You mean this year? For this year. Yeah, next year will be on the new budget. Okay. Thank you.
Any questions? 6 6A. Seeing none hearing none, please add 66 6A to the agenda. Uh 77A, award of contracts. Yes. Uh commissioner. Yes. Um I have three
question and I want to highlight two contracts. Okay. The first one is paid four. There's only one question. This is tab seven. Yes. Tab seven. Yes. Tab seven paid for contract with
Avid center. That mean um can you clarify mad superintendent after this contract all these school will be have Avid methodologies um and will we start in September?
Yes. uh the schools that are all listed on the contract with the AVID center uh will continue to implement the AVID strategies. Absolutely. We've been committed to AVID for uh many years and um a commitment to the professional development to support our teachers and
ensure that they implement AVID with fidelity. Thank you. Great news. Okay, the next one is tab seven page five. Okay. Um it's a great contract is with Alagany education system is for a dual
enrollment is to prepare high school for career tech and our student. Um this contract will be of how we determinate what high schools is a great contract a great resort for our student but is for
all high school is a specific high school the state high school or how we uh determinate the high school will be part of this contract or we didn't know right now. May I ask uh the page and the item? Yes,
it's the CT on page five. Page five, the last one. Yeah, this contract is for EDI. Yeah, it's for Edison. It's um for Ignite. It's just is more of a in the past we had process technology, but it's for Edison specifically and now Thank
you. Thank you for the clarification. You're welcome. I'm excited. Um and then I want to highlight um it's page 11 and I want to highlight this contract because it is important for the paddings
to know is to renew the contract with go guardian and I want to let you know the district we always care about about our student go guardian it it is a platform like permitted administrations teachers
ers and the district monitor our student in real time. This mean is a amazing platform. Um we monitor it uh during testing
during quizzes and also in this time like is critical situation and concern of our parents about social media and different kind of communication is a real time communication that mean I want
to I really I want to highlight this contract because I feel like it's important to our parents to know we monitor our student in real time. And the last contract to highlight is page
12. Uh it's Lexian learning system is on page 12 is one of the more amazing system uh for uh reading a skills but basing technology. You know right now not everybody want to read. This is the
reality but this this company I know offer great resources for support breeding using technology that's mean to I'm happy to see this contract and I want the community know how we spend our
money and how the board decide. Thank you Mr. President. Thank you for highlighting those specific um contracts and opportunities for our young people. Mr. Mr. President. Yes, Madam Vice President. Uh, I have a
question for page six. Contract with U. Metropolitan Foods, DBA. Uh, Mr. Kennedy, are these rollovers or second year or is this a first year bid? those went out to bid and there was only
one bidder on the um contract. So, so this is a new company or was a new contract for next year? The same company as last year or Yes, it is. Uh if you can go over to page seven. Uh same question for
contract with Jerusalem distributing. But then I see it's broken down into about 10 other companies. Well, they were the low they're all listed. The the total amount of the bids are listed and they were the they were the lowest bids. The ones below them.
That's what that is. So all all of those companies bid and they were higher. They were okay. I understand. There's three there that are listed are lower. Um, but they didn't respond to the bids correctly. Well, that's a good thing, you know, that we're not going to get our food
from Florida that they bid. And then, uh, same same question, Mr. Kennedy, for the renew of contract for Malachi Mechanical, is that just for repairs of our food service equipment?
Yeah, repair and maintenance and um we're renewing the um contract based off of the previous years. Okay, thank you. One more question, Mr. President, and that is for Mr. Marcel, chief of
information. Uh can can you explain a little bit about the new contract with uh SHI International? Page nine. Page nine. Okay. uh as it refers to no before the
product. Uh I have a few SSI there. They're like the middle men. Which product? Uh just the contract. It's the last one on the page or Convolt Convolt page. Page nine.
Convolt backup system. Oh. Oh, I'm sorry. Backup system. two products. So it's two products from the same company. No, it's the SSI has the state contract
for us to purchase the product. Combalt and the other one is to use. Yes. Okay. And what is the product? Comp is the our backup system. It backs uh all systems in the district, the servers, data.
So it's a renewal. Okay. Back to a couple of meetings ago conversation. All right. I got you. Thank you. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you. Understood. Mr. President. Any additional questions for tab 77A? Yes, Mr. President. Yes, Commissioner. I
have a question for Dr. Roa. Um, page 20, the contract with progressive therapy of New Jersey. Does is um the support services based on the student IP or is a extra support for the
entire department based on request by teacher or the child team. Um that contract is for extra support for the entire department. It is for uh BCBA support for all classrooms
in our autism MD and MC programs. And they create a schedule uh in uh cooperation with myself and the supervisors to travel around to all of the different programs and sites over the course of the week in order to be able to service them. So there is an
increase from last year because there's an increase in the number of programs from last year. Thank you for the clarification. Thank you. Any additional questions for tab 778? Seeing none hearing none, Mr. Kennedy, please add tab 77A to the agenda. At
this time, I'd like to have the negotiations committee report presented by chairman uh Jerry Jacobs, Commissioner. Thank you, Mr. President. Uh the negotiation committee met on May 16th and also
June 16th. In both committee meetings, the committee was briefed on the ongoing negotiation meetings with the EA. The discussion included offers, counter offers, and three-year cost out proposals. Uh also the committee was briefed on the
ongoing negotiation meetings with the EA and EASC. The discussion included offers, counter offers, and three-year cost out of proposals. Um, with your permission, I'll continue reading on the finance meeting. Yes, Mr.
President. The finance and accounting meeting was held on June 11th. Uh, Patty Fehee, insurance broker, presented the marketing results of carriers for property and liability insurance. Recommendations for renewal of the property and casualty insurance packages
effective July 1st until June 30th, 2026 were discussed and recommendations was to place the renewals on the agenda for the June 7 June 17, 2025 meeting. Lastly, Dita Lurch and Julius Conni presented the three-year cost out of
proposals with the EA and EA EASC. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Chairman. Miss Kennedy, please add tab eight to the agenda. Um, tab nine claims list. Are there any questions from the board?
Yes, Mr. President. Yes, commissioner. You say t uh table nine. Yes. Yes. Yes. I have on top nine. I'm sorry. I have only question is about I see uniforms in page 30, 31, 32, 33, 34 and 35. The
unifor new unifor is uniform for new employers. Um or who can explain to me the uniform and in these pages is uniform and is with different names.
Miss Kenny. Yeah, those are reimbursements for um employees uniforms and that in accordance with the contract. Okay. They they get reimbursed for their uniforms and also their shoes. Thank you so much, Mr. Kennedy, for the
clarification. No more questions, Mr. President. Yes. Uh page 22. This one's for Dr. O'Hada. Um contract. What tab? Oh, pardon. Uh seven. We're going to tab seven. Oh, I'm sorry.
We're not You have a question. Tab seven. Yeah. Yeah. I'm sorry. I can Yeah. top seven. I'm sorry I had it highlighted. I just realized it. Um the contract with stepping stones group. It's our So I know we have our uh
therapists or speech therapists and this is in addition to our speech therapists. We we haven't used stepping stones, have we? I feel like I don't remember this. We have so stepping stones u up until
the middle of the 2425 school year was our primary provider for additional speech and language specialists. Uh over the course of this year it was determined by the agency that there would be there would not they would not
be able to fulfill our needs completely. So we went on to identify additional contracting agencies who could service uh our students for speech and language services. Okay. Thank you. Sure. Thank you.
Thank you. Any question? Thank you. Uh Commissioner Barbosa. Um any questions for tab No more questions. Tab nine claims list. So we added that to the agenda. Now want to move forward to the resolutions. Tabs 10 to 10 SS. We have
tab 10 as a resolution. The second reading of the following new policies revive policies and regulation and bylaws to be approved. Um we need to approve policy 1112.4 policy 111221.
the policy and the regulation policy 4151.1 [Music] slash4251.1 the policy uh we need to approve um policy 5113
policy 5131.1 policy 51.31.5 and policy 6164.1 and bylaw 9200 10th. Mr. President. Yes, Commissioner James. So, I have a question for Mr. Kennedy. In the
um summary of this these policies, it says the second reading of the following new policy. Which policy number does that refer to? And and is that is it only the second reading of what new policy? Or is it the second reading of all these policies?
It's the second reading of all the policies. We did the first reading at the last meeting and um we're required to do two readings before we adopt. Yeah. So I I um the reason why I asked that question is because I went back and looked at last month's agenda and I
didn't see um these policies there for if it was to be the first reading. Um because I have questions when it relates to uh policy 5113 uh 5131.1 as well. Um, and I and I also noticed
that in these policies normally, um, when there's changes on these policies, they're highlighted in yellow, those changes, and I don't see that here. So, I'm asking that we table these policies until we can review these further, please. Can I get a mo can I put a
motion on the floor? Wait, let me let me let you answer first, Mr. Kenny. Um, I believe that we on the first readings we did provide those, but I'm not able to show you how we did it. Um, but we don't need to table these. We just don't put them on the agenda this
evening. We can do the second readings at the next meeting after we've had an opportunity to review what you normally are used to seeing is the old policy, the new policy, and changes that are made. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, because I went back to look to try to find that so I wouldn't have to ask this question and
I didn't see it. Yeah. sure we can get that before. Mr. Kenny, uh, can I ask that we take this to private to discuss any, uh, anything that has not been understood for the policy that we can clarify that? Sure. And then when we come out and um, you know, we'll either
take it off the agenda or put it on the agenda if we can't answer all the necessary questions abroad. Correct. Okay. Thank you. This is what I again for the public's understanding. Um I read the numbers of the policy. The policies were provided in full detail um
of prior meetings. So um if you have any questions or you're curious um the numbers that are provided are listed on the website and are on our our public resolution 10A Colia Independence Day. Um, we're proud to celebrate that. Um,
tab 10B, gun violence awareness month. A lot happening in June. A lot of things that we recognize. Um, resolution um 10 C, a resolution from Governor Murphy um with legislation S19, which
designates the third Friday in June as a state and public holiday known as Junth. our superintendent um proudly represented that at the top of our meeting um celebrating Junth. Uh tab 10D property and college insurance
package effective July 1st 2025 to June 30th 2026. Very important. Uh tab 10e resolution to transfer of current year surplus to capital reserve. Tab 10 F, transfer of current year
surplus to maintenance reserve. Tab 10 G, approval of submission of the Elizabeth Board of Education Mitchell building HVAC upgrades. I'm sure everybody at the Metro building is ecstatic. Um, tab 10H, approval of submission of
Dr. Orlando or Andrea Adrea Academy School number 26 HVAC upgrades. We're making our rounds. We're getting everybody. Um resolution tab 10 I approval and submission of Thomas A. Edison Career
Technical Academy new process technology classroom. Tab 10 J resolution approval of submission of the I prep academy number eight electrical services upgrade. Tab 10K resolution approval of
submission of Madison Monroe school number 16 electrical services upgrade. Tab 10L, approval of submission of Thomas Edison Korean Technical Academy gymnasium and locker room HVAC upgrade.
I told you we're making our rounds. Tab 10M, the Union County Education Services Commission Environmental Safety Program 202526 school year. Tab 10N, agreement for the rental of property between the Elizabeth Board of
Education, Blessed Sacrament Church. Mr. President. Yes, ma'am. Uh just 10 N O N P. Do we have a copy of those contracts that can be sent to the board? Yes, sure. Certainly. Thank you. Tab 10 O agreement of the rental
property between those board education and St. Head of Church. Tab 10P agreement of rental property between the Board of Education and St. Adavis and St. Peter's Church. Tab 10 Q approval addendum to extend agreements between the board of education and ESS Northeast
LLC. Tab 10R um resolution to approve the participation and attendance of New Jersey schools board's annual workshop and exhibition for board members, superintendent, central office administrators, plant technology and business office administrators for the
period of October 20th to October 23rd, 2025. Tab 10s, resolution qualifying and appointing approving contracts with D&H Alternative Risk Solutions, a liability and auto physical damage claims third party administrator for the third time
covering July 1st, 2025 through July June 30th, 2026. Tab 10T resolution qualifying appointing and approving contract with First Managed Care Option Incorporated Managed Care Organization for the time period covered July 1st, 25
2025 through June 30th, 2026. Tab 10. U I had to double check for a second. Maybe I set myself up for failure. You um tab 10U, approval of the submission of the Dr. uh Antonio Penho Pento School
number 27 flood mitigation re renovation. Tab 10 V uh renewal contract with Brothers uh Sisters Duo Inc. Tab 10W appointing Metropolitan Foods and Driscoll Foods to supply and deliver fresh and frozen dry grocery items
including snack and cookie items to various schools and districtwide warehouse. Tap 10X appointing Sam Tel and Suns for provision of cafeteria small equipment and for food service. Tab 10 Y, renew contract with Royal Printing for service printings for printing services associated with
district printing and mailing services. Tab 10 Z, renew contract with Royal Printing Services for printing services associated with the preparation of district publications. Tab 10 AA, appointment of Metropolitan Foods.
Again, um hopefully this is not a trick. Yeah, I thank you. Uh, tab 10BB, appointment onsite fleet services to service district to small midsize trucks and other vehicles. I just want to let
you know we're working hard, so you guys need to know what we're doing here. Uh, tab 10C, appointment of On-site Fleet Services, Inc. to service district large trucks and other vehicles, including small midsize trucks. Tab 10 DD appointing to Jerusalem Distribution
Incorporated um for supply and delivery of cafeteria paper goods. Tab 10E appointment the Stepping Stones Group LLC. Tab 10 FF appointment ESS services um LLC to provide speech therapy services
to district students. Miss Kenny, I have a question. So when you appoint um you have ES you have to do a separate resolution. Can we not include them all in the same resolution? Because a lot of these seem to be we're appointing the same companies. Can we list all their
services that we provide? I'm sorry. Which which resol? My question is when you have a company like ESS I've already we already have a resolution with ESS, but can't we include all the services they they provide in one resolution? I thought we were just renewing the
contract that we currently have with ESS and that resolution. But there's several. There's only one. Oh, there's the second one I'm reading. I'm saying all the services that they provide, can we not include it in one resolution?
multiple there's a supplemental that we entered into in order to assist with the with the speech and therapy services. So there's a second ESS that was entered into after the initial contract had gone
through. Okay. That is a yes or no. Well, they're both there. Do you want me to cancel the one and put it on the other? No. No. I'm saying in the future you can include them all in one is what I'm saying. Certainly. Certainly. I'm sorry. I was Mr. President, while you're reading resolutions, can I ask that we take
resolution 10Q to private? That's why I read them. Yeah, there you go. 10 QQQ or 10Q? 10 Q. It's ESS. Got it. 10 GG, Appointment of Children Specialized um hospital to
provide occupational physical therapy services to district students. 10H appointing Home Care Therapies LLC and Horizon Healthc Care Staffing to provide individual nursing services to district special education students. Tab 10 III appointing Northeastern Interior
Services to provide flood mitigation design for school number 27. Tab Jen J 10 JJ appointment appointing the um Partners LLC FT Partners LLC and Interim Healthcare of South Planefield to
provide individual nursing services during school trips. Tab 10K I'm sorry I have a question. Um 10 JJ. We have separate
nurses that go on trips service uh with nurse agencies for um to attend field trips. Okay. This this is not the first year I'm assuming it. No, it is not. Okay.
Tab 10 KKK appointment uh home care therapies LLC and Horizon Healthcare staffing to provide individual nursing services during school trips. That's similar again. Tab LL appointing town school nurses to
provide individual nursing services. So we have several of these agencies. Okay, got it. TAD TAB 10mm appointment of George L. Haidider Incorporated and Sportsman BSN Sports um and Triple Crown Sports to provide athletic equipment and supplies
for all four sports. Tab 10 andn approval of submission of Elmore School number 12 safety cage. Um what is a safety cage? I hear a pin drop.
Oh, it is. Okay. Okay. There's no B. We'll be looking into that to see what a safety cage is. Okay. Um, tab 100, transfer of capital reserve funds. Tab
10 PPP, transfer of maintenance reserve funds. Tab 10 QQ, paid for unsick um, unused sick days. Tab 10 RR payment for unused vacation days. Tab 10s, appointment of Spruce Industries and
Imperial Bag and Paper Company. And that is it for our resolutions. So, we have a busy summer ahead of us. Mr. Kennedy, are there any questions from the board outside of the tab that we pulled?
Seeing none, hearing none, please add tabs 10 to 10 SS uh with the exclusion of 10 10 and 10 Q. 10 N and 10 Q. 10 N and
10 Q. No, 10 and A and D. 10 Q. Yes, that put that on record. Gotcha. Whatever you said. All right. Any questions from the board? Hearing none. Seeing none, um I would like to request that we go
into um private session. Um, I'd like to request a motion for um to go into private session to consider matters exempt under the the under the open public meetings act specifically for discussion of legal
matters specifically workman's comp MLS IP JG I A DRDM and SD legal settlement of MFD versus the EOE personal matter matters. Uh, personal
report, settlement of LH, retirement payment of JL, board authorization reports for Avid Summer Institute. The board will convene in public and take formal action. May I have a motion and a second?
Motion has been made. Second. Properly seconded. Miss Kenny, roll call, please. Barbosa, yes. Baffilus, Carvalo, yes. Chevres, yes. Jacobs, yes. Marina
Ortega, yes. And Pastana, yes. Rivera, yes. Nerd, yes. Candy, are there any additional items to be added to the agenda? Yes, there are. First one is a resolution for a settlement agreement
MFD versus EBOE. Resolution settlement of workers comp DM. Resolution settlement of workers comp SD personnel report 2B. a resolution for settlement agreement
LH, a board authorization for Avid Summer Institute and from previous resolution 10Q uh contract with ESS for substitute services. Mr. Kenny, can you respectfully add
those items to the agenda, please? Thank you. All right. At this time, the superintendent will present the HIV report. Thank you, Mr. President. Pursuant to board policy 5131.1 harassment, intimidation and bullying in
New Jersey statute 188 col37, the results of each investigation shall be reported to the board of education noted on 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 recommendation um or recommendation
by the chief school administrator, excuse me. Since our last board of education meeting on May 7th, 2025 and through June 11th, 2025, our school counselor, schoolbased social workers, deputy attorney, and supervisor of anti-bullying have completed 61 HIV investigations. Of these investigations,
25 cases were founded for HIV as per New Jersey law. There were 28 males, 43 females, 64 regular education students, and seven special education students that were the alleged victims. There were 58 males, 34 females, 75 regular education students, 14 special ed
students, and three non- students that were the alleged offenders. Of the 25 cases founded for HIV, five cases were founded based on race, national origin, two cases were founded based on color, one case was founded based on religion,
four cases were founded based on sexual orientation. Two cases were founded based on gender. One case was founded based on a mental, physical or sensory disability and 20 cases were founded based on other identifying characteristics. of the services provided and actions taken for these
investigations. There were 19 skill developments, lessons, trainings, 50 counseling sessions, three behavioral interventions, seven referrals for outpatient mental health treatment, five changes of classroom, two changes of school placement, four administrative counseling sessions, 10 in school
detentions, 45 parent conferences, five referrals to outside agencies, one professional development session, 28 out of school suspensions, and eight cases are continuing to be monitored. The HIV statute further requires that at the next regularly scheduled meeting after
board members receive the initial report of HIV investigations that the board issue a decision in writing to affirm, reject, or modify the superintendent's decision pertaining to the 25 cases that were reported to you at the last board meeting on May 7th. 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 this month's report. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Superintendent. May I have a motion and second to approve the entire agenda and the additional items? Mr. President, I
move to approve the entire agenda. Motion has been made. And properly seconded, Mr. Candy. Uh, roll call, please. Barbosa. Yes.
Oh, with the um pardon me. Um, I had a question, Mr. Kennedy. This Do I have to read my abstension for this one because this was for last agenda. Yes. I'd like to obtain tap 4 C item number
72. Thank you. Carvalo. Yes. With an abstension on tab 4B item one. Tab 4 B item two. Tab 4 B item three. Tab 4 B item four.
Tab 4 B item five. Tab 4 B item six. And tab five item one. Thank you. Chevresz. Yes. Jacobs. Yes.
Marina Ortega. Yes. Can Pastana? Yes. Five. Thank you. Rivera. Yes. Mr. Naron. Yes. With an extension of tab
2 A, tab 4B, and tab five. So, the entire agenda plus the additional items that we added has passed. Thank you, Mr. Kennedy. Um again, thank you everyone and again happy father's belated father's day to
all the dads and um happy junth as we move into the junth holiday. Um and thank you to all administrators and all our um district staff for an amazing year um and all the major accomplish accomplishments that we've made
throughout the year and um we will be seeing you very soon. But congratulations to the class of 2025. Do we have a count yet? We're one week away and we'll soon know know we'll soon know the count and I
think it's going to be uh we're we're again going to make history with probably one of the largest classes to ever graduate um from Yes. Yes. Not when but the number of graduates. We'll soon know the number of how many graduates
all the graduates. So, we're looking forward to it. But again, to um the entire school community, district, um thank you to all our staff here, our um IT administrators, directors, security, and everybody who helps makes these meetings possible. And to all our board
members who dedicate their time day in and day out. Um to our superintendent and the entire cabinet, thank you for all your diligence and hard work. and to all our teachers, administrators, and school community. Thank you for standing with the Elizabeth Public Schools community. Have a great night
everyone. And may I have a motion to adjourn. Mr. President, I'm sorry. Sorry. Uh before we go, I have some write some words. Uh and I want to have the opportunity. May I have time or to say
some words? Commissioner Marina has the floor. Yes. Um um as we got in here today for the final meeting of the school year, I want to take a moment to reflect on the incredible journal we had been here this
year. [Music] I want to repeat as we got here today for the final meeting of the school year. I want to take the moment to reflect on the incredible journey we had been all part of this year. It is hard
for me to believe how quickly pass but we here is standing together as a board family at the end of another school year full of accomplishment grow and community spirit for our student
staff parents and everyone to support. Uh thank you for your support for my board family and our superintendent and everyone who running the district. We really appreciate we officially in the last meeting of the 2025.
Thank you Mr. President. Thank you Commissioner Marino. Uh any other commissioners have comments? Uh Mr. President? Yes. I just want to congratulate all of our littles who are moving up and all of our eighth graders
who are graduating eighth grade and on their way to uh the next four years of their lives. And to our class of 2025, uh congratulations and best of luck. Thank you, Commissioner. Anyone else?
Seeing none hearing none, um can I have a motion, please, to adjurnn? Mr. President, I make a motion to adjourn the meeting. I second that motion. Motion has been made and properly seconded. Mr. Mr. Kenny, roll call, please. Barbosa, yes. Good night,
everyone. Carvalo, yes. Good night. Chevz, yes. Good night. Jacobs, yes. Good night. Marine Ortega, yes. Great night. Pastana, yes. Good night. And congratulations, class of 2025. Rivera, yes. Good night.
Congratulations, Neron. Yes, congratulations and God bless all. Have a good night.