Good evening, and welcome to the our meeting of the Elizabeth Board of Education. This is a combined agenda and regular scheduled business meeting of the Elizabeth Board of Education pursuant to New Jersey statues and the rules adopted by the Board of Education. Notice of this meeting was sent to the Star Ledger and Cablevision of Elizabeth, New Jersey on 11/21/2025. In addition, this notice is posted in the bulletin board of the lobby of 500 North Broad Street. And pursuant to this act, a copy has been filed with the city of Elizabeth, clerk of Elizabeth, New Jersey. I wanna welcome everyone present here to the school at school fifty 1 and to
our television viewers to this 11/25/2025 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 a meeting of the board in public, not a meeting of the public. This meeting is being recorded and will become part of Elizabeth Board of Education public record. So please refrain from your electronic devices. If you have any electronic devices that are on, please refrain and put them on silent if anyone is talking. We also, since this is legally mandated, we cannot have any interruptions during our meeting.
We may have to ask periodically should noise start to interfere for you to leave or be dismissed from this meeting. There'll be a public portion for the citizens to address the board, and you must sign in prior to the public portion of the meeting so that you may be, have an opportunity to speak. The sign in sheet states the name, address, telephone number, and the reason that person wants to speak, whether it is an agenda item or a general public education comment. We are pleased to have you here this meeting this evening joining us here on
this, beautiful holiday week. I wanna wish everybody a very happy Thanksgiving, and thank you for joining us here at the Elizabeth Board of Education Public Schools. And we also wanna apologize for the start the delay in start of the meeting. Mister Kennedy, roll call, please. Barbosa. Here. Carlos. Carvallo. Here. Chevres. Jacobs. Present. Marina Ortega. Here. And Calvis Pastana. Here. Rivera Neron. Present. At this time, please join me for a moment of silence for the following individuals,
Nicholas DeMarco senior, retired director of human resources and former principal, Mauricio Fernandez, father of Jericho Fernandez, principal of Joseph Vatten School number four, Sebastiano Vegas, father of Christina Vegas, principal, Jerome Dunn Academy of Mathematics Technology and Art School. School number nine, Manover Escobarno, mother of Thomas Escobarno, lead investigator. And doctor Rosalynn Virginia Bowden, former LDTC of the Elizabeth Public Schools. Our hearts and prayers go out to their families on their passing and Thank you
for this moment of silence and may their legacies live on in our hearts and in all our memories for their wonderful years served here at the Elizabeth Public Schools. At this time, please remain standing for the admiral William F. Halsey, public safety junior ROTC. At this time, will our vice president, Maria Carvalho, please lead us in the pledge of allegiance? Please remain standing for the star spangled banner. Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light, what so proudly we hailed
at the twilight's last gleaming, whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight. O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming. And the rockets are at glare. The bombs bursting in air gave proof through the night that our flag was still
there. Oh, say does that star spangled banner yet wave for the land of the free and the home of the brave. At this time, board member Jerry Jacobs, can you please lead us in the pledge of ethics? You may be seated at this time. At this time, I turn the floor over to our superintendent of schools who will introduce our student representative for today. Good evening.
Adriana Valentin is a senior at Thomas Edison Career and Technical Academy, where she serves as a senior class vice president and proudly represents her peers. A driven scholar and member of the National Honor Society, she has consistently earned honor roll distinction throughout all four years of high school. Adriana thrives on community involvement and leadership from coordinating school events and fundraisers to participating in the Building Future Leaders program, she brings energy, organization, and heart to every initiative. Her love for gardening and commitment to volunteer work reflects her dedication to growth, both
personal and collective. Inspired by her uncle, a successful entrepreneur who built a thriving business selling corn, Adriana discovered her passion for business and the entrepreneurial spirit. She plans to major in business and minor in forensic psychology with the long term goal of launching her own business and uplifting others through her journey. She has applied to several colleges and is especially interest excited about Rutgers University and Kean University, as well as our Union County Community College. Adriana looks forward to the next chapter of her academic journey and is eager to
turn her ambition into a lasting impact. It is my pleasure to introduce Adriana Valentin as our student representative for this evening and represented by mister Danny Ortiz, the principal of Thomas Edison Career and Technical Academy. Mister Kenny, can you please include our student representative in the roll call to have it reflected, that Adrianna Valentin is in attendance this evening. Thank you. Okay. At this time, the public portion is open to the public. Individuals who are signed up to for public portion may now adjust the board in
public. Please keep in mind there is a sixty minute time limit for public comment. Please adhere to your time. This evening, we have mister Aldo Lutimo. Okay. We have miss Maria Francini Chini. Good evening, miss Maria. Thanks. I don't like to come here. Alright? I am still in mourning. But when you have teachers, educators that wanna come after my grandchildren, now we're personal. That witch begins with a b, miss Saunders from school twenty eight, she thinks in
our household, we only accept ease. When you see a child that always had ease is going down and a parent is constantly asking her what's going on. And the teacher does not get in touch with parents and saying, you know, something's going on with your child. He's bringing his grades low. Then all of a sudden, my daughter-in-law goes and sees her today and says, can I speak to you? And then she had the nerve to tell my, oh, I'm sick. I can't come outside.
You're sick and you're teaching children in their classes? You send an email, she doesn't get back. So I don't know who these teachers are. But when you have parents that are concerned about a child's education, that a child's always on superattendance every marking period for the past five years, and you see something going down and the teacher does not get in touch with the parent, but at the end of the marking period, you're gonna say, oh, we didn't put grades in?
That's unacceptable, especially with my grandchildren. I don't get involved with it until my children is getting dicked around by teachers. You're not doing it to my grandchildren. We fought too hard for their education. I'm sorry. Please refrain from the profanity. Care. I don't care. I'm pissed. I understand. Understand it. What your teachers are doing to the children. You just don't understand. Now you're fucking with my grandchildren. You don't do that shit. Don't do it. Thank you.
Miss Aldo mister Aldo Lutima? I'm assuming he's outside? Okay. Again, we want to apologize for the language used during the public portion of this meeting. Obviously, tempers has flared and gotten a little out of control. So we do apologize for that, and we'll make sure to address the situation and make sure that it's handled appropriately. Again, our apologies to the Elizabeth Public Schools community and all that of you tuning in today and and to all in attendance. We do apologize for that interruption. This concludes our public portion of the meeting. Bear with us one sec.
Alright. At this time, we're going to turn it over to our superintendent for community updates. Thank you, mister Neuron. Following that, we'll be reviewing the agenda. Thank you. So this evening, I'll be presenting the community ups updates for the month of November. And I have my own remote control. Thank you. So, we would like to begin with a reminder to all of our families that, tomorrow, Wednesday, November 26, our schools will be on a half day schedule. Our high school students will be dismissed at 11:45 in the morning, and our students
from our pre k and elementary schools will be dismissed at 12:15. Our schools will and district will be closed on both Thursday and Friday in celebration of Thanksgiving and certainly, wishing all of our families a wonderful holiday. We'd like to now share with our families, report cards were made available yesterday on PowerSchool on November 24. So for our parents and our guardians, the report cards for the first marking period were made available. We wanna make sure that you log into PowerSchool and you're able to access your
child's performance on the first marking period. We will have a step by step, instructions on our district website available to our families in order to assist you with being able to access your child's report cards. And I know our students have been working very hard, our teachers have been working diligently on ensuring that our children receive the best education possible. And next, I turn to information that's available on our district web page. We ask that, you please visit our web page. We've included information as it relates to, flu and RSV.
It's been reported that both flu and RSV are on the rise, so we have provided, valuable resources to our community, on our district web page that offer both the symptoms as well as steps that you can take to protect yourself from these illnesses, and also with regard to, not only on the district web page but if you hover over students and families and then select flu and RSV resources, you're able to see, the various clinics in the city of Elizabeth that are offering, services.
And with that, I'm going to, show you exactly, what I'm referring to so you click on the flu and RSV resources, icon at the bottom of the menu page and you will find the necessary resources Department of Health and Human Services are hosting a pre k flu clinic on December 2, and that is from three to 06:30
in the evening at our Peterstown Community Center that's located at 418 Palmer Street. And this event is for our Elizabeth residents only, and it's a walk in clinic. The flu shot is a requirement for children ages six months through 59, five years old, attending preschool or a licensed childcare in the state of New Jersey. And the required documents include, photo ID, proof of immunization record, and children who do
not receive the vaccine by December 31 may be excluded from school or childcare, until that vaccine is provided. Those are the regulations from the New Jersey Department of Education that require our children to be, vaccinated. So next, we turn to our, issue of InsideEPS, and we are celebrating, the performance of our Elizabeth High School marching band that recently competed in two championship weekends, which included state and national competitions at the South Brunswick High School and, the EHS marching
band placed fifth out of 10, and took the New Jersey group for open caption awards of the first place in percussion and color guard. And at the open class championships at MetLife Stadium, EHS was the bronze met, medalist, placing third out of 11 bands, including first in percussion, capping off an undefeated season for the percussion group. So our sincere congratulations to our students that work incredibly hard in the evenings, the weekends, and really are incredibly talented.
So we now turn to our US News and World Report, that recently issued its rankings of the best elementary and middle schools that were ranked on two criteria, 50% for mathematics and reading proficiency with 25% weight for each subject and 50% for mathematics and reading performance, as well as a 25% weight for each subject. The schools from those above schools that were ranked among the top 20% of all elementary and middle schools throughout the state of New Jersey. So we start with our best elementary schools listing of school number seven, Taryn C.
Reilly, number 132, and that is in the nation. William F. Halloran, school number 20, number fifth 150, and Victor Moravelek, school number 21 ranking number 317. And that is out of the elementary ranking, I'm sorry, overall in New Jersey. And then we turn to our best middle schools and our school, Terrence E. Riley, ranked number 47, William F. Halloran, ranked number 59, Victor Moravec, school 21, ranked number one fifty four, Almora, school twelve, ranked number 224, doctor Albra Onside Academy, school number 29, ranked number 263, and
doctor Antonia Pantoja, school number 27, ranked 278, and this is recognizing the best middle schools in, all of New Jersey, that were competing. Include. And of course, lastly, a happy Thanksgiving to all. So thank you so much for this month's, announcements, and I'll turn it back over to our board president, mister Neron. Thank you, madam superintendent. Thank you for those community updates.
At this time, we want to, go over the agenda and set the agenda for today. Items one a, official and private minutes of 10/23/2025 and one b, treasurer's report, 09/30/2025. Were there any questions from the board? Seeing none, hearing none. Mister Kenny, please add tabs one a and one b to the agenda. Tab two a, personnel report. Are there any questions from the board? Mister president? Yes. Commissioner Moreno? I don't have a question. I have only a comment.
To the this morning is Thanksgiving, and I want to give my special thanks to the human department, because every month, I do see we have a huge agenda, and the agenda include hire this agenda include hire 12 t shirts, for assistance, security, custodians, and also accommodate transfers based on the needs of the schools. And plus that, after the school coordination that's been behind the scene is a lot
of work and dedication. It's fingerprints, all due dates, and everything that's been this month. During Thanksgiving, I want to recognize everyone doing, like, amazing work. But I I noticed a lot of work behind the scenes, and thank you to the human resources secretary, phone calls and everything because it's not easy to track in all the information to make sure we have our teacher and our staff on time for the needs of our schools.
Thank you, mister president. Thank you. Are there any additional questions for tab two a? Seeing none, hearing none. Mister Kenny, please add tab two a to the agenda. Tab three, tuitions report. Any questions from the board? Seeing none, hearing none, please add tab three to the agenda. Tabs four to four d, superintendent's report. Are there any questions from the board? Seeing none, hearing none, please add tabs four to four d to the agenda. Tabs five, authorizations report. Are there any questions from the board? If there are no questions, please add tab five authorizations report to the agenda.
Finance and accounting reports, tab six six a. Are there any questions from the board? Yeah. I have Commissioner Jacobs? Mister Perez, I have a question. Sure. So I was looking at the authorization reports, and I see that we're paying our bills here for electricity, PSE, and gas. But I'm just wondering why every time we come here, it's, like, so cold in here. I almost thought we weren't paying the bills, but I see that we are. So just wondering why every time every month we come in here, it is freezing cold. And now it's winter. Well, I'll tell you one person that's not good.
My constitution is not good enough to handle Director of the law that I see is real hot right here. In a full trench coat that's lying. I just wanted to point that out to you, mister president. Directors have their jackets on. Even our directors have our jackets on. Thank you, commissioner Jacob for that SNL moment. We appreciate it. Thank you for speaking up, mister Jacobs. You're welcome. Alright. Back to the regularly scheduled program. Tab six a and a tab six six a finance and accounting reports. We do pay our bills. Thank you.
So, mister Kennedy, you can please add tab six to six a to the agenda. Okay. Tab seven, award of contracts. Mister president, I have a question. Yes. The contract with IXL Learning. Hi. She does have a coat on. She does. Very nice coat. Actually, both of the contracts on that page. I just wanted a little information on what they are and who they service. The Okay. The bottom two? Contract with IXL Learning. Sure. IXL Learning is a licensed program that we use for supplemental learning for our MLs
and special ed population. It's mostly populations also. We've been using it for several years now. It's not from their IEPs? No. No. Not at all. Okay. Thank you. And and the next one, the one the contract with New York Medical College? Sure. That's our affiliation agreement with the college for clinical experiences for speech and language pathologists. So when those students are in the college and they need to come and do an internship or have mentor hours, that's our affiliation agreement with the university.
So we can partner with them to host them if they're requested or live in our area. We normally host them for the universities. Specific college, I don't know if we did last year. I could check on that and let you know. The ones on the next page, we did, those contracts last year. I see that already. And sometimes the affiliation agreements are actually three years. They they last for three years, so we don't have to do it every year. So sometimes you will you may not see these annually. It will be, every third year. Thank you. Thank you. You're welcome. Yes, sir. President? Any additional questions?
Yes. Yes. Commissioner Morales? Thank you. This is for doctor Bavales too. Thank you. First, thank you always. You have very interesting request, and, you know, recommendation. I really appreciate, you know. Look like you're going different, needs of the schools. My question is only for clarification. This mean in page number two, the contract with William Patterson University, my case at great university, Also, Fairfield Dickinson University, another great university.
This is for students? These are for student teachers, essentially, or student practitioners. These are Okay. Those people in college who need to do internship hours and or mentorship hours within the district as part of their credentials to graduate. Okay. Thank you so much for the clarification. I appreciate it. Is one year is is per year or is it's per year? For the students or for the contract? For the student. For the students, it's typically is a year. But some of these, like, for instance, the speech and pathology or really the social work could go into two years depending on how many hours they need to do
within their, requirements for their graduation and for their certification. Okay. Thank you. Appreciate it. Miss Craig. The last comment. You make that connection with the universities? Or the university. Works with the universities. Yes. Sometimes the universities work out reach out to us. Sometimes we have students that reach out to us, and then we reach out to the students. These, for instance, we also work with special services because, and with student services because social workers go through student services, and the speech and pathologists go through special services.
So together, between the universities or the three departments, we work with contacts. I really appreciate it because it's it's something we needed. Thank you so much. You're welcome. Mister president, the last part is on page five. This is for doctor Anthony De Donato. The contract with Mother Against Drug Driving, very interesting. Very, you know, and I want you comment. For the community, no. And and it's very interesting. Can you explain to me and to the community a little bit? Thank you.
Sure. So this is actually our second year partnering with MAD, and they primarily work with our high school students and with our seniors. And they do a whole, presentation and curriculum around prom safety. So it was really successful last year with mostly all of our seniors, so we brought them back this year to continue that partnership. And that program is a what a specific month? So it generally can be any month but we really ramp it up the month
or two before prom. So it's really relevant. We're in the same page. Yeah. Okay. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. Mister president? Yes. I just wanted to tell doctor Di Donato that I'm really happy that Tito's coming back. Oh, yes. Tito the dog. The schools are very excited, so welcome them back. I'm really excited. Can't wait. Any other questions or concerns from the board? Mister president? Yes. I'm sorry. Yes. Commissioner Jacobs? I have a question for director Diano Diano. Doctor Diano.
Thank you. Yes. I know the name very well. Page six. The contract with GaggleNet in reference to mental health care. Can you expound upon that for us, please? Sure. So this is our third or third year partnering with Gaggle. So they offer telehealth therapy for our students at at no cost to our families. So that's a title program, a title funded program, and it essentially at either a request from a family or request by our school allows those students to participate in
telehealth therapy. Thank you. So how does that also now does that complement, because we know that the YES program now has been discontinued, but we still still have some elements of that here in our district. Does that complement those services that were provided by the YES program? Yeah. So whether it's YES program or NJ4S, all of our partnerships we work in collaboration. So they could be receiving services there, and in addition receive telehealth services. So it's a continuum of care. We work with the families. We work with the schools. We work with the practitioners to make sure we're delivering all of the necessary supports
for all of our students. So this contract here with GaggleNet, is that a per use contract or a flat free rate? It's a per use contract. Thank you. I have an additional question on page seven, the contract with Stepping Stones Group LLC. I noticed that this is for a a social worker for school two, starting in December going through June 2026. Just wondering why we're using a outside service versus hiring someone for the position? So that's specifically to replace a leave for a leave of absence.
So temporary. Thank you. Mister president? Yep. Same here to you, doctor Anthony. Okay. Page seven. The contract with breaking the cycle is I I realized it's built one for prevent bullying. And how are you planning to select the school? It's based on the principal requirement, easy there's per school? Or is it specific to address some schools? How we will be select the schools? Like, it's it's important topic.
So you're right. It's, on bullying prevention. It's actually in person assemblies. They come in and provide that, and the individual schools would reach out if if they're interested. So, yes, we look at data to support that need. We determine which schools have, you know, the cases, and then we partner with the school to see if they're interested, and they would request them coming to the school. Okay. Thank you so much. Mister president, the last question. I see two contracts, one with Kean University, you know, for partnership and the student
be able to earn college. This is for the director of curriculum instruction. My my question is, what is the criteria? No? Because, we select the student to earn this college credit based on the performance of if I'm a c, b plus student, I will have the opportunity. Because maybe I have c in geometry or in math, but I'm success I want to become a teacher, language art in a and base. My maybe my GPA is not high enough.
Or what are the criteria to select? I want a student done out, let the high student done out perform very well? Yeah. So this program is for, tomorrow's teachers. The goal is ultimately, as you said, to just build to kinda just, build tomorrow's teachers. So any students that are interested, normally, but also it's also part of our career technical education pathway. So it's really creating a a pipeline for instruction and again getting students interest to
take part of that program. Any student from any high school can apply? So currently we have this, program that's taking place in in Hamilton in our current building, but ultimately the goal is to ultimately, the goal is to see how can we expand it. But right now, we have it in just one location. And at what grade level they can up grade they can apply? It's at the high school level between grade. Or seniors? At least between, sophomore to junior and senior years. But junior and senior, those are the group of kids that we have. And how do students know about this great opportunity?
Who let them know this opportunity? The guidance counselors? Yeah. So they could certainly work with the administrative in that building and then also teachers also, try to also help recruit that process as well. Thank you so much for your clarification. I appreciate it. You're welcome. Are there any additional questions or comments from our board members? Mister president? Yes, sir. I have a question for mister Milanis on page 10, the contract with inline heating and air conditioning company. It says that's for Ciccaral. Is that for the main building or the It's the main building.
We're replacing the two, heating boilers for the sis for the school. They are actually, used for reheating the school, not for the main heating, of the school. So what was the approximate age of that that equipment that needs to be replaced? Eight years. Eight years? It it only lasted for eight years and now we need to replace it? Yep. Are we replacing it with the same type unit or No. We're replacing it with a different, brand. It's not the same, it's not the same units. Thank you, mister Williams. You're welcome, sir. Are there any additional questions?
Yes. Mister president, I had a question. Yes, commissioner. The contract with Montane Lake, Board of Education, I noticed we are paid for, evaluation to the students to go out the district. Just I'm curious. That happen all the time? Or does this include, when we pay for the student be out the district, does it include evaluations and other services? Because I I don't know maybe that's the first time I noted that. In this particular case, that was as a result of the identification meeting where, additional evaluations were identified and that was included on our agenda for this evening. If you Any additional questions for tab seven award of contracts?
Seeing none, hearing none. Miss Kennedy, please add tab seven to the agenda. At this time, we have tab eight, and we have our student representative report from student representative Adrianna Valentin. Good evening, board oh, good evening, board members, community members, and doctor Hugo Meyer. Good evening. It is truly an honor to serve as a student representative at the board. As a senior at Thomas a Edison Career and Technical Academy, I take great pride in representing my school and fellow students in this role. In addition to this position, I currently serve as both the student advisor and the
class president. These opportunities have allowed me to hear students' concern as well as advocate for their needs and help foster positive changes within our school community. This role has also deepened my involvement in the vibrant life of our school. Through clubs, events, and leadership activities, I've gained a broader understanding of the power of student voice and impact on hands on learning. It's been an exciting couple of months across our CTE programs at Edison. The culinary arts program is partnering currently with ShopRite to prepare a special Thanksgiving menu,
where I myself will be buying. Students are also leading the meal preparation and they will be offered for sale through ShopRite. In construction technology, students are building the set for Jefferson's Winter Play and creating benches for schools 12 as well as 26, gaining practical real world skills in the process. The graphic design program is preparing to welcome representatives from Kean University to share insights about their design pathways. This collision repair program is also participating in the recycle my ride initiative initiative, I
apologize, restoring donated vehicles that will be gifted to local charities. They also will be featured at the upcoming Northeast Trade Show. The collision repair program is part oh, I'm called, guys. Our automotive students are training for the upcoming SkillsUSA competition while cosmetology students continue their weekly outreach, providing haircuts, blowouts, and manicures to our local citizens every Wednesday. We're also proud to announce Edison's newest CTE program, Ignite, where students are in the program or are working on a special project aimed to younger students to show them
the manufacturing and engineering education. In addition, I'd like to highlight the work of the Safe Driving Club led by miss Dubin. Last spring, they earned a $500 award for the most creative campaign in the Jersey Drive's You Got Brains champions schools contest. This year, the club has joined the Nikhil Badlani youth advisory board, becoming one of the only five schools in New Jersey to be selected to participate. Their mission is to empower youth to promote traffic safety through creative, student led initiatives.
Finally, I want to thank the district for supporting students and families with monthly financial aid nights. These events are helping ensure every student has access to those tools and information needed to complete the FAFSA and to maximize their financial aid opportunities. This is just a glimpse of our incredible work that's happening all across our schools, and I am honored to share these updates with you and proud to represent not only Thomas a Career and Technical Academy, but also the entire student body of our district.
Thank you. You. Congratulations again, Adiana, and we wish you all the very best. Truly a future leader. And, we're so excited for you and the work that you, that lays ahead for you that lies ahead for you and the leadership roles that I'm sure you'll be taking further in your life as you pursue your career and education goals. So congratulations again, and we're proud to have you on the board. At this time, let's give her another big round of applause. At this time, we'd like to have our finance committee report by chairperson, commissioner Jerry Jacobs. Thank you, mister president. Finance committee met on November 12.
Mister John Swisher presented the preliminary results of the audit for the 2425 financial statements. Mister Fisher reported that the district's financial statements are fairly stated, and that an unmodified opinion will be contained within the report, and clean opinions on internal controls and compliance. He also reported that there will be no current or repeat audit findings contained in the auditor auditor's management report. Finally, mister Swisher noted the balances of restricted reserves for capital and maintenance, which supported the district's ability to take care of its 30 plus facilities.
A full public participation of the audit results will be presented at the December board meeting. The committee requested the table of organizations for plant, property, and equipment department and the transportation department, inclusive of titles and number of employees for each position. In addition, the committee requested an update for of all capital and maintenance projects. Thank you, mister president. Thank you, commissioner. Our special education committee, chairperson, Eliana Chavez. Alright. The committee met on November 13. The members of the committee discussed several key points including finalize the CPAD policy making
is more accessible to all parents and the incoming collaboration with the SPAN. The committee discussed the current newsletter, shared with all parents' needs, especially parents inclusive of the service. Survey result highlighted parental interest in the special education program information, resources for parents, special education law, and parent writing, and the IEP evaluation process. The survey result noted a preference for evening section and high interest in prerecorded video. The committee discussed the ongoing collaboration with children in specialized hospital and professional development for
children for child study team members. That concludes my report for this month. Thank you, commissioner Chavez. Commissioner Jerry Jacobs for our negotiations committee report. Thank you, mister president. The negotiations committee met on November 14. Miss, mister Lerch, our consultant, presented the verification of 4,214 employees across 20 classifications for the EEA and explained the verification process as well as the agreement to allocate funds based on the three year contract three two in the memorandum of of understanding.
The consultants confirmed that the costed out salary guides were in agreement to the dollar amounts in each of the three years. The committee requested further analysis of the proposed salary guides on different job descriptions and classifications. The negotiations committee also met on November 20, where mister Lurch presented the requested analysis of the proposed salary guides on different job descriptions and collapse classifications, including percent increases over the three year contract. Discussion ensued. The committee reviewed the 2627 calendar and discussed the professional development dates.
We are hoping that we are close to concluding our contract negotiations with the union, at this point in time. Thank you very much, mister president. Thank you, commissioner Jacobs, and thank you to all the commissioners. And thank you again, commissioner Jacobs, on a wonderful job with the negotiations committee. It sounds like we are at the very finish line, so we're excited to, bring that to a close. Alright. Resolutions 10. Resolutions nine. Are there any questions from the board? Claims list. Seeing none hearing none. Please add tab nine, claims list to the agenda.
And now for resolutions 10 to 10 n. Again, please add claims list to the agenda, mister Kennedy. And now resolutions 10 to 10 n. Are there any questions or comments from the board? Mister president? Yes. Could we, have someone may mister Kennedy, read 10 e? 10 e? Yes. Miss Kennedy, can you please read 10 e? Or or just explain what happened and how we serviced our families. I can read the resolution I can read the resolution if you'd like.
That's fine. Okay. Thank you. Whereas due to the federal government shutdown, certain federal benefit programs, including the supplemental nutrition assistance program, SNAP, have been suspended, and whereas certain families in the district rely on SNAP benefits for meals and whereas the board of education and district administration are concerned that suspension of SNAP may cause food insecurity for certain students and whereas in response to the loss of federal SNAP benefits, Elizabeth Public Schools wishes to provide all students
with a daily dinner meal to take home from school beginning Wednesday, November 5 at all school sites throughout the district. Now therefore be it resolved that the intent is to provide daily meals for our students during the time that SNAP benefits are unavailable to our families and authorizes covering the cost of the school grab and go meals for students incurred by the Division of Food and Nutrition. Be it further resolved that this assistance shall remain in effect until after SNAP benefits
have been are reinstated unless otherwise authorized, required, or extended by the board. Thank you, mister Kennedy. I mister president, if I may, I wanna thank the superintendent and her team and, our food service director and the entire staff for, taking action quickly. Many of us were here during COVID, and we know what that was like. And, I almost felt like we were back in COVID again, watching this take place. So, I appreciate you.
We appreciate you. We thank you because it's not just teaching children how to read and write. We care about them. And if they're they don't have food in their tummies, they can't learn. And if they can't learn, they can't sleep, they can't do anything, and they can't focus. So thank you for caring about all of it and about our community. So we appreciate you. Thank you, madam vice president. And, I wanna echo those statements. You know, during this great time of need, we came, and we were there for our students and our community, not only to provide what's necessary, but, you know, one
of the strategies that we implemented many years ago was making sure that we educate the whole child through a social emotional approach, and that's part of it. So not only just caring about the x's and o's in the classroom, but what happens outside the classroom also impacts the success rate of our students. So thank you to the entire team, the administration, the school community for coming together and really standing up. And for all of those who have been servicing, our district during, this holiday season of Thanksgiving by providing turkeys and meals and food baskets and the acts of kindness
that you've exemplified, we wanna say thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And, you know, I know thank you is just a little word, but it means a lot and it goes a long way. So thank you again. There there was just as an aside, there was over the two day period, thank goodness, the SNAP benefits were restored. Over 40,000 grab grab and go meals were distributed to our students. Thank you. That deserves a big round of applause. That, mister Kennedy. Thank you. Any questions for 10 to 10 n? I have a comment to the CUSAC report. I was honored to be able to sit in on the CUSAC review, and to
see that our district was up to par with all the necessary regulations, mandated by the New Jersey Department of Education. Under this process, the staff worked tirelessly to make sure that we were on point and that we we we dotted our i's and crossed our t's. So I just wanna applaud you and salute you for your hard work and the great work that you've been doing for the district. I had the privilege of doing it the first time I was president, and now the second second time as president. So it's done, what, every three years? Yeah. Every three years. So I had the great fortune of being part of that process again.
So I just wanna commend the entire administration and all those who took part of it, especially, your district leader, our comments? Mister president, I have one question. Sure. The resolution on New Jersey Cool Grants program, I believe that mister Milan is right. Can you explain even though we're all freezing? You mean you want New Jersey cool heat program? But I'm excited to hear about this. You know, the this is, this is a resolution that's going to allow us to,
proceed with the grant procurement. This is actually the last step. So right now, there is some contractual things that have to happen now. Mister Keire has to sign some contracts and afterwards, they, then we'll start with the process of, of, you know, getting the equipment ordered and then eventually installed. So I'm gonna be handled through the, Honeywell, branch. Is that first scene for the second half of the school year? Second half and now they're in the you know, as a matter of fact, the shiller for this building better be ready by this summer.
Oh. You know what I mean? You'll be happy and I'll be miserable. Yes. So we're gonna, you know, that, then we're doing, school 28, we're doing the same thing, replacing Schiller and four rooftop units. And school twenty nine, we're replacing 14 rooftop units that are already 20 some years old and we're they're failing. And also in school fifty two, we're replacing the chiller with the same age of these buildings. So that's the that's the idea. It's never ending. Right? No. That's okay. Thank you. Thank you, mister Milanis.
Thank you. Any other comments or questions to tabs 10 to 10? Seeing none, hearing none, miss Kennedy, please add tabs 10 to 10 n to the agenda. At this time, the president requests motion to go into private session to consider matters exempt under the open public meetings act, specifically for discussion of items legal items, specifically workers' compensation, n a s j b, l g, c s, s t e w
h m v a and a g, in addition to policy twelve twenty one revision, hopefully for the last time. The board will reconvene in public and make and may take formal action. May I have a motion and a second? I make a motion to go into public, private session. Motion has been made. Second that motion. Properly seconded. Mister Kennedy, roll call, please. Barbosa. Yes. Carvallo. Yes. Chevrez. Yes. Jacobs. Yes. Marina Ortega. Yes. And Kavas Pastana. Yes. Yes. Neron. Yes. Miss Kenny, are there any additional items to be added to the agenda today?
Yes. We have. One, two, Four resolutions, workers' comp cases, VA versus Elizabeth Borda Vet, and a resolution for workers' comp settlement, AG versus the Elizabeth Board of Ed. And we're also doing the second reading of our policy twelve two two one, special education parent advisory group, and regulation one two two one special education parent advisory group.
And we have a resolution for adoption of the policy and the regulations. Thank you, mister Kennedy. Can you please add those to the agenda? At this time, I'd like to turn the floor over to our superintendent who's presented who will present our HIV report. Thank you, mister Nieron. Pursuant to board policy fifty one thirty one point one, harassment, intimidation, and bullying in the Jersey statute 18 a colon 37. The results of each investigation shall be reported to the Board of Education no later than the date of the next board meeting following completion of the investigation and include any services provided, training established, discipline imposed, or other action taken or recommended by the
chief school administrator. Since our last board of education meeting on October 23 and through November 18, our school counselors, school based social workers, and deputy counsel have completed 56 HIV investigations. Of these investigations, twenty two cases were founded for HIV as per New Jersey law. There were twenty five males, forty one females, sixty one regular education students, and five special education students that were the alleged victims. There were thirty nine males, thirty nine females, 71 regular education students, six special education students, and one non student that were the alleged offenders.
Of the twenty two cases founded for HIV, three cases were founded based on race, national origin. Three cases were founded based on color. Two cases were founded based on sexual orientation. Three cases were founded based on gender, one case was founded based on gender identity and expression, and 15 cases were founded based on other identifying characteristics. Of the services provided and actions taken for these investigations, there were 19 skill development lessons, 42 counseling sessions, nine behavioral interventions, 13 referrals for outpatient mental health treatment, nine
changes of classroom, one change of school placement, five administrative counseling sessions, 13 in school detentions, 40 parent conferences, two referrals to outside agencies, and 22 out of school suspensions. And in addition, seven cases are being 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 28 cases that were reported to you at the last board meeting on October 23.
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 the, report for this evening. Thank you. Thank you, superintendent. Board members, are there any questions in regards to the agenda items? Okay. Last thing I do wanna say before we approve the agenda is congratulations to all our retirees, and to all those who have served the district well for many, many years. And, thank you for your service and time with our district and to being dedicated to Elizabeth Public Schools.
At this time, mister Kennedy, can you please, can I have a motion, can I have a motion and a second to approve the entire agenda? I make a motion to approve the entire agenda. Is there a second? I second it. Second has a motion has been made and properly seconded. Mister Kennedy, roll call, please. Barbosa. Yes. With the exception of top seven, page six. Carvallo. Yes. With the exception of tab four a and tab four b. Chevres. Yes. Jacobs. Yes. Marina Ortega? Yes. Goncavas Pastana? Yes. Neron?
Yes. With the exception of tab four a and four b. So with those votes, the entire agenda plus the additional items has passed. Thank you, mister Kennedy, and thank you to our board members. Wanna wish everybody a very happy, happy Thanksgiving time spent with your families. We wanna wish that everybody stays safe, and we look forward to seeing you, back after Thanksgiving as we celebrate the holiday season. Can we have a motion and second for to adjourn our meeting? Motion to adjourn the meeting. Motion has been made.
Second. Properly seconded. Mister Kennedy, roll call, please. Barbosa. Yes. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Carballo. Yes. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Chevrez. Yes. Happy Thanksgiving. Jacobs. Yes. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. Enjoy your holidays. Marina Ortega. Yes. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Yes. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Yes. Thank you, and happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Be blessed. Thank you.