Dr. Bertini >> present. >> Miss the record is absent. >> She is coming from fencing practice. Okay. Mr. Leia
here. >> Miss Fage >> present. >> Mr. Santana >> present. >> Mrs. Man >> present. This time we're gonna uh stand up for
our salute >> of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Our sunshine statement that New Jersey
public uh uh open public meeting law has uh was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meeting of the public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted
upon. In accordance with the provision of this act, the Fairarm board of education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having the date and time placed thereof distributed to the persons of the approved list posted on the board of education
administrative offices and sent to the Bergen record and the Harold News. Uh the announcement and posting of the organization meeting along with dates, places, and time thereof was originally distributed on January 24th, 2025.
Moving on to um the election results in our uh the official results of our annual uh school election was held on November 5th, 2025. And uh three members, three seats, three terms were uh
uh elected starting um with uh Mr. Michael Rosenberg with 6,650 votes. Uh Dr. Edward Berdini with 4,873 votes. Lud Mila
uh Coriva with 4,354 votes. Uh Julie Kasoy with 3,458 votes. Marcy Reese with 3,168 votes. Uh Basana uh
Turk Chinski with 2,897 votes and Diana Sopawa with 2229 votes. Uh the uh results um are also posted on our agenda with a link to the Bergen County
election site. So at at this time I'm going to invite the uh three elected members to come to the center where we're going to actually have the oath of office. Thank you.
Turn on this mic. >> Where are we facing? >> Just All right. I'm I'm going to have you repeat after me. Raise your right hand. >> I state your name. >> I
>> do solemnly swear >> Do solemnly swear >> that I will support the Constitution of the United States >> that I will support the Constitution of the United States. >> The Constitution of the State of New Jersey. >> The Constitution of the State of New Jersey. >> And I will bear true faith.
>> And I will bear true faith >> and allegiance to the same. and allegiance to the same >> and to the government established in the United States >> and the government established in the United States >> and this state >> and this state >> under the authority of the people >> under the authority of the people.
>> So help me God. >> So help me God. I say your name. I, Michael Rosenber, >> do solemnly swear >> do solemnly swear >> that I possess the qualifications >> that I possess the qualifications >> prescribed by law
>> prescribed by law >> for the office of member >> for the office >> for the office of member >> of the board of education >> of the board of education >> and that I am not disqualified >> and I am not disqualified >> as a voter >> as a voter >> pursuant to
>> pursuant to >> RS RS RS 19 >> 19 section 4 >> section 4-1-1 >> nor disqualified >> nor disqualified >> due to a conviction >> due to a conviction >> of a crime >> of a crime
>> or offenses listed >> or offenses listed >> in NJ S >> 18A 18A >> uh 12-1 >> 12-1 >> and that I will faithfully
>> and I will faithfully impartially >> impartially >> and justly >> and justly >> perform all duties >> perform all duties >> of that office >> of that office >> according to the best of my ability >> according according to the best of my ability. >> So help me God.
>> So help me God. >> Congratulations. >> THANK YOU GUYS. Take a moment. >> Thank you. Good job. All right. It's in the middle of the girls.
All right. This time we're going to do a roll call for uh new um board. We're going to start with uh Dr. Bolini >> present. >> Miss Brown >> present. >> Mr. Leia.
>> Miss Favllovich >> present. >> Miss Coraliva >> present. >> Mrs. Man >> present. >> Mr. Rosenberg >> here. >> Mr. Santana >> present.
Uh right now we're going to move on into the section where we nominate uh the leadership of the board, president and vice president. Uh before we uh open up nomination, I just want to read out policy 0152, which is our uh policy for board uh
officer. Board of Education shall organize its first regular meeting by electing one of its members as president and another as vice president. Any member may place a member's name in
nomination. A second is not required. Election for each office will be conducted by a vote when a nomination of that office are closed. The candidates receiving a majority vote member of
board president of the board and constitution constituting a quorum will be elected to office. Voting shall take place by verbal roll call after nominations are closed. When more than one person has been nominated,
the board will vote on candidates in the order which they were nominated. In the event no candidates receive majority vote of member of the board present and constituting a quorum, the procedure shall continue until someone receives a
majority vote. >> I nominate myself for board president. >> Any other nominations? >> I nominate Julia May for president. I nominated for president. Any other nomination?
>> I need a motion to close nomination for president. >> Some moved. >> Second. >> Discussion. We're not allowed to say why we should be uh voted on. >> No, absolutely not.
>> I believe we we had this uh last year. >> You got to follow the policy. We're going to follow the policy. The policy says that after the nominations are closed, there's a roll call verbal vote. So, you have to do a roll call vote. First one nominated was you.
>> They do a roll vote. There's not a discussion. >> We we use Robert's rules. So when there's a when there's a resolution on the floor and there's a motion in the second then you have a discussion there's no second these are purely nominations for president once
the president's selected they take over the meeting then you go through same thing for vice president this is standard course there's not discussion about uh nominations the policy is very very clear second's not required and so you
can't have a discussion unless you have a second but Your policy is abundantly clear. There will be a vote conducted when the nominations for that office are closed. You have a motion to second. It's closed. >> Does anything in the policy says we can't have a one minute speech for why
members should vote for us? There's there's there's anything in the policy that says that's not allowed. >> Uh your policy is very clear. >> No, I understand what you say. But >> the policy doesn't say that whatsoever. >> So if it doesn't say it, what prohibits it? Well, because you already have had a motion and a schedule.
>> So under Robert's rules, we're supposed to have discussion. >> No. So now what the policy says, you're supposed to have a raw call vote in the order where it was received. >> A point of clarification. I thought Robert's rules states that you cannot say uh this person is bad because of this, but you can't ask if they want to
serve. You can ask according to Robert's rules. I I read them last night. >> I I've read Robert's rules many times. I'm just telling you what your policy provides. You guys are governed by policies and in the absence of a policy you go to Robert's rules but
your policy is very clear as to what happens and this is standard throughout throughout the state there's just a vote after the nomination >> so the board board council you're contradicting yourself respectfully you just said in the absence of the of something in the policy you go to
Robert's rules so if the policy does not state that we can have speeches Robert's rule stays that we can have we can have debate after a a a motion have been second and uh a may and second. >> So Mr. Mr. Wil, I'm not contra this your
policy is very clear. It says after the nominations you take a vote the order that done. >> What is the harm of us having one minute to say why we should be voted voted? If the board wants to have a motion to have
each of the nominees give a one minute uh thing, the board can so move to have that done. >> I'm for free speech. So I would like I'm for free speech. So I would like to make a motion to allow the candidates for president to have one minute at least to
say why people should vote for us is is is America. It's freedom of speech. >> I second it. Wait, if there's a first and a motion and a second, now we can have a discussion based on Robert's rules. Didn't you just say that or I am? Maybe I'm misunderstood.
>> What you're doing, >> Miss Favalovich. >> Malovich, what you're doing is you're now circumventing the board policy. The board policy is very, very clear. >> But you don't follow board policy on multiple events. >> Okay. Well, you're going to follow board policies when I'm sitting here because I
>> So, today we're going to follow board policy. >> You follow the board policy when I'm here. >> Okay. As long as we all look at today's law degree because you know, so we're following the board policy. So, there's a motion in the second to allow one minute. And by the way, this is the chair of the meeting. You're not the
chair of the meeting. This is the chair of your meeting, board secretary until the president's elected. So, if there's going to be a one minute speech by each of the nominees for president, do a roll call. With all due respect, I apologize, Mr. Cruz. What policy are you referring to?
>> The number of the policy. >> I apologize. >> Thank you, sir. >> So, this is a roll call for a one minute uh speech. >> State. >> Dr. Bolini?
>> No. >> Miss Brown? >> No. >> Mr. Lea? >> No. >> Miss Felvich? >> Absolutely. M Miss uh Miss Coraliva. >> Yes.
>> Mrs. Man. >> No. >> Mr. Rosenberg. >> No. >> Mr. Santana. >> Free speech. Why would you vote? No. Yes. What was the harm? One minute for people to speak.
>> Motion failed. >> Now what you have to do is based of the nominations for the office of president. You have to do a roll call vote for each person. >> So first nomination for Mr. Santana.
Roll call. Dr. Bartellini. >> No. >> Miss Brown. >> No. >> Mr. Leia. >> No. >> M. Fell. >> Yes. >> Miss Coriva. >> Yes. >> M.
>> No. No. >> Yes. >> Roll call made this man for president Dr. Bolini. Uh Mrs. >> Yes.
>> M Brown. >> Yes. >> Mr. Leia. >> Yes. Miss Fage, >> unequivocally, no. >> Miss Corala, >> no. >> Miss,
>> yes. >> Mr. Rosenberg, >> no. I mean, yes. I'm sorry. >> Jeez, >> Mr. Santana. >> No. Roll call for Dr.
>> Bolini. >> So motion carries on Mrs. May for president. Right now we're going to open the floor for nominations on the vice president. >> I nominate Miss Belgavich. >> I nominate Dr. Bolini. Any
other nominations? >> Motion to close nominations. >> So moved. Make a motion to allow one minute speech for why um the candidate should be elected. >> Second
policy already asked for. >> So roll call for one minute statement. Dr. Bolini, >> no. >> Brown, >> no. >> Mr. Lea, >> no. >> Miss Felich, >> absolutely. Miss Coriva,
>> can you repeat? >> Uh, one one minute statement. >> Yes. >> Miss, >> no. >> Mr. Rosenberg, >> no. >> Mr. Santana, >> yes. For free speech.
>> Motion fail. So, this time we're going to do a roll call. Uh nominating for vice president, Mrs. Felovich. Dr. Burchilini. >> No. >> Miss Brown. >> No.
>> Mr. Leia. >> No. >> Miss Felovich. >> Abstain. >> Miss. Coraliva. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Man. >> No. >> Mr. Rosenberg.
>> No. Mr. Santana. >> Yes. >> We're going to now move on. Uh nomination for vice president Dr. Berlin order. Can the chair declare the vote? >> It actually failed.
>> Dr. Melini. >> Yes. >> Miss Brown. >> Yes. >> Mia. >> Yes. >> Miss Fage. >> No. >> Miss. Coraliva.
>> Uh, no. >> Mrs. Man. >> Yes. >> Mr. Rosenberg. >> Yes. >> Mr. Santana. >> No. uh past uh now welcome president and
vice president. >> Congratulations This portion of our board meeting is specifically for comments on resolutions listed on tonight's agenda. When speaking, please state your name and municipality of residents. Specify which resolution you're referring to. Limit your remarks to three minutes. State law
prohibits board members and administrators from discussing personnel matters, student discipline, or other confidential issues. Please note that this is not a dialogue or a Q&A session between speakers and the board. While we may not respond immediately or to every comment made tonight, all input is
carefully considered and helps inform our decisions. Responses may come through emails, reports, board statements, website updates, or after the comment period closes. Thank you for your participation in our school community's governance. >> Madame President, since I'm the only new
member here, I do not understand the work that you're saying. So, this is on the agenda items. I could go >> agenda items only. So, that would be from 8 through 10. So, it's there's no board action there.
We do have board action on seven. So it would be 7 through 10. >> Thank you so much for clarification. >> The floor is open to public comment on agenda items only. So that would be 7 through 10. >> There anything on the Google form?
>> No comments. The floor is closed. I will now open the floor to board comment on agenda items only. Miss. >> Okay. Since our attorney wants to follow
board policy and bylaw, thank you so much. I'm so appreciative and hopefully this year we will do that. Regulation 0155 says the PR now committee responsibility. What are they supposed to do? Review job description. Great.
Consider recommendations from the superintendent and the director of human resources. Even better. Thank you. So, we have a job description 9G that was never discussed with that personnel committee, never brought up. And the
current personnel committee that we had before, two members are no longer on the committee. Less than 50% of the committee is going to be here voting for that doesn't exist. And additionally, the education technology coordinate district position
was never job. We were never we never approved it as a board. This position didn't exist. But the district advertised for this position and the district so is hiring someone for this position. They interviewed for this position without a district
without the district approving this position. I don't understand. The finance committee usually reviews salaries of employees when we increase them or when we give a new position, create a new position. This the $84,000
was never discussed with the finance committee was never discussed with the committee. It was just put on the agenda. If our ad if we were told always that all things should go through committees, then let's have committees.
So I make a motion to remove a 9G and 9 D1 and put it on the agenda for January at the end and let the committee discuss this properly and follow our bylaws. As our says, we will follow our bylaws. Second,
we're not in motion. We're just talking. >> Okay. Border. Then can you clarify? Are we not following policy? If that's what the personnel committee does and you're just putting it on agenda, not putting it at all, not going through the committee process. We were always told that if I have an idea, don't bring it
up in the during a meeting. Bring it through the committee first process first. And if the committee agrees, then we'll put it on the agenda. That has been processed. Are we not following this process? I can just bring up anything I want. That time should stop because he's
answering. >> Okay. >> We have not yet got into the agenda. You made a motion in a second. This isn't the time to do that. You do that when we get into board action on the agenda. Do you want to remove those two items and vote on them separately?
>> I am asking if you're following our bylaws based on what I said. 05 0155 says that's these two things. We were always told it has to go through committees. If we don't have to go through committees, I will just make motions every single board meeting and bring ideas up because why do we have to
go through committees if they're not going to follow our bylaws? >> So, this board has a board committee structure. But the committee does not supersede the running of the day-to-day operations
of the district. As you know, and you've gone to the S training, the superintendent of schools you've hired, who's sitting to my right, is the individual who runs the day-to-day operations of the district. All hiring, everybody who's hired is with his
recommendation. Nobody else. So, let me finish. So, if if the super runs day-to-day operations is making this recommendation, the board and he's making a recommendation not only for the hiring of the person and the salary The
board has the right to agree or disagree. The board itself can't hire people. They can't do things. They can have if you want to change job descriptions, if you want to that's something that the board committee do, but the board committees um you do have
positions in the district. This is not >> a new position new position that was never there. >> The education technology coordin >> that that's a position that the of schools has recommended for hiring and creation. If the board doesn't want to
vote for it, they don't have to. >> But our policy bylaw state it does have to go through committee process. They were always told everything has to go through the committee process. You cannot bring >> of individuals never. >> No, I'm not saying that the job
description never went through the committee. It's a new job never been in their district. It's a it's not even updated job description. It's a brand new job description, >> Miss Felovich. Actually, the board policy says that the members of the personnel committee will review job
descriptions. And as I've already answered in the board questions, every member of the personnel committee as well as every member who's here tonight reviewed the job description that was sent. So, we are in accordance with policy, >> but it's not that the half of the
personnel committee does not exist. They're not following our the full board is voting tonight based on the recommendation of >> so okay so I I just want to make sure from now on I'll just make motion not bring anything to committees and just discuss it during public no that's fine as long as we all are clear I would like
to reclaim my time please >> Madame President may I address since I'm in you oh can I reclaim my time I'm asking No, it kept going. I said it kept going. Okay. But it kept going.
>> Anyone else? >> May I just ask a new member? >> You can ask me. >> Sure. Yes. So, um, again, I'm a new member and then it said that all the members pres I mean I know I don't know. I don't
know. question was like >> I think the clarification of reviewed it is it was provided to us um in preparation meeting oh like the actual yeah that's what I wanted to clarify thank you >> anyone else uh Mr. Rosenberg. >> The only thing I want to say is am I
right in saying that no committees really exist right now? So this is the only way to do this at this this meeting. You that that is correct sir. The um under your existing bylaws now that you've selected a board
president and this also complies with New Jersey statutes. The board president will appoint members to the standing committees. So that'll happen after tonight's meeting. Um so the review of the policy or the job description was in your
packets and you got and can you can vote on it. Student makes recommendations if the board doesn't want to agree with student you have the right to say no majority rules. >> Thank you.
>> Anyone else? Mr. Santana. I got you M. I haven't started speaking. Why the clock is already started? A on 10 A a is an apple. Uh reim we have a reimbursement for school bus driver
license renewal. Um, Madame President, I'm asking the the the superintendent, uh, why do we have to pay for an employee to renew his driver license? This doesn't make sense from a layman's, uh, perspective to me. Um,
on the same item, uh, portable, we're paying, uh, Suda for portable toilets for war point due to a water main break. When was the board notified that there was a water main break, a warning point? I don't recall this. When did this happen? Um
on 8 on 8A um we were told in writing by the superintendent that we are doing an R RFP uh later this week. Uh do we legally have to vote on uh this item tonight?
because if we don't like to make a motion to postpone this since we want to get the most bank for the taxpayers uh and the whole point of the RFP is to ensure we get competitive rates and
maximum value for all the district cash and balances. Uh it will be consistent with our fiduciary responsibility as tax tax taxpayers not to vote for this item tonight uh unless we legally have to. I shop around for high rates so we can get
a high higher return uh on our cash uh at the bank. The payers deserve the most bang for our buck. Unless we are legally required to approve this, I think we should wait for the outcome of the RF. Uh so I would like to get that clarified
by superintendent. >> You are required at the reorganization to name repositories. That's what you're doing. It doesn't preclude you from doing an RFP if you RFPs to look for banks. Just so you know this um names a number of uh banks as depositories.
Columbia, Valley, Providence, PNC, New Jersey Cash Manager Fund, Hect One, Manufacturers and Traders and Trusts. So, if there's going to be an RFP, you're you're able to to do that, but you do have to identify this. Okay. >> For
Thank you, sir. Dory. The other one answer your question about the reimbursement for the bus drivers that is part of a collective negotiations agreement. Very typical uh bus the bus
driver the commercial driver's license. It's not a typical driver's license. It's a commercial driver's license with uh it's called an A endorsement. That is very typical and that is part of the collective negotiations agreement that you do for bus drivers. And the reason
that they do that uh Mr. Santana is that it's very competitive to get key bus drivers. They they get literally picked off by district. So that's one of the reasons that a little bonus districts give to maintain their staff. The other
question you had, sir, was >> so a question regarding Warren Point water main break. The that was a township water main break. So, we brought in um Port John's in order to make sure that we didn't have to close school um just to make sure everybody
was comfortable in the event that we needed. >> Thank you. On um AC, uh CS and Cat, uh I understand that uh the the the district provided a response
to my my question in writing about the locations for district uh notices. However, we do need to think uh outside the box. We barely get I know a lot of people in attendance today, but uh usually we do not have more than five
people in attendance. Uh we barely get people in person and have thousands of people watching the YouTube videos. So, uh, although it's a long-standing practice to place the notices, uh, where they are being placed, I think we should
ask the community how best to inform them and request feedback from our diverse community. See, uh, where else we can advertise. I'll go vote a second time. I wouldn't vote. >> Anyone else? >> Miss Cora,
>> so much. So my question is regarding the schedule dates for the for the next um year for this the 2026. So a couple of things that pop up right away. So there are three tube that are all on Jewish holiday that is a little bit concerning
because 50% of who is deciding for this was Jewish. So I just wanted to make sure. So I don't think anybody would make these holidays. So who is making these decisions? Another one. So July 23rd is a Jewish holiday. um December 10th, a Jewish holiday. It's a Hanukkah.
And then on Wednesday, March 18th, it is not a Jewish holidays, but the explanation that we received, we are celebrating aid holiday and we need to move it from the usual Thursdays to a Wednesday because we are observing and
budget due to the IE is on a Friday and I believe it falls um at night. I'm not expert at this. So, this is concerning. We could have had a meeting on the 19th without dealing from our usual fourth Thursday
of each month. Um, another uh on October 29th, 2026, it's a fifth uh it's a fifth Thursday, so I'm not sure why that is. and just before um
October 29th, 2026 before that New Jersey school board's convention will be at New Jersey convention and won't be able >> I did not get that. So I'm okay. Um and
then November 19th is a third Thursday I'm assuming because Thanksgiving, right? Because we are 26 is the Thanksgiving and the holiday. So my main concerns are the two Jewish holidays. I think this needs to be changed. We do have a lot of Jewish individuals that do come to this meeting and watch it. It's
not respectful to them. If we are c if we're acknowledging one holiday, we do have to acknowledge the other holidays. If we're respecting aid, we should be expect respecting the Jewish holidays as well. I as a Jewish individual do celebrate those holidays. I do have to be with the family. I do have responsibility also to the voters that
put me in this to be here and be represented. So currently right now I will not be able to attend three meetings because of my religious beliefs. So this has to be taken in consideration and then as a new member am I able to make a motion or is that something that
we're able to do after? >> So I would just recommend that once we get to um 7A that's when you would make a motion. >> So after like I brought this up I could just we're going to go back. So once we get to actionable items, I see I'm going
to say roll for seven A and B and you're going to >> Thank you for clarifying that anyone else Mr. Belvich. Okay. So the you're advertising in the
Herald News. Where can you find find Herald News in Fairone? It's not in CVS. I tried to buy Herald News because I was thinking, okay, I'll buy Herald News to try. There isn't. Why are we not advertising the Shopper? We discussed this last
organization meeting. And the leadership at the time said, "We will come back in February." I said, "Okay, I trust you." Nobody ever came back to that. So, I'm just wondering, I would like to advertise that the shopper the shopper everyone in Fairland gets. There is a
classified section which is and it's printed and it's free. Why can't we advertise our meetings at the shopper? What is preventing us from advertising? We've been talking about it for about 3 years. >> State law requires
>> my time stopped. >> My time is keeps going down. >> Was it 12? No, it's at 10. But okay. The state law requires the circulation of it dictates the paper official newspapers and it's based on their
circulation. Uh the Harold and the Bergen record are all part of North Jersey News and so everyone's clear the law has changed on the open public meeting act as of March you no longer will have to advertise at any all be online. Um there's it's March
I think it's March 1. There's the the business commissioner is going to have to do notices in official paper that that you're going to be doing that. That's a new state law uh to stop with the because running ads in the newspapers is incredibly expensive.
>> It's only $1,000 the whole year. That's all we spend. >> According to the VA >> when you run ads in the papers for all different things, bids, etc., it's very expensive. That's why the law was changed. So that's going to change, but it's based on you can't use the a local
shopper. The law right now under the open public meeting acts. It's based on circulation. That's why usually there's two official newspapers. It's generally what you'll see in North Jersey. Um you'll see people using the Star Ledger or North Jersey, which is the Harold
Bergen record. They're now all combined in that newspaper. >> So can it be modified so that this is enacted until March so that we actually come back to it? So by Mar March 1st we have to come back to this. >> You have your right now the >> I understand until March. Can we put it
until March? So then we have to come back to So maybe we can still advertise in the shopper so that everybody can still even though we're not required it would be nice to advertise in the shopper and figure out how much it would actually cost. You guys can look into that datal
newspaper court law and then you guys can decide that in March if you're going to go online or if you're going to go you know advertising the shop that's something this is a reorganization piece you just have to lay this out so that your
depositories your official newspaper Okay. So, and B is the ESS contract, which is the substitute contract. The district pays a 28% markup. When I started here, they were paying a 34% contract. I did a lot of research and
realized that we were paying over too much for and we say thousands of dollars because I opened lots of contracts. I also looked at mine from the 2021 when I did this research and I realized that there's some districts were paying 21%
28 27%. We are paying 28%. You're like a percent 1% who cares. It's a $1.5 million contract. Currently, we're paying over $420,000 in fees. I think we need to think about looking
at other schools because it's not a standard rate for this company. Every school negotiates their own rate. I asked if it's is the best rate is yeah, it's the best rate. I would like to see if there was research where you look at other districts and see if there actually is the better because some
districts are paying 27, some districts are paying 26%. And that's a big difference on a $ 1.5 million project. Maybe it's a 10,000. Who cares? when it's 1.5 million. That's it. I also find it very wrong that we have on Jewish
highs board meetings. I feel I felt like it's a slap in the face. I'm a Jewish person who my my grandparents survived the Holocaust. So to me spending time with your family so important, especially these holidays and the idea that somebody considered these holidays
not important, it's really hurtful. And we brought this up to the administration early and they said these holidays are not col district approved. So that's okay and that's really hurtful. Point of clarification.
Madam President, can you ask the clarify if we were to vote on the newspapers, would we legally stated that we need to advertise for February and January? Sometimes we need to vote on publications today. Would that make us
legally bound to what we voted on today or in at the end of February? Um, March, right? at March we can go in and say these patients essentially not working for us and we can proceed to whatever the board agrees can you please clarify with the council I can just in the
future that is something that you talk about in your board com you can ask it during your board member comments on agenda items as part of your addition Mr. Santana, >> I believe the board attorney was going to answer.
>> Were you going to answer? >> Yeah, if you want me to answer. >> So, the the the law changed. It's not just the notification of your annual board meetings that's required in the paper. You're correct. You have to do you have to do it in January. So, you
have to use the official newspaper. which the state legislation the governor signed into law that you can now use online notifications for everything. So, let's just talk about the things that you guys do notify in the papers that cost money, not just the $1,100 for the
annual meetings. Every time you have bid solicitation, you want to go out for bid, you'd have to advertise in the paper. If you have budget notifications, it's advertised in the paper. All this get adds up to be very costly to taxpayers. That's why come March, by
law, you have the right to say, "We're no longer doing the advertising in the paper. We're going to just do it online." In order to do that, you have to follow a process. You have to notify the public in paper in January and February that you're going to be doing the online um notification going
forward. So, you have to vote on this today, but you guys do in the board as a whole has the right at your January meeting to say, "We want to taxpayers money and go online next meeting. Your next meeting your official Yeah. So this
is required. Absolutely you do. Yeah. Yep. You do that. Not today. You have to identify the paper today. That is required. But if you guys wanted to go forward and just use what the law provides, which is just notification via electronically to
the world because that's where more and more people are getting their information from. If we were to vote for the publications today, we are not legally bound. >> Not at all. >> Thank you. >> Remind everyone that this is not a back and forth. This is why I'd like to make
sure that we continue to answer questions we get, but we don't engage in that back and forth conversation. U Mr. Santana, I >> think back and forth conversion is is great for uh democracy and free speech. Um
I we have some members in on Madame President we have some members on this board that have openly stated that they are Jewish. I don't understand how can we have chosen dates that that fall under Hanuka and Jewish holidays. I'm
not Jewish and I'm I'm hurt by that. I'm her. I am her. this this those days need to be changed. Um I I attest to what the board member s on
my left stated. She actually found uh hundreds of thousands in savings from that markup from that substitute contract where she found that other districts were paying lower markup for their contract for the substitute contract than what we were paying. She
actually saved us a lot of money. Like I think it was around $200,000, you know. So you may like or or you may dislike whoever, but you know what? There are people here who are doing the right thing. You know, they might not be your favorite cup of tea, but asking
questions and engaging in dialogue and speech, this is good for the taxpayers. Otherwise, we're just bobbleheads saying yes and and try to be popular and having fancy titles. And I'm not here for that. I'm not here to have a fancy title. Um,
in regards to the advertisement in different settings, I don't have a problem with that shopper. I do think a lot of people uh bury it on the grass, but I, you know, I'm a millennial. I think we should be advertising uh electronically.
We have uh um the patch, we have the tab news, we have um uh many online sources that the the community utilize. I we have a very diverse community. Are we advertisement and are we advertising with our different diverse within our
different diverse community? We have the Jewish standard. We have uh uh Spunic, okay, which is a Russian magazine. We have the Jewish newspaper. We have other uh uh media like we I understand that this board chose whatever you you know
you chose uh their representation of the board as it is but like it or not fur is a very diverse community and we are not choosing diversity in a lot of things that we are doing. We are silencing diversity. When you silence a the only
person of color on this board, you're silencing diversity. Look at yourself in the mirror and think what about what you're doing and the message is sending. I am the only non-white here and you prevent me from speaking for one minute
about why people should vote for me. Shameful. >> Mr. uh Rosenberg. Thank you. I have a couple I have a couple comments. First of all is I don't even think that paper's been
called a shopper in 20 years and it's part of north jersey.com. That's who published that that that newspaper. Um that my car runs over every time. Um
second thing I believe that most schools now have the electronic correct so if most schools have the electronic signs aren't our board meetings also on the electronic signs that people pass
and um I know it's at this school and maybe and maybe we'd um get the bur put it on their electronic sign, too. That might
be an idea. To think that that someone's going to go into the classified section of the newspaper to look at where where and when board meetings are. That's that's kind of doesn't make sense to me. The last thing I want to say, so there's
many ways to get to get when we're where and when the board meeting is, and of course, it's on our website. Um, As far as the Jewish holidays, if they are practicing Jewish holidays like the first or second night of
Hanukkah and the uh seventh and eighth night of Hanukkah, besides lighting candles because that's that's different and light the candles before you come here. Um I believe it's allowed in the Jewish religion, but I'm gonna ask I'm
gonna actually actually ask an Orthodox rabbi that um and I don't know about Unfortunately, I just don't know a lot about that, but I do believe that that's not that's that we wouldn't want a meeting.
Um, if it if it's the night, if it's the evening of um last thing is that I want to make it really really clear. I am for diversity in this town.
I am for diversity on this board. I'm never going to set anyone up because of diversity. I'm going to vote because I don't agree with the motion. It has nothing to do with the color of someone's skin. And
I'm really really hurt because I have a lot of voters I have a lot of voters that voted for me of every single um ethnic group in this town. So um that
that's what I need to say. Anyone else? Dr. Berlini. >> Two points. First of all, regarding the shopper, uh, I usually look it up my driveway. I wait for it to get really wet and then I pick it up and throw it
in the garbage. The only time I don't do that is right before a snowstorm because fortunately, I've had my snowblower jammed with the the shopper. Uh, so again, I think electronic the way to go. I think we have enough opportunities and
we put it on our website so people actually want they don't know where to get it, they can get it from our website. That's point number one. We're supposed to prove a little levity there. I got a little but not a lot uh for tonight. But on a more serious note, I I do uh with
Mora said about the Jewish holidays uh that we should try to stay away from those. If we're going to do that, uh we do stay away from we do don't book events on major events, major uh religious holidays, holy days. But if we're going to do that for all the Jewish holidays that are listed uh on
the the state department of education's list of days off for students that are either Jewish, Muslim, Christian, or Hindu. If we're going to do that, I don't really have a problem with that at all. But if we're going to do that, we must make sure also that our calendar does not have any of the Christian
holidays, any of the Hindu holidays, and any of the Muslim holidays. If you look at the list from the New Jersey Department of Education, and for those four religions, there's going to be very few days we have meetings. So, if we're going to change the calendar for all the Jewish holy days, and again, I'm not
opposed to that. We need to make sure that we do the same for the other three major religions in this town. Thank you. Miss Brown. >> Um, I just have a quick question. If we have to approve the calendar tonight moving forward, but we can change it in
the future if need be. I just wanted to clarify that >> we can, as I said to Miss Corley about we're going to open it up for discussion when she makes her motion. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Anyone else? I have a question regarding the job
description uh of the new uh coordinator that would like to uphold. So the coordinators um his job will involve uh will involve coordinating the IP management platforms which are uh which
are protected by fura IDA and NJO. I did ask this question in one of our questions. The answer that I received this is not an agenda item although I do respectfully have to disagree because has to be discussed with us. How are we taking the need to protect our students because these are extremely sensitive
documents. Uh so I'm not sure if an individual like my questions were like were there any trainings to something like that. This is an agenda item since we are discussing the job description and the job description clearly state that the coordinating will be IEP
management form which will give them access to the um I guess documents of children. So I need to know well not I need I'm pretty sure the public of the children with the IEPs need to know how will that be protected
under the IDA and NJ. So I respectfully would have to disagree with the response that I received that this is not an agenda item. It actually is an agenda item. Thank you so much. The floor is closed. Um just to
monitor any questions. Um March 18th was chosen because Eid actually fluctuates depending on the lunar calendar and I believe not but also based on like the phases of the
moon, right? So that's why it's fluctuating it. But right now it is slated based on the calendar to be um at Thursday. That is why they 18th. Um and
>> point of clarification, it's on Google says Friday. >> Um we have it for March 18th because um the holiday based like dependent on the lunar calendar. So
it's from the month before. So just to avoid having to change early to I will also add to that I'm just looking at the state budget calendar and the state budget calendar um has been adjusted. Typically the preliminary
budget is due on March 20th every year. this year due to another holiday that falls on the 20th is due to the county department of education by close of business on March 19th. So we can't have an approval of the preliminary budget on
the evening of the 19th mission deadline. Hence we have to have it on the 18th. Am I allowed to stay? Um, let us finish questions. >> I will the to you in regards to
sorry Miss's question about regarding the platform or any other training whatsoever. Um any staff member in the district that has any responsibilities is trained in and uh falls within legal compliance with all
applicable laws. That's all I have. >> The floor is closed. I'm going to move into 7 A and B. Uh, so do I just start talking?
>> You're just going to share with us your motion. >> Okay. >> So I would like to make a motion on 7 to change dates from July 23rd to July 30th, December 10th to December 17. And
I'm going to omit March 18th as we discussed right now. But may I ask point of clarification on that? So March 19th is the third Thursday of the month. The 26 is a date that we have off. Why were
we not doing on the regular due at the >> Oh, just because of the documents we need to do it before. So there there's no way to do it at the >> No, we have to do it. >> So the February meeting would not constitute to provide all of those documentations.
>> Well, no. we will meet and discuss, but they're working up until the very last second on the budget. So, this is something that we would need to before it goes into Thank you for clarifying that. So, my motion will be to change
July 23rd to July 30th and December 10th to December 17th. I did check there is no major uh holidays that would um infect our community. Thank you so much. >> Is there a second? >> Second. Um I will open up the floor for
discussion. Does anybody have any Dr. Berlin? >> We have to be very careful about changing these dates because I'm not too sure if you took the check the Hindus calendar you did all this New Jersey Department
of Education. If you look go to the department of education and if you look at the calendar of events you're going to see it's amazing how many days that are holidays for religious groups. And again in our community the Jewish, Christian, Catholic, Hindu and Muslim groups are certainly part of our
community. Uh further explanation on Eid in my former district as superintendent and even though Eid is scheduled for this year on uh Thursday, Mar the evening of March 19th through Friday, March 20th,
it it says underneath that United States dates may vary. And I learned the hard way that that could be the day before the date here. So it could be very easily Wednesday, March 18th, which right now I believe our calendar says we're having a meeting that we're not
going to know until a month in advance. So scheduling anything for our Muslim community on the 18th, 19th or 20th could conflict with Eid, which is uh the most important holiday, holy day for our Muslim community. It's the end of
Ramadan. The second uh holiday eid al e alhada is another important holiday but we do not have that day off for our students. So if we're going to give every holiday not have a meeting on every holiday it's going to be problematic. I will probably vote yes on
it tonight with the idea of coming back later on looking at the dates that we would like to have it on. But even uh Mwali uh the Hindu celebration in October I think it is sometime in October november it's five days so that
means we cannot have board meeting that week and that's the that's one of the major uh holidays there are a lot of Christian holidays good Friday we're off for good Friday holy Thursday holy Wednesday uh Easter Monday all these dates there there are so many in the NJ
DOE calendar of allowed religious holy days for our students students, we are going to be very very challenged to find Thursdays or days in a week to have that. So I I'm not opposed again to all these holidays, but if we're going to do it for one of the religious community
members uh in our town, we need to make sure we do for our Muslim, Hindu, Christian, Catholic, and Jewish community members. Thank you. >> Point of clarification. When I do the motion, do I need to provide supporting documents? Like I do something. Okay.
Thank you. Anyone else? Mr. I think look the way I I see this is the superintendent provi the superintendent provides the dates that he is available right but then it's up to the board uh to decide the dates that we are
available because it's our it's our board meeting it's not the district meeting it's our board meeting right so we also need to take into into consideration whether whether or not a particular board member can make it or not to that meeting. I am not
comfortable supporting any calendar day in which a board member has a religious conflict. So if anyone here has a religious conflict, I I heard I heard Eid like 10 times. We kept saying that the two days fall under Jewish religious
holidays. Why are we not I feel like the the Jewish community is not being fully respected. Okay? And I'm not comfortable with that. And I'm I mean I'm Christian. I'm not Jewish. I think we need to respect community in fair.
Um if a board member is not able to make it because of religious reasons, why we schedule a meeting during that day? You know that if we miss three meetings in a row, we could be off the board. So when why would you why would
you be okay? I'm not saying anyone here is okay, but I'm making a rhetorical argument. Why would you have a day listed where a board member has a religious object objection because it falls under religious holiday. Yes, I
know there are many many many many Jewish religious holiday. I understand that. But you know a day that falls under Hanukah. I mean I don't need to be Jewish. No, that's a major holiday. That's a major holiday. >> Point of clarification, it is actually not considered a major holiday.
Chishabove is actually a fasting holiday. Um, but that's actually incorrect. And I have to tell you, if you were making that decision, that is your right. But there are many people that are observant of that holiday that do choose
to do other things. It is 100% our right as families to determine how we choose to our holiday. >> Okay? >> But it is not rash. It is not. It is not a fasting holiday. reclaiming reclaiming
my time. I don't I don't I will res I just don't understand. I just don't don't understand. I think if a board member, anyone here says, "Mr. Santana, you know, I can't make it to that date because it's a it falls under religious
holiday." That's the end of conversation. We need to pick a different date. We need to pick a different date. We need to pick different dates. And we keep I keep hearing certain communities being accommodated, but then we have a major population of people who practice the
Jewish faith and we're not being equitable. We're not being equitable. I mean, what do you want 20 people here to line up and say, "Why are you not considering the the the Jewish relief holiday?" This should be a no-brainer. This should be a no-brainer. And you know what? I was
there to support Jewish Heritage Month and I'm here to support a change on that day because it falls on the Jewish religious holiday. Every community have to be supported and respected including the Jewish community. Please
>> Miss Brown, >> um I agree. I don't want any board members to miss meetings, but I also in that same fashion, in that same vein, I want to make sure that our superintendent available on those dates too. So I want to make sure that he is available for those dates too because I know that is has been certain in the
past as well. >> Thank you. I want to I first of all I'm going to do some research on the holidays because I believe uh Miss Mayhem that you were correct where there's major holidays and
minor holidays on the Jewish calendar and even within the holiday because there's a lot of holiday on the Jewish calendar that take up weeks. So I think we need to look at first of all July
many people on vacation like I already know that the date that you changed the meeting to I'm going to be on vacation on July 30th and many of our staff is on vacation in July. Um it's the month of August
you're getting ready for school to start and stuff like that. So a lot of vacations are taken in July. So, I'd like to know the ramifications of changing these dates. Um, as far as um again, I want to see where exactly if it
falls. If it's it's 14th to the 22nd. So, um you know, December is a very hard month to change things for because of because of um
>> Sorry, those were this year. So, so it might it might need to be changed. I want to know the ramifications of changing it and if it's going to cause it to be another cause another problem because of
stuff that's gone in this district. Um, I would never I would never um not vote on something. I would never vote on something to purposely
um r uh go run one religion over the other. It's it's just not what we do. And I don't think anyone here is going wants to do that. So, um, it's some of the comments are
perplexing the mind. That's why I'm having problems talking about it. So, um, I am going to vote no on the motion to change it tonight and I'm going to do homework and I'm I'm going to vote yes
on the on the motion and then if we have to change it, we have to change it. I just want to do some research. I've been on this board for this my sixth year and this happened before and there was not one single board member that said I would like to have a meeting
on a Jewish holiday. Not once ago. The minute I mentioned it to the superintendent back in the day, it was changed. There's not even a question. It was it was like, "Okay, no problem. We'll change it. We want to make sure you're accepted." Not not you're
isolated. We are role models for our children and we're discussing having meetings on a Jewish holiday. We are role models. We want our children to be acceptance of each other. We're not acceptance of ourselves. This is a
conversation we're having about having Jewish holidays or not. That's not even a question. I've been on this board for five years and I'm just like my mouth just dropped hearing this. In my entire life, if you told me this
would happen, I would do anything in the world say there's never ever should be tolerant of each other, accepting of one another. By having this makes me feel like you're not accepting me because of my religion,
and that's sad. And how do I send to my daughter to this school district telling her you're accepted? You're worthy of being a an accepted human being. and her mother is told, "Oh, go to a Jewish holiday during it's okay." How do I tell
my daughters? Except my grandparents died because they were Jewish. Everybody in their family died. They went to the concentration camps because they were Jews. And now my parents came to this country to be safe and now their daughter has the same issue. They're not
accepted for being Jewish. And that's sad. Anyone else? >> Just joined this board. I've been member of the public. What I'm hearing, I am I am I was born in a Soviet Union. I
understand what repression is. I was repressed for 10 years of my life. I was not allowed to be Jewish. When somebody told me about any kind of holidays, for 10 years of my life, my parents told me not to tell anybody that I'm Jewish. The moment I came to this country, I did not
realize that I could really say that I am Jewish. And yes, every single night, regardless whether it's night one or five, I spend with my family because we are one train away to get on that on that like I I am upset because I know
what it is to be repressed when I'm not trying to change anything or try to every holiday should be respected. Hence why we live in United States of America. We live in the free world. Nobody's telling us that we cannot. But this board just told because we are Jewish, we need to yes, we need to take into
consideration everybody else. But we also have to take into consideration the board members who are here and the board members that are telling you that we will not be able to just because it's uh fifth, sixth or seventh night of the holiday. I will be with my family. It is that important to me whether we
celebrate or not. Every single night we go to somebody's house. So it is important when I light my candle usually have dinners. This is and anti-semitism at its best. I am ashamed to be a member at this board
currently. This is horrendous to have this discussion. We have having this discussion now for probably 30 minutes. Members of the public should not not be subjected to this. I suggested I did not bring this into to have any kind of crazy discussion. I said these are the
Jewish holidays. Let's respect us the members of the board and the members of the public celebrated and the discussion. We could have said let's discuss it tomorrow or whatever. But what I'm just hearing, yes, we do respect every holiday, but anti-semitism at its best. I now know why our schools
are rampant anti-semitism. I now know why my child can sometimes when he goes to school, he does not want to wear his star of David. It's horrendous. Why are we having this discussion? It is upsetting. I am not in this country. My parents made the ultimate sacrifice to leave every single
thing behind so I have to deal with this that my child never has to deal with this. If I want to celebrate I want to celebrate you are telling that oh well too bad so sad amazing a shame Dr.
First of all, a point of clarification. I'm just I'm not sure and I'd like to get an answer. Uh these religious ladies that members of this board not not cor on on those dates in the last six years. I don't know for sure. I don't see the
calendar here and I I should have seen it. May 14th is a Thursday evening. It's also ascension Thursday. That's a major Catholic holy day. Are we meeting on May 14th next year? I have a calendar up front.
May 20th. Okay, good. Uh, Diwali is five days. Hanukkah is eight days. Easter week is seven days, including Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday. If we've had these dates on the calendar previous years, no one on this board is being
anti-semitic. We have the major holidays and we do not meet on those major holidays. We added Eid a couple years ago and I think we added Dewali last year. I'm certainly in favor of all those.
But I'm going to again I'm going to say if we keep our calendar without any religious hols at all for the four major religions in this town, we are never going to meet. We're just never going to meet. Thank you.
Call the question. >> Oh no. Well, I had a I had a comment. Why are we not We haven't finished discussion. This is But this is not Democratic. We haven't finished our We haven't finished the discussion. We're entitled to go twice for Robert's rules.
I would like to speak what? So, we don't want to hear any more about it. December time roll. Oh, I'm sorry. My bad.
Start my time over, please. Um, what I was saying is that you're adopting the calendar right now. We have the motion to to amend it to the July date and the December date. Um but do that you can always do it at the next meeting if you find out there's another holiday that
your community observes that a lot of people would be able to because remember this is for the the board members to be here but let's just hypothetically say Good Friday would be a lot of Christians. So you you want to pick dates that are good for the
board and good for your community. So I think You adopt it this amendment, then you adopt the calendar. You still have the ability to adopt it. >> I would like to make a subsidiary subsidiary motion. >> Yes. Second.
>> Second. >> Out of respect uh for the the members here who are Jewish who wish to respect their religious belief. Uh I think the best solen decision should be to table
this table this uh um item 7A uh so the superintendent can can go back to the drawing board and accommodate all the board members who are not able to make it. I am not Jewish but I'm a Christian scientist. Okay. I'm an ally
of the Jewish community and of the rel Jewish religion. Okay. So Hanuka is also sacred to me as a Christian man. I think the best decision is to tavis give it back to the superintendent so he
can go back to the drawing board and accommodate all the members so there's no one left behind. Just as we say no child left behind, no board member or no community left behind. >> Before you guys second this, you can't take >> Sorry, it has already been second by Mr. Okay. Well, I'm just going to tell you
you have to adopt the calendar at your reorganization. That's required by law. >> So, that's why I gave the advice. >> It's a required also by law. It's a require is it also require by law that we respect the the religious belief of board members.
>> Absolutely. What I just explained to you very clearly, I don't think I minced my words. I said that if you adopt the calendar right now, we have a motion to move to two of the dates to accommodate that. Don't please don't interrupt me. >> Don't know. I I hear you. I completely understood you. What I my question was
>> isn't it also legal legally require that we accommodate the religious uh belief of uh religious uh minorities on this border? >> Well, we have a motion to amend the calendar right now to do just that,
moving the July date uh and the December date. Um the superintendent explained that March 18th date, that's a statutory date where you have to have a budget submitted by March 19th. Um and so but you have to adopt the calendar tonight. But as I said before, you can amend it
at a future meeting um and change dates. If if there's another religious holiday that conflicts with the calendar adopt, that's something you guys can change at a future date. Do you want to remove your subsidiary motion?
I actually think Mr. You have to first. >> What do I have to >> remove? >> Remove my motion. >> Your second. >> My second >> again. I I I just don't understand why we oppose things that are so logical and reasonable. If we cannot have a 90 zero
vote on things that unite the community, what kind of year are we going to have? >> Mr. Santana, why don't we let everyone vote? >> So, right now, the vote is just on Miss Coraliva's motion to amend the current calendar,
moving the July date to July 30th and the December date to December 17th. That's the motion on the floor. >> So, point of clarification, yes is to change it. No is to leave it as is. >> Correct. Okay, >> this is a roll call for motion
>> July July 30th. >> Correct. >> Roll call. So this is a roll call for 7A where where the propos is uh July 23rd being changed to July 30th, December 10th to
December 17th. Uh yes vote is for the change name vote is to keep the current calendar as uh Dr. Bolini. >> No.
>> Miss Brown. Yes, >> Mr. Leair. >> Yes, >> Miss Fovich. >> Yes, >> Mr. Santana. >> Yes, >> Miss Coriva.
>> Yes, >> Mr. Rosenberg. >> Yes. Can I get that a motion and we will be going through the action. So, just so you going to be reading through the
approval of the ethics >> point of order. Um since we are going to vote on we are voting on 7B >> after we read that. >> Okay. Because there should be a discussion uh on it as well.
>> No, you know what? No, unless there's a motion. No, I I withdraw that. I apologize. >> How do I open this? >> It resolved the board of education adopts the code of ethics whichcl
School's Ethics Act and JSA 18A 12-24 and code of ethics for schoolboard members which have been received and discussed that the policies and procedures regarding training of the district board of education members has been adopted and that each member of the educa board of education member
acknowledges receipt of the code of ethics for schoolboard members and has been become familiar with the code of ethics. We are now going to go around and each person will read um A through
>> I will uphold and enforce all laws, rules and regulations of the state board of education and court orders pertaining to schools. Desired changes shall be brought up only through legal and ethical process procedures.
>> Yes. Um, I will make >> the table >> I will make decisions in terms of the educational welfare of children and will seek to develop maintain public schools that meet the need individual needs of all children regardless of their
ability, rate, creing. They should say immigration also. I will continue I will confine my board actions to policy making planning and appraisal and I will help to frame policies and plans only after the board has
consulted those who will be affected by >> I will carry out my responsibility not to administer schools but together with my subboard members to see that they are wellought. I will recognize that that authority rests as the board of education will
make no personal promises nor take any private action that may compromise the board. >> I will refuse to surrender my independent judgment to special interests. I will hold confidential all matters pertaining to the schools, if disclosed,
would needlessly injure individuals or the schools. In all other matters, I will provide accurate information and in concert with my fellow board members interpret to the staff the aspiration of the community for the school. >> I will vote to appoint the best
qualified personnel available after consideration of the re of the recommendation of the chief administrative officer. I will support and protect school personnel in proper performance of their duties.
I will refer all complaints to the chief administrative officer and I will act on the complaints at public meetings only after failure of an administrative solution. >> Can I get a roll call, please? Can I get a motion?
>> So moved. Yes. >> Brown. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Coriva. >> Yes. >> Mr. Rosenberg. >> Yes.
>> Yes. >> Yes. >> Can I get a motion for 8 through C? >> So moved. >> Roll call, please. Yes. >> Yes.
>> Yes. >> No. On 18. >> Yes. On the rest. Yes. Charlie and then Rosenberg. >> Yes. >> Yes. On A8 as an apple. Uh, no on AB and
no on AC. >> Yes. >> Can I get a motion for 9 AG? >> So moved. I would like to make a motion for 9D and 9G to go back to the personnel committee for recommendation
to follow our bylaws which is 0155. Repeat that. >> I would like motion 9D and 9G to go to the personnel committee as our polic as our bylaw state 0155
into the personnel committee and then for them to recommend it to the entire board. >> Second. >> Point of clarification. Does that mean that I have to resend my >> moving of the stuff forward? >> Okay. Um just for the clarification purposes
if everyone were to wants to take a moment and review 015 can you point out where it says um it needs to go >> every part of our agenda every month we
have a committee and committ talk about what's on the agenda. It's recommended three people, three or or four people in our board discuss it and it's recommended. We usually we never have unless it's an emergency like a roof
leak, then we need to spend $10,000 on a roof. We never just put things on the agenda without going through the committees. when I want something to be dis I will be always told >> I just want to be clear specifically says in our in our agenda in our in our
policy that many of us on this board did approve that our ideas but I just want to be clear it doesn't know discussion it just doesn't say that it's required for the super >> it says that anything that go it's a considerable recommendation from the
superintendent and director of human resources is number Number five. So he recommends to the personnel committee. I want to create this position. I want to do this. Perfect. The committee discusses it. That's what it says. He makes a recommend. That's based on what
he says. Consider recommendation for the superintendent. His recommendations we should be recommended to the personnel committee. So when the agenda number one I check that agenda it's not that
position is a brand new position but am I That's the revised. So that those job codes were not available on the agenda in June 2026. That the job description that this position will hold are
completely different and a completely different school. So it's not a revision. So I'm not clear how that works because it says a revision but it said it's not it looks like it's a new position. So just point of clarification, the board discusses
matters in committee specifically also personnel committee. Um but it is not true that every singleation for hire goes through the personnel. That's not that it's not correct.
So that's that's the first part. Secondly, As far as the job codes go, I could let our director of HR, Mrs. Tai, answer that question specifically. Um,
Miva, can you state again which one under number eight you're referencing? What am I allowed to say? Am I allowed to >> So, am I allowed to say >> Oh, the code. Okay. So, in reference to today's agenda, January
7th, the codes are LR6579, LR6581, LR6852. It's all for the same individual. Uh, and the on the agenda that was revision that is being told to the board
members, the job position is LR7007. And it seems that the location moved, the um salary moved, and the position that was on the agenda on June 26, 2025, that position expired
as of 16, 2026. So that's what my concern is using the words lies in it seems that it's a new position. So it's not 7003 that would I would have no problem. It is now becoming three positions.
I understand why this individual is in these two positions. I'm just not understanding wording when you're telling me that this is a revision because the individual below that revision we did. So that's what I would like to right it's appears to me as a member
that we're creating a new position for a new school to fulfill whatever the situation. So that's what I would like to it's not a matter of whether the individual going into I would like her to fill it. She would like, you know, but I just want to make
sure the wording is correct because that is extremely confusing. >> Thank you for that clarification. So, under 81 or I'm sorry 911 that you're referencing. If you were to go back, this is an operational matter where our
human resources department puts forward these recommendations. June 265 agenda would be a like to go and do research. This is one individual who is being recommended for approval for three separate labor
replace positions that are noted there. Uh you see the budget codes that are specifically allocated in order to uh process that payroll department. Uh and then you see all the way to the right the effective dates in order to fill that position. Should this position not be filled that means that our students
would not have a teacher issue not whether or not we will fill it. Yes, we of course we want to fill it. It's how that was presented to the board. It's represented to the board that we're revising something. So that's what confusing me. If we're putting we're taking individual A from >> RBurn and we're placing them.
So it seems like as a new position because she's now not going to be present at Radurn building. She will be present at the Mills building. It's a difference of locations and a difference of actual positions. She's not just she has three different um I'm assuming
three different people will be out during the time proposed. So my thing when I see I did go into agenda of that you told me that I went in and giving that it's not a revision you provide a new position. So that's
where I'm extremely confused whether or not this belongs in this because I know there's other categories where we propose new positions. So what this has to do to a new position with the other person that's
>> I don't believe it does but I can defer to M Tai saying no it's in the correct location so it's a lead replacement position it's in the approved certification portion of the agenda >> we're going to go back to um
>> you guys have I mean not for nothing there was a motion in a second and then there was a motion to amend That should be voted on that. There should be the the motion to amend which was >> No, it was a motion to
>> it was it was a it was a motion to basically table to remove those two items from the personnel agenda. >> No, there's no Oh, yeah. But I want Yeah, but I want you discussion, >> right? I
had a clarification that was unrelated. >> Unrelated. Yeah. So right now >> I want to get rid of the >> I think what you want to do is you you have so what happens is there is a original motion agenda you pass you had a motion to table those two remove them
and refer them back to the person that's what's on the agenda that should be voted on then you would go back to the main agenda and have the discussion for because if that is acted upon there shouldn't be discussion they'd be removed and refer back to so my suggestion would be call roll on Mr.
>> We never discussed this. We always when you have a you maybe I'm wrong again. Please cl you said when there's a first motion and a second we can discuss things. We never I never had one word of discussion on this motion. >> Yes, you did. Yes, you discussed exactly
why you wanted them removed by referring it back. >> No, it was clarification of my motion. Wasn't discuss >> if you want to discuss it, we'll listen. But you did discuss it during the agenda because I take not Everybody discuss it and you discuss it made the motion.
>> Yes. But it's on the >> So what my concern is is not about hiring person A or B. That is the superintendent job. And I'm not saying please tell me you have to hire A or that's not what I'm saying. What I'm
saying is when you create a new job, meaning a new position in the district, it says number two for the personnel review job description. Okay. Number four, it says review the personnel needs for the district. So what that means is
if the superintendent says, hey, we need this because we need more kids. We have too many kids. We need an additional teacher or we need need additional custodian. We need need an additional whatever. That's the per that's review the personal needs of the district. And
it says number five, consider the recommendation of the superintendent. So the superintendent makes the recommendation and the committee listens, discuss, and then I'm not saying I'm asking the superintendent to pick person A, person B. That's not my
motion. Maybe it's misunderstood. I'm sorry that it's what I'm saying is the job description, a different position should be going through the committee. If if other positions that you're hiring, I'm not saying has to go through
the personnel committee. That's not one of the actual job description because there's a different need for the district which falls under number four which has review the personnel needs of the district. So whatever the job description now position that means need
something there's a need in this district and that's fine but the proper channel they're constantly follow the team, follow the committees, all that. I'm following it and but then you don't follow it and then I as a math person
I'm very particular doing A B and C. That's how I think. So I don't understand why is this such a big deal going through the personnel as we there's a need for there's a new need for a new position. Wonderful.
Let's discuss in personnel committee. That's all I'm asking. I don't understand why is it such a big deal. >> Thank you. I appreciate the chance. Um I I want to repeat something I said before
and something that the attorney said. First of all, I believe it was the first of all Dr. I mean sorry Dr. Dianio doesn't have to follow the same rules that we do as far
as as far as that policy but after the December meeting there was no personnel committee Dr. O sees a need for this position in the district. Everyone on everyone on board
got a copy of this weeks ago and was able to look at it. If you don't agree with this job description, you could vote no. if you agree with it.
Yes. And that's that's the way democracy works and that's the way um word meetings are. >> Call the question. This is
>> this is uh we're doing roll call on motion. >> Can I have something clarified for me please? So the call question is uh we're doing roll call now removing 9 by David
9 by Greg to be amended out of the agenda and pulled into personal committee. >> Some of us some of us have not been given an opportunity to say anything. how I understand democracy right
majority uh rules but the minority here have rights my rights are not being respected right now I would like some I would like to say something about this item and I would like to also be respect I know I am uh um being silenced often
but I would like to speak can I also speak to >> point of clarification >> excuse me with all due respect miss I would like to spoken. >> Excuse me about her about her motion. I haven't say anything about her motion. I
like to say what I think about the motion. >> So call the question silence the the the minority rights. you're supposed to uh uh uh uphel minority rights and we live by majority rule. Not we live by the majority rule
and we ignore the minority rights. This is wrong. This is wrong. >> This is a question to amend the original motion. That's what's on the floor. >> Not all of us had a chance to speak.
school says he actually were at the convention together and the trainer said the question is usually when people were a couple of times it's really annoying and then you just >> silence one another silence
>> no we're speak we're not speaking to you uh respectfully >> you go silencing you were not elected to silence you're violating the rights of the minority on this board The the roll call is to remove 9 G uh to
be taken back to personal committee. Yes. Is it? No. Is to >> No, but my motion also included to follow uh bylaw 0155. I clearly stated that
>> follow for the personnel committee's job description. >> No. >> I I have a question. I have a question. Why do you silence minority rights on this board? Is it because I don't look
like you? Excuse me, madame president. Why do you silence the the the rights of the minority? Why do you silence the rights of the minority? I have to stand for my rights. Okay. I was elected just like everybody else and I'm being silenced here. I don't respect I do not
respect being silenced. I was voted just like everybody else and I and I represent everybody in fair. I would not be silenced. Majority rules or the minority rights legally have to be respected. The calling in question is not supposed
to be used to silence minority rights. >> I'm standing up for the rights of this community. That's where we That makes no sense. >> Point of clarification. >> Point of clarification. You cannot have D if you don't have G. Because if you
don't have the job description, how can you hire a person for that job? How does that make sense? If there's no job for that position, how without the description and they're not a related specific, it's actually just
that makes no sense. How do you There's no legal. Yes. You have the right to the recommendation of the recommendation was to have that recommendation
and so your voting Yes. >> I actually agree with what the superintendent said. I was not given an opportunity to I'm the only person that looks different than many people here and you are proud to silence me, to call the question.
That is very anti-immigrant. >> That is very anti-immigrant. And the children of this district deserve to have a right to have a board member who's not silenced. >> And I will and I will. What I was trying to say was
prevented shamefully was that I actually agree with what the superintendent was saying. I agree. Okay. But again, we have have to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time and there's no problem with
that. We can listen to a dissenting opinion and also listen to the recommendation of the chief education officer of the district. Nothing have to be a major forum. The call to question was not supposed to silence one another. It's supposed to be
when everybody already had multiple chances. We're not following the proper procedure. Okay. >> Excuse me. Please don't interrupt me. I didn't interrupt you. Please don't interrupt me. Respectfully, I never interrupted. Please don't interrupt me. Please don't silence me.
I want to caution I want to caution and I want to say this. We are not supposed to there's certain things that are being said that we have to very careful.
If anyone here disagrees with a member >> Yes. If there there's a disagreement by anyone in the district with a board member, there's a a certain way to go about it. Okay. Um I I think we're going to have to
>> make sure this is >> you keep interrupt. Yes. Yes, it is. You keep interrupting me. You know, um we we we have to stop with the contradicts. If we don't agree, we can say we disagree, but we have to be careful about how we
disagree with uh certain board members. Uh the board is not the one that does the research. It's the other way around. The district does the research for the board. That's the way it's supposed to. Not according to Wilin, according to the New Jersey School Board Association,
which is the the golden standard that we use that we whenever we agree. When we don't agree, we don't follow it. The the New Jersey court association said, "We live by the majority rule, but we respect the minority rights." And if
anyone is a man or woman of law, you you may not like me, but you have to agree with what I'm saying. It's fair. It's reasonable. And it's logical. We elect a new leadership here to silence minorities.
We really need to ask for forgiveness tonight because I will never silence it. I will never silence anyone here. I may not agree with you, but you have the right in our country to say whatever you want to say. And everybody here represents the entire community. And I
don't want a child I don't want my child tomorrow to say to me that she's not equal like so some so another child. And this is the message we're sending when we silence the only person of color in this district. Shame on you.
In in out of respect for the our superintendent and after having her uh my fellow board member on my left, I have to >> abstain. that it's just I've never I've never once we take a
vote once we're in the middle taking a vote. I've never heard of it stopping. >> So that's why I was saying >> but am I am I correct? >> You are correct. >> I'm Can I get a roll call for
>> a through? So moved. >> Second. >> I really don't like going first. >> Yes. >> Yes. on A1. No on D1. No on G1.
>> Yes. When we vote for no Edward And what do I say? Oh, and then yes for 9. And then there's like number two. >> Yes. And the rest which is 9. And then
for nine like David, no. >> I already stated that sir. >> Thank you. Mr. Rosenberg. Um, yes, Mr. Sana. >> I stay on all of them. >> Yes. >> Motion carries.
>> I get a motion for 10 A and B. So moved. >> Roll call. Brown. >> Dr. Berlin's first. >> You rotating it? >> Oh, thank you. Thank you. >> Yes.
>> Rotation. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> No. On the redacted bills and no on the ESS contract. M >> no Mr. Rosenber.
>> Yes. >> I'm saying on 10B again we we'll continue having reductions. We're not supposed to board members are not supposed to have these reductions. That's for the public. Uh abstain on 10 A.
>> Law prohibited board members and administrators from discussing personnel matters. confidential issues. Please note we may not respond immediately to every carefully considered and help our
decision responses update. Thank you in our school governance. Okay. So, my name is Anna Kamuk. Good evening members of the board, superintendent,
administration, and new members. Welcome. Before I jump in, I want to um address a serious concern regarding how disagreement is handled by this board. Members raise opposing viewpoints. They
are routin um routinely silenced or or dismissed. I'm you all shown your true colors and it was recorded. You all are supposed to on the same team. Shameful and despicable. New members and the ones
who voiced loud and and did not stop to speak up. I applaud you and I and I seriously I serious sincerely hope you choose to do better than what most members have shown shown
today breach of duty of care. I'm here I'm sorry I have anxiety. I'm here tonight to state clearly and on the record that I will continue to advocate for my son's removal from from this district and I will not stop. My son was
transferred to another middle school within the district with a promise of a safer learning environment. The blowing has has continued in school and outside exactly as I warned the district leadership would would happen. Location
changed but problem did not. This makes it clear that the issue is systematic. The district's current methods for um addressing bullying are not are not working. Repeating the same approach while expecting different results does
not protect children. This continues to fail son who since 2025 from um from the district and the other middle school broke him and now he suffers from PTSD and anxiety at 12
years old. When safety cannot guaranteed families should not be forced to beg or suffer in silence before action is taken. As we enter 2026, I urge this board to seriously reconsider how how
bullying is it is handled and to grant my son the opportunity for a transfer so he can have a fresh start and a chance to heal and and um and by allowing this heart to continue, the district remains
in violation of NJAC 6A16-7.1 and 7.6 which requires a safe learning environment. A system that leaves a system that leaves a child suffering is not honoring the promise of no child
left behind. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Steve Mal and I came here today to talk about uh gifted and talented program. But after seeing what happened today, I'll have to put this
part. Uh what I saw happen at the beginning of this meeting was atrocious. Had a vote for president without any discussion. I'm in a toast masters group and we had way more discussion about
that. I I'm and I I feel for you uh with Santana hear the anger and how upsetting throughout the entire meeting I have felt his anger and it is um it is very hard to see this happen
and I I think all of you want best I don't think anybody wants something bad for each other but I would love to see kind of I don't have a much better approach to how you guys are doing things and at minimum have a more
structured process for voting in your leadership. Some your leadership is very important and that guide you and you had absolutely zero discussion on it and then when someone tried to have a discussion on it all voted no that you don't want to hear from each other. Why
don't you want to hear from each other? Maybe you hear oh yeah I want to be president because this this that for these reasons you I think uh nine out of 10 of you voted oh that you don't want to hear from each other but who is to
lead your organization and co-lead your organization that is shameful I I don't think you did it for a bad reason I think you did it just to like go with the flow but you shouldn't be going with the flow uh going with the flow is how
just continued status quo. And in New Jersey, we have a pretty big problem with how many students we have per per teacher. We have a big really big problem with budgets and how much it costs to educate our students. And we
have a even bigger problem with the amount of students we have per superintendent. And we shouldn't have this many superintendents. With all due respect, Dr. uh if you look at our states we have a lot lot less superintendent we don't need so much administration not
only the superintendent his whole office um and I in terms of the Jewish element also Jewish I was also very disgusted by what happened today if someone requests a day off at work for for the religious
reasons no one says I need to talk to a rabbi oh I need to check about the other holidays. That doesn't happen. If someone was here from a religion and would have said that, you would have been shocked. But because it's a Jewish religion, it's
okay. Thank you. Disgusting. Good evening everybody. My name is and I'm here to speak today about the board of education compliance and board of policy. This is not personal. This is whe
policy 0145 of the Board of Education states the membership of a board of education member shall terminate immediately upon the member's election for appointment to the office of mayor or member of the governing body of
the word immediately is clear in the policy in November 2025 Mr. who was serving as vice president of this board was elected to the fair council at that moment under policy 0145
his board of education seat was required to terminate immediately but that did not happen instead remained on this board to almost three more months until January 626
when he was sworn in as council During that time, he continued to serve as vice president, participated in board votes, and had access to confidential board and executive session information. That means this board was updating out
of compliance with its own bylaws for months. The responsibility for enforcing board policy lies within which she failed to follow through allowing a board member remain seated
after his eligibility had already ended overight. This matter is because vas are not optional and mandatory. They exist to prevent conflicts of interest and maintain the legitimacy of actions.
It is clear that this is a very concerning. So tonight I'm asking three simple things. One will acknowledge that policy 0145 required Mr. Modas to terminate in
November when the election was won. Will explain why he was allowed to remain until January 6 of 2026 and three are the corrective action will be taken to ensure this never happens
again families deserve a board that follows its own bylaws and its own rules not one that selectively enforces them upon their convenience and personal gain. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Amore and I am
a student here in Fair, New Jersey. Today I want to discuss about why we as a district need to hold yourself at a higher standard. A district's responsibility doesn't end at having policies written down. It begins when a
student actually needs help. When concerns are raised, when concerns are raised and responses are slow and resistant or dismissive, the system stops being protective and starts being harmful. One serious issue that needs to be acknowledged is
favoritism. When rules and response and responses are applied differently depending on who you are, trust is broken. Students has no students notice when some voices are not taken seriously and others are. Imbalance sends a message of unfairness
and that it's damaging to some students. Ongoing bullying that isn't addressed doesn't just disappear. It builds. When situations continue without meaningful intervention, the impact becomes longterm. For some students, including
myself, that impact includes anxiety, fear, trauma. I developed tsd and anxiety as a result of continuous bullying that was not properly treated or stopped. Mental health cannot be treated as interval. When systems fail
to act, students don't feel ignored. They feel like I explain. They don't really feel ignored. They feel like they feel hopeless. Honestly, it's just
upsetting to see how we have a boy here and how some people due to race, ethnicity, etc. are dismissed, are silenced. Silence and delay have real consequences
and doing better means listening the first time. It means acting before the damage becomes permanent. It means addressing patterns instead of minimizing them and protecting students equality, not selectively. This isn't about blame. It's about responsibility.
A strong district doesn't defect its failures. It corrects them. It doesn't wait for harm to worsen. It intervenes early and consistently. Students deserve fairness. They deserve protection. They deserve to know that when they speak up, their wellbeing matters more than
convenience or image. I feel like we could hopefully do better as a district, and we must. Thank you. Sorry for speaking up from our students so we have a perspective what's going on in the schools. I just want to wish a happy new
year to everyone and congratulations to the new board members. Um, my New Year's resolution for myself was more intentional with how I spend my time. Um, I would suggest that a New Year's
resolution for the board members is to be more intentional perhaps with how you speak to one another because as echoed by several public members here, I think that it's really disheartening to sit here and how some of you speak to each
other. Um, off uh non-aggenda items, I just had a few comments that I wanted to say. One that I actually have brought up before, there is a community leadership council and I'm still unaware of where I can find out who makes up this council
and when they meet. I think that this is something that not only I would like to know, but others would like to know. And um I know Mr. Malador wanted to talk about G&T. So I actually to talk about G&T. Um, I am a special needs educator.
I do push in and pull out support. I'm aware that if a student is classified in a specific area, they qualify for 30 minutes of support per week. A student that qu that qualifies for math IDA, language arts ID, math comped, language arts comped could potentially see me two
hours a week. Why is it that our students that are gifted and talented but not in third grade get one 30 minute session every five to six weeks? I understand that there are certain tests that have to be followed. I would suggest that the first few months of
school, they look at where each student falls. Second graders that are scoring a 371 on the Dibbles test and reading at level M when they should be reading at level M when they finish second grade might qualify as gifted and talented. Third grade students get one gifted and
talented session a week. Our district is a really good district. I grew up in Feron. I went to Feron districts. I went to Radburn Elementary School. We had think tank program. We're a good district, but we should be a great district. We shouldn't be striving for
good enough. We should be striving for great and for excellence. And if we're not providing even our youngest students with the opportunity to excel, we're bringing students that are classified up to grade level. But we're also holding back students that could excel beyond
grade level. And if we want to keep those kids in district when they get to high school, we have to make sure that we're not providing a good enough education for them, but a great education for them. Thank you. Hi, good evening. Happy new year. Uh,
Mel Gerau from Fairlon. Um, first I want to congratulate Dr. Berlini and Miss Mayan on your new appointments. Sorry I missed you guys getting sworn in. Welcome to our returning and new board members. Um, I was actually at the high school at the
AMT showcase tonight and I got to tell you, the students, one number was better than the next. They knocked it out of the park. I want to give a quick shout out to Juliana Duas, the AMT teacher. She really uh knows how to bring out the
best in in her students and it was an amazing show. They do another one in the spring. Y'all should come. Um, it'll be all over social media. Um, as for the uh
popular opinion of the audience. Um I think people in general on both sides of the fence um all need to learn how to speak to one another. I think it's very different when we speak to each other on a keyboard versus in person. And I think
it's also very different when the board is silenced and your comments should be addressed to the president and it's not a dialogue. It is not fair that nobody can it's not a two-way conversation. Um
and I'm also not going to pass judgment because I am not in your closed sessions. I don't get um I'm not privy to reading any emails and and correspondence that you guys might share outside of this camera here. All I get
to see is what this camera shows. I am not new to these meetings. I have been attending these meetings for upwards of a decade. My child has started in district at the age of three. He is now a sophomore. I have been coming since
then. This is not a new hobby of mine and I just want to say um I think the temperature of the board is a is a collaborative um effort and I also think that
some of the nonsense that I'm hearing of racism and anti-semitism and whatever is making our entire community, not the board, just our whole town look like a bunch of
ignorant people. Um, and I really don't think this is the venue to elaborate our thoughts on racism and sexism and whatever other ism. This is not the forum for that. And I think both
sides of the table should table that for I don't know some other place. Um, other than that, what I really came up here to say on a positive note, February 20th, Lace is doing their dinner dance. Mr. Rosenberg, we already got your tickets that you purchased. Um, we'll be sending
you a email shortly so that you can all come. February 20th, best party in town. Signing my name feels quite strange but following procedure. Um, good evening board of education, Joseph Wowski,
Farelon. Um, as many of you know, my day job I am a board attorney and so this week has been filled with reorganizations. Um, but I'd like to share that you guys set the record for me of the longest board meeting that I've attended this week. Um, combined of all the swearing
names I've gone to. Um, but I I simply just wanted to recognize uh the leadership for stepping up. This is a difficult job. I I know that. Uh, Miss Mayan, congratulations on a third term as president unprecedented
in recent years. Um, and Dr. for stepping up to vice president. It is a fun role. You're going to learn a lot, but you bring a lot more experience than I had in that role. So, looking forward to that and simply want to recognize uh Mr. Rosenberg coming back to the board. It is great to see your face back on the
DIS. So, best of luck to everybody in this new year. Um, and I will certainly be watching you guys uh closely and enjoying it from this side of the room this time. Thank you. Good evening, Eugene Bant. I'll sign in in a minute. Um, I want to congratulate
all the winners and all the people that put a lot of time into this job and unlike Mel, it's all new to me. So, I really don't know um what you guys do here. Um, I I do want to say I have complete faith
in the administration, in the board. What I'm very upset about is the bismerching of this board with accusations of racism and anti-semitism. It's ludicrous. There's no basis for it.
Nobody on this day is anti-semitic or anti-immigrant or anti- people of color. And you can have disagreements. You can policy, finances, education, that's fine. But, you know, personal insults are not are not
productive and actually they're counterproductive. And that's it. Thank you. >> By the way, I live in fear alone. >> Is there anything on the Google doc? No comments. >> The floor is closed and I will open the
floor to board member comment on any. Oh, I apologize. Okay. Um the first thing that I would like to bring up is the crossing at Edison. So I had a meeting the other day on 16 at Edison and the 80
um the crosswalk that you're supposed to cross at was completely covered in snow and ice and that was I parked across the street because I don't live that far. So I just didn't want to do the parking lot. So in order for me to cross I had to go into that little thing. It was so ice. I was wearing shoes not meant for
ice. I The person next to me did catch me. If that there was no one there, I would have been ending up on this on the road. We all know this road, nobody stops. It's everybody's going extremely. They don't see. So I believe, yes, we did not have school, so that was great.
But I did observe there was a mom with a stroller and a younger child. I'm not sure, like a small kid. They could not even use the crosswalk. They had to go around the drivers and then So again, that's extremely dangerous. I just want to bring this up. I did an email that it
did it was corrected but one6 I believe we got snow back in so last year so like a whole week of this how many people were affected by this that's very concerning it is our property we should be taking care of this um how following
up on the board policy 145 um the attorney did state that we do where are abided by to follow these so this is extremely concerning that we're not following yes the state of New Jersey give us the outline of what we did. We as the board on October 21st,
2021 decided to put this provision. Nobody asked. The board put us the provision. I did request to see what the original one was. I did not receive that information. So, I'm not sure what the actual adapted policy was, which was December 15, 2025. But October 2021, I'm
assuming whether it was original or not, it clearly states the board member shall terminate immediately. Immediately means once we find out that means that Mr. um the vice president at the time should have been terminated. He should not be attending. He should not have been in
attendance on November or December meeting since the election was earlier and I believe the meeting took place at the end of the um November. Thank you. And I'm allowed to.
Thank you so much. Just for the record, this crosswalk that the previous board member talked about, I emailed that there was snow on January 24th, 2025 about this crosswalk. I also emailed
about to the administration on February 11th, 2025 about not cleaning snow on this pedestrian walkway. And additionally, Kurt Louso, the burough manager emailed on December 31st, 2025.
6 days 6 days after Miss Kuriva almost fell, six days before that there is a problem with that crosswalk. Just for the record, I would like, as I promised last year, I will be
talking about the um gifted and talented program and I will be keep talking about it until it gets fixed. So, I'm going to keep my promise this year. New Jersey school, New Jersey school principal and supervisor association had a question
about gifted and talented program. And one of their attorneys asked wrote questions and answered questions. And he said, "The identification process is ongoing K through 12. When a school district says it does not start gifted and talented education until third
grade, as some do, it is not in compliance with the law." Again, it says it's not in compliance with the law. Identification does not stop at the end of elementary school or middle uh school level. It continues all the way through 12th grade. A student could be
identified as gifted in 12th grade while having never been identified before. Ongoing K through 12. Okay. I look at the policy that was revised on January 2025.
It says classroom teachers will be familiar I'm sorry to identify students in gifted and talent and services in K through six. The district will assemble a committee for the purpose of identifying students demonstrated gift behaviors.
The district, as I am aware, maybe I'm cor incorrect and if the superintendent or whoever can correct me, there's no committee for K through two. There's only a committee starting from 33 3 through 5
policy. I'm sorry, law 18A 235-39. A school district shall make detailed information available on its website regarding the policies and procedure used. The information shall include the criteria used for consideration for
eligibility. Our district website for the gifted and talented does not have does not have kindergarten, first and second grade criteria to get into the gifted and talented program. I will continue. So,
Miss Brown, um I just wanted to congratulate the new all of the new and returning board members who were elected this um election season. I'm excited to work with all of you. Um I'm sad that I'm far away from you. It's the first time since
I've been on the board, but I'm excited to work with all three of you and uh learn and with all three of you. Um, I am sorry that I missed the high school event tonight. I was hoping to make it because I love those events and I think the kids does such a great
job, but obviously I couldn't. Um, I'm I am excited to head into the 250th uh American kickoff event at the high school tomorrow. That looks really excited. Um, the history nerd in me is really excited for all these events that
are coming up and to see how you know um is represent throughout this the 250 years of our country. I'm very excited to that. Um good luck to all of the winter sports. They've all started um aka it's fencing season. So, good luck.
Um those the girls and boys on the fencing team if you haven't seen them, they're really really good and it's a great sport to get into if you've never been involved in sports before and if you've never felt a part of a community or a part of any anything. Um, fencing
is that kind of community that kind of really takes everybody in and welcomes everyone. Um, I'm looking forward, it's my favorite time of school of the year. I'm looking forward to all of the ReadAcross America events coming up in March in a couple months. Um, I make it
a point since I work so close that I I can use my hour lunch to go to every single school in last year. I mean, except for the high school and middle schools, I made it to every single elementary school to do an activity, and I just love being in the classrooms with the kids. I brought my own props, my own
books. You know, it's really exciting to go into there. Um, Forest already reached out, so, you know, I need all the elementary schools to kind of reach out to because I want to get them on my schedule. I'm looking forward to hearing from all of you and to reading with the kids again. So, thank you for contining
to invite us. Um, you know, I love when the ad invite us places to do things, you know, and every elementary school does a really great job of that. So, I hope that that continues for this year. Thanks. >> Mr. Rosenberg, >> good evening everyone. Um, first of all,
I want to thank um I want to thank voters of Fairwan for voting me back into onto the board. I'm happy to get started. Um, I had some some wardrobe malfunctions at the
beginning, but I'm good now. Um, as far as this meeting, wow, I've been to 18 reorgs and this is by far the longest
reorg I've ever been to of any organization that reorgs. the council, the the county, and boy, I told my friend Mike that's here on
Thank you for coming, Michael. Um that it was going to be about two I felt it was going to be about two hours even though most are like 20 minutes. Um and um we're on two hours and a half. Um,
I want I think that as a board we do have to respect everybody on the board. We just started in January. This is a new board and already unfortunately
we seem dysfunctional. The first meeting of the year that's just supposed to be um stuff that it's supposed to be very little business and it was um so I want
to make clear I I I'm I'm hurt. I'm hurt that anyone would call me anti-semitic. I'm a Jew. My my grandparents weren't killed in the Holocaust, but my greatgrandparents
most of their family were killed in the Holocaust. And thank God by the grace of God, my greatg grandmother came to this country before the Holocaust, but the rest of her family or many members of the family
were killed. Um, and I had make I'm really make a point of of um the Holocaust. I taught the Holocaust. I've taken courses on teaching the Holocaust to children. Um, when I say that I want
to research something, I'm not researching for the um for the superintendent and his group. I'm researching for me so I know how to vote. I can't vote on something until I'm
I know that I've researched it and have the answers I needed answer. So otherwise, I would vote abstain or vote no. I will go around for a second. >> Anthony, >> I just wanted to take a minute to uh
wish a happy new year to the community and uh hope everyone had a great holiday season and the kids had a great first few day days back. I know as a teacher first few days were rough for me, but we're we're kicking back into it. I did want to thank uh Dr. Deia and central staff for their hard work behind the
scenes getting prepared for this meeting. I know it took a lot for that. Welcome uh back Mr. Loenberg, Miss Coriva. I would enjoy new perspectives. I look forward to working with you both and I am hoping that we all collectively
can revisit Robert's rules, get better as a board, revisit the goal of serving our students in the community and make sure that is our main and main focus and priority. And that is it. Thank you,
>> Mr. Hannah. >> Madame President and colleagues, I would like to raise several governance issues that I believe deserve thoughtful attention, not as criticism of individuals, but as a matter of board
responsibility and public trust. First, I want to to speak about the role of committees. Committees are intended to support meaningful oversight, discussion, and collaboration, not to function as procedural steps that simply validate decisions already made
elsewhere. When dissenting viewpoints are consistently heard but not substantially and that's the key word substantially considered participation risk becoming symbolic
rather than effective that is not healthy governance and it undermines the purpose of committee work related to that I'm concerned when actions are taken or removed without full board input. As one example,
decisions involving expenditures, even relatively small ones, should be transparent and discussed openly. Eliminating unnecessary costs is one of the most basic ways we demonstrate respect for taxpayers and those
discussions belong with the board. I also want to address committee documentation. Committee minutes and summaries should reflect the board's discussion and direction. They should not be shaped or characterized by district personnel. Committees are extensions of the board and the
narrative the narrative of their work must remain clearly on the board authority. We have a fiduciary responsibility to all the taxpayers and all the residents of feron. Another issue I feel that I need to raise is
confidentiality. There are many rumors out there in the community about what we do and what are we going to do in the future. And I believe this board should seriously consider a clear policy that reinforces confidentiality expectations
and outline consequences when those expectations are violated. Protecting sensitive information is essential to trust and ethical governance. Finally, I see that we are sitting next to each other as board members. I would like
this to continue uh because this was not the norm last year at all. Board members should be sitting should be sitting at every meeting together without district employees position between or among us. This is not about individuals. is about maintaining
appropriate ba boundaries and independence. Uh we are not best friends with administration. We should have a respectful cordial relationship but we oversight we provide oversight to the
board to the district. I'll go a second. So I check I just checked maybe during the vacation during the December break. I just checked on the gifted on all of the elementary schools. It's only the criteria to get into the gifted and
talented program is only in grades three and grades four. It does not cover kindergarten, first grade or second grade. On February 22nd, 2021, I and Mr. Iken, a former board member,
made a motion and the motion was motioned by Mr. Ipkin, second by Mr. Mrs. Felovich to post criteria for eligibility for gifted and talented program including read on the website of the respective schools. The criteria
should include required test scores. The score should be specific enough to allow parents to understand why the child was not was or was not included in the gifted and talented program. To this
date, this motion has not been util. The district did post K4. Then after that, it never did. So I would like to ask the administration if they could kindly clarify how is this
How is this motion being fulfilled? That's my first question. Another thing is I looked at the PowerPoint presentation provided by the district in 2000. They could one of the slides in both of the presentations have
a tier. It looks like a little triangle. And in 2023, tier one had 100% and 2025, the same triangle had 100%. Tier 2 in 2023 had 10
to 20% of the population in tier 2. In 2023, in t in 2025, less than 8% somehow less kids got into the gifted and talented program. Then in 2023
the tier three is 5 through 7%. In 2025 it's 3 to 5%. I was hoping the administration can kindly clarify why such why this program dramatically
dramatically percentages dropped. So if they could kindly clarify that I would really appreciate it. I'm going to be talking about gifted and talented every single board meeting until I until I see that the
that the that the motion that me and Mr. Ipkin because every motion should be should be if there's a if there's a if there's a motion then it should be followed otherwise what is board government. Thank you.
Mr. Rosen, >> thank you again. Um, so I'm going to be asking three questions anytime I hear a motion, especially during the meeting that wasn't on the agenda.
My my three questions are going to be how is it going to affect in the future? Not just a lot of things sound good, but what's that going to affect down the road? What what else is
it going to affect if we do this? What's the endg game? What how is how is it going to affect everything else in the district? The other question is how much is it going to cost
shortterm long term? And the third question is is it our job as board members to bring up that particular item or does that item fall
in the running of the schools which is Dr. Dianio's um lane. So, I hope we could stay in our lane. Um, I I one of the things that now that I'm retired, one of the things that I'm
doing is I'm substitute crossing guard. So, I so I'm getting all through town. So, I see a lot of things. And I have to say, um, Mils, I was there after the the snow, the real snowstorm, and not only was it
everything clean, they came back again. The the board w board came back again, even to some crosswalks that belong to the town that that the town should have taken care of. Our our guys did a great
job. Um, but getting to see different different spaces in town and how the cars are and how the pedestrians are and pedestrian safety has always been one of my kind of fun things to uh to get
involved in. Um the last thing I want to say and I only have 41 seconds to say it is that this board doesn't have a minority or a majority. We're nine members that each have a vote
and I think we're all very intelligent people. So there's no minority minor majority on this board and I really it hurts me to hear that. And the last thing I um I wanted to say is everyone
needs to respect everyone. We need to respect the community. We need to respect the community's time. And the last thing real quick is interpretating interpretations of policies.
I might interpret it different than other people. And that's for that's why we have our attorney here. That's why we pay good money for the attorney to be able to interpret policies for us. I don't think Mr. Baldowski is out of policy.
>> Point of clarification. The time has stopped. Everybody else is always interrupted but not Mr. Rosen. >> Anyone else? Merlin. Um, as a trustee, I am a steward of the
voters and accountable to the public. Interactions with board members must reflect the board's independent governance. expectation is mutual respect and cooperation. I also like to thank the I also like to thank the board, the public, especially my family and my
friends who supported me through the I want to say this was a very challenging campaign. There was a lot of attacks towards us, but regardless, we I persevered. I am here and I'm very um I'm looking forward to working with you. So, I'm going to say in English, thank
you, Jakuyu. Thank you and everybody else. Um comment going forward. Gracias. Yes, thank you Mr. Wilin. Um it is extremely disheartening that Miss Reese she's been asking about community leadership council. I believe
this is her fourth or fifth time to ask who are these and she's not getting replied. I don't know whether the board has to reply at this point because every single time I believe for the first five times she asked the same exact question. gifted and talented is a repetition of
exactly the same thing. Why are we so divided on these issues? We are the stewards. We are responsible to be public. They voted us in to be here. Every decisions that we make, we take recommendation from the public. So when the parents are standing by that podium
and it is extremely extremely hard to stay at that podium and to say something to us, we should be listening. If repeatedly every single meeting we have gifted and talented issues repeatedly we have students saying that they are afraid they don't want to go to school they want to be transferred this is not
the district that I grew up here I do not recall being afraid to go to school we are a very very safe district many of us graduated the district many of us felt safe felt supported and so many things hence why we are sitting here to
ensure that our district is that that our district is not falling apart From where I'm sitting, my child is not getting the same education that I got. It is extremely disheartening that the member of the public had to sit here until 10:30 to wait their turn because they want to ensure that we are hearing
them. I said in that meeting, I said in that public, we are not as a board. It is my job. I was voted in to be the voice to tell you we have to listen to the public. We are responsible to listen to them. We have to hear. There has to be discussion. We cannot be shut down.
The member of the public said it once, maybe twice, but not four times, stating that something is not done. Who is the community leadership? Like why are we not saying gifted and talented? Why is that not there? Um many other things the policy that we have to follow. This is
not a policy. This is a bylaw that we abided to follow. When New Jersey state providing us an outline, we came in and we said we make we need to make it a little bit stronger, a little bit tougher. We did this. The board did it.
Nobody else. As the board, we are abided to follow the board bylaws. We cannot go and say we had this, we had that. Our bylaws are very clear. When it says immediate removal, it means immediate removal. It's not did not say open to discussion. Once again, I want to say
thank you. I apologize that it's 10. I can't see that far. >> I am very grateful to be part of this team and looking forward to work with you. Anyone else? >> I just wanted to say I wanted to say thank you to the public because I feel
sitting in that public nobody says thank you to you for being here for supporting us for coming and telling us your voice because you are we are responsible to you. So thank you for being here and coming to tell us. So thank you the public Mr. Santana.
Madam Oh, Madam President, am I allowed to run? >> Oh, thank you, sir. I raised the the earlier points in my speech before because strong boards are not defined by unan unanimity.
We have five votes. Strong boards are not defined by that. Uh but they are defined by transparency, ethical clarity and respect for the process which include respecting minority rights. Uh these issues deserve reflection and
where appropriate corrective action not for any one member but for the integrity of this board and the confidence of the community we serve. Um among the many things that I consider before I support whatever I vote yes for
um what voices were consulted before the decision was made. Okay. Uh can we explain how this reflect the diversity of the community we serve? How does this decision align with uh with the values that I discussed in what
I have been saying throughout tonight? Collaborate collab collaborative rel relationship inclusive governance. Even though we have three immigrants in this board, uh we have a an Afro Latino like
me. None of us were chosen for uh um vice president or president. You don't care about our opinion. We have we have to sit here and be told that there's no minority on this board. This is this is um uh supremacy. This is this is a a supremacy speech to tell that there's no
minority on this board because when I get pulled over and I get called names by governmental officials because of the color of my skin, don't tell me there's no minority on this group. Don't tell me there's no minority in this group in this group.
This is that's very insulting to the population in this community which is represented by this board. And I'm going to tell you the truth that many people here don't want to hear. As the community gets more diverse, you are going to see more push back
among people on this board. And I'm not talking about racially diverse. I'm talking about ethnically diverse. I'm talking about philosophical and intellectually diverse. There's a lot of type of diversityities. It doesn't have to be racial. It could be you think
different than me. It could be you you were born overseas like three of us. We should not feel excluded. Like are you happy? Do you sleep well at night thinking you're excluding people who represent the children of Pharaoh and calling a question to silence
people? You shouldn't do that. You're wrong. You shouldn't do that. We should be having conversations, disagreeing, respectfully, including one another, not shoving down the throat. We have 50, we're going to do whatever we want. What kind of message is that? That's the
definition of bullying. Stop bullying us. We are not going to take that. This is insulting. You should be ashamed. Dr. Berlini Over the years, I've done a good job of controlling my temper.
But tonight, as board vice president, I come here with 46 years of experience in education. I've served many different roles. teachers, the teacher, coach, athletic director, vice principal, principal, superintendent, interim
principal. So, I feel the vote wasn't because I was a white person. Some board members here are biracial for biracial families, and they don't bring it up every meeting. Some immigrants on this board,
their parents may have been lawyers. My father was a 10th grade drop out. My grandparents were immigrants from Italy, poor. They came over in the early 1900s and they struggled. My father struggled, ended up in the Navy because
he couldn't make it here. So to be called a racist because I don't support a certain holiday or to say I don't belong on this board or I don't belong here as vice president because I'm a white male. I do represent
social senior citizens in this town. As I told Mike last time, I'm the only full-time senior citizen uh on this board. I don't know anybody over a senior citizen besides me, but I don't just represent the senior citizens in this town. I represent all students. And
to sit up here and continue to hear from Mr. Santana that I am a racist. >> Point of order. The board member is not supposed to uh single out a board member. I apologize. Madame President, why are you not infor >> I apologize. >> I apologize.
I'll just make it general. To be called a racist tonight. I've never been called that in my life and I do not want to be called it here. And just the fact that some board members can speak for three minutes and three minutes and three minutes and three minutes and three minutes and three minutes. You can speak your mind,
but to call me a racist is a disgrace. Not right now. So, the floor is closed. Um, our upcoming meeting, our January 29th, 2026, our regular monthly meeting
at 7:30 p.m. here at Edison School in the Eugene Manta Public Reading Room 19. On February 26, 2026 is our education of the whole and regular monthly meeting at 7 p.m.
school public meeting room 19. Please note that the January meeting denotes deviation from the fourth Thursday of the month and our February meeting is the education committee as a whole beginning at 8:00 p.m. with public session beginning uh for a regular month meeting at sorry beginning at 7 p.m.
with a public session for regular month meeting at 8 p.m. Can I get a motion to return? All in favor? Happy new year.