of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. The New Jersey Open Public Meetings Law is enacted to ensure the right of the
public to have advanced notice and to attend the meetings of public lobbies at which any business affecting their interests is discussed or acted upon. In accordance with provisions of the act before the board of education has caused notice of this meeting to be published on January 10th, 2025 and posted on the
district website at www.flw.com published in the board's designated online media outlet newspapers the record and star ledger file with the clerk of the burrow of Fort Lee and mailed to all persons of any who have requested said notice. Please be advised this meeting is being
recorded and may be broadcasted on local TV and online at a future date. The open public meeting act allows for remote participation at board meetings and defines meeting as any gathering whether corporal or by means of communication equipment which is attended by or open to all the members of a public body held
with the intent on the part of the members of the body present to discuss or act as a unit upon a specific public business of that body. Roll call please. Mrs. K. Math here. M curry here. Mr.
here. Here. Mr. Lopez here. Miss Morell here. Mr. Marino here. Miss Ber here. The board will be convening to executive session to discuss legal personnel and other confidential matters. The board
will reconvene into public session at approximately 7:30 p.m. May I have a motion to go into executive session? Motion. Second. Motion Morell. Second. Curry. All in favor? I any oppose to the flag of the United States
of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. The New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice and to
attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interests is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provisions of the act before the board of education has caused notice of this meeting to be published on January 10th, 2025 and posted on the district website at www.fle.com
lb.com published in the board's designated online media outlet newspaper the record in the star ledger file of the borrow le and mailed to all persons of any who have requested said notice please be advised this meeting is being recorded and may be broadcasted on mobile TV and online at a future date
the open public meeting act allows for remote participation at board meetings and defines meeting as any gathering whetheral or by means of communication equipment which is attended by or open to all of the members of the public body held with the intent on the part of the members of the body present to discuss
or act as a unit on the specific public business of that body. Roll call, please. Miss Byus Kang here. Miss here. Murray here. Mr. Knight here. Tang
here. Lopez here. Moral here. Mr. Rabino here. Miss Re here. Everyone's here. The board convened the executive session at 6:30 today to discuss legal personnel and other confidential matters. Dr. Kravitz, will you begin by sharing the
superintendent report? Yes, thank you. Uh, good evening everyone and thank you for being here. I would like to publicly thank all of the staff and students at the high school working with us during the events that took place earlier this month. Fort Police Department and the district have always worked well together and it showed during this
tragic event. I will share this is currently an open investigation and that if there are any questions regarding the incident we are very limited to answer based on and based on overall security that takes place in our school. Um we do not have our representatives today from the high school. I believe that because
it's the first day back from spring break but I would like to uh let everyone know that we did have 14 kids and six were found. And on tonight's agenda under policy we are pulling regulation 5200. Please make administrative note for
policy regulation 52000 is being pulled from the agenda under PLL. Thank you. Okay. Do we have any committee reports this evening? Yeah. Security Committee Security Committee meeting
discussed a few matters. Uh police department representatives were asked uh if they were aware of any gangs or any culture within our schools. Um and I was told that they were unable to discuss any specific intelligence that they gathered with us subject to uniform
state memorandum of agreement between education and law enforcement officers known as theou. Um, upon reviewing the five-page document and gaining some clarification from our board president, uh, I was able to determine that our town's police share that information exclusively with building principal and
no exception made for the board of education. My personal experience has convinced me that games exist in nearly every school in the US from the poorest of inner cities to the wealthiest of suburban areas. I certainly hope we take a proactive approach to identifying and dealing with any issues that might be
developing within our schools. Uh but without any specific information, I'm just not sure what's going on there. Uh we also discussed many convers. We agreed that it isn't feasible to install metal detectors at all entrances and exits at this time. I suggest providing warrants for existing security personnel
to be used for random checks uh to act primarily as deterrent. Unfortunately, that suggestion did not gain any support. We also discussed bathroom monitors. Uh we we discussed access control and the possibility ability leveraging an existing security vendor
to provide uh tech means of monitoring for signs of vi violence escalation electronically. Um I'm told that superintendent Kravis is going to check with the vendor to see if there are any appropriate offerings there. And finally, we discussed uh lunch and
superintendent Kramer assured us uh that his confidence in our ability to maintain student facility safety during the extended lunch period that will be implemented as a result of our scheduling was not impacted as a result of any recent incidents that have transpired in high school. Thank you.
Uh immediately prior to this meeting, the policy committee met. Um it continues to fine-tune and discuss the use of electronic communication devices in the schools. Um we anticipate circulating a proposed policy to all
board members and having committee meetings so that we can get your feedback before we put it on the agenda for the public's uh review. And a new policy that is being entertained is a spectator code of conduct for
intercolastic events. Um it relates to fans and others attending sporting events who engage in unsportsmanlike conduct and um that will be presented in the near future. On the 15th, personnel committee had um
uh a meeting. Uh it was very productive, very efficient. Uh we discussed multi- facets of personnel and uh changes that will be taking place uh within the district. Uh and uh further further
issues that uh we will be moving forward with. I just want to mention on the negotiations that the committee is still continuing to move forward with the negotiations for the teachers contracts. Well, we have not met formally since the
last board meeting. I just want to assure publicly that we are um close and that we're um moving forward in a very positive way and that we will be meeting tomorrow at 4 o'clock. And so I will an update at the next meeting. Thank you.
Thank you. Um I just wanted to add to or actually clarify something that was stated about the security committee meeting. Um the police chief actually did answer the question and he stated that there is no gang activity that they are aware of in Fort High School. He also stated that school officials and
law enforcement discuss anything um on a need to- know basis when information needs to be shared specifically shared with building principles. that is not only about specific criminal activity but any incidents that may occur in a home um that affects the child involved
in the school. So police matters are confidential and the public is not privileged to know that information and that includes sitting board members. We're not school officials, we're board of education members. So I just want to clarify that. Any other for
me? Okay. Okay. Do we have questions or comments from the board members on tonight's agenda or other topics? Start with tonight's agenda. Any questions on tonight's agenda before we Yeah, just
three cur action plan. Um so number three is not listed in here. Sir, they're not listed in there because currently their chronic absenteeism rate is below 10%. Got um for the ones that that are listed
um what's the year over year increase inism actually between uh last year and this year it was it was a little bit of a decrease by 1%. So we we do see a bit of a decrease but not enough where an
action plan isn't required yet. Gotcha. And so um for in our action plan are there any peer-to-peer programs that we may develop or um implement um you know to
combat absenteeism. So we are talking about enhancing some of the programs that we currently offer. But currently at the middle school, we do run a peer um I guess you know a peer leadership program called a wingman program. Uh where middle school students work
together. They engage in leadership activities and then they go down to the intermediate school. uh this year they are visiting the elementary schools and we do have Bridgemond Believe at the high school where depending on certain criteria students may be identified for additional services to improve school
engagement but we will have ongoing conversations about how to enhance that to specifically address chronic absenteeism. I I think the WMAN um uh program is awesome. I'd love to see that rolled out. Yeah, we're very we're proud of it. It's still new but but we are
very proud of it. Please look forward to awesome. Thanks for answering my question. Would you mind going over um just if you could what the policy changes are for one p? So
5200 that one's gone all together. Is that what you said? The regulation is gone. It's pulled for 10. Okay. Pull for that's what I thought. Okay, that's fine. So with the student smoking um what changed on that? So student
smoking is to include the use of um specifically get the right uh the right uh verbiage um the electronic smoking device. Okay. Because before old fashioned cigarettes, it's to address
vaping. Okay. Okay, that sounds good. And then um the next one, the electronic surveillance in the school buildings that that's because there were updates in our memorandum of agreement with local law enforcement and so we had to update that policy to be in line with
those required updates. Okay. And then the last one, what changed um with the um cooperation with the law enforcement? Same same reason because we had to update our memorandum of agreement based on the legislation and so we had to
update the policy to be in line to be in alignment with that. Okay. Legislation local or state state. Okay. Okay. I sorry I have one more question. Um no you want to your question is about same thing. Okay. The other thing I have
a question about is one BNG. Um it's the landscapers. I just want to ask if when we have something on B&G if I'm the committee chair. Um if you wouldn't mind just to like shoot me a little email or
let me know. Um so then I have a heads up on it. I I kind of feel a little um useless because I haven't really had anything put together. So, if you don't mind, um, just let me know or just let
the B&G committee know. I I want to make informed votes and know why we need to change things and do the best that I can on the what I participate in. Thank you. Just real quick, in the future, when
we're making policy changes or we're proposing them, is there any chance we can redline them or do some form of w so we can see what the changes are? because then looking at the policy um it doesn't say the changes just show. Would you like to address that as chair? We absolutely do. Um they're redlined and
not we're not getting copies of where happy to send them to you. But before we when we have a discussion, all committee members have received red line. We can focus on exactly what the changes are, why they're made. Um and so that that the central office is doing it and and
we're happy to share it with all board members so that you can zero away. But I think it's bold. Correct. Correct. So any new language is indicated with bold font. Any language that is being removed is stricken.
I don't see any I'll be happy to send this to send these all to you in between first and second read so you can read. So page 19 has gold fine minimal for those circulating a walk. Are we doing
that? Yes. Okay. Y thank you. So there there will be a walk in and it is it will be 15 act whereas the 4 board of education solicited requests for proposals for substitute staffing services and proposals were received on
April 15th 2025 and whereas ESS Northeast LLC with offices at three executive campus sweet 430 Cherry Hill jersey 08002 submitted the proposal that was deemed to be in the best interest of the
board price and other factors considered now therefore be it resolved in compliance with the public school contracts law NJSA 18A1 18A-1 at sequential that the board authorizing the award of contract to ESS
northeast LLC for the provision of services and prices as set forth in its proposal. Thank you. I go back to the crime report. Um, can you talk about if there's any
common thread across the district? What um what can you see or what will see as characteristic um factor wise and then just generally wasn't the action plan.
So for this year we're focusing on things that uh we are already doing to address chronic absenteeism but we will be meeting to discuss how we can enhance um that for the remaining of the school well we have met to discuss what we can for the remainder of the school year as well as our plans for next year. Uh
there are um some I will say commonalities in terms of the subgroups of students where we see the highest chronic absenteeism rates and those subgroups you will see them on our um school performance reports um our students with disabilities um our
Hispanic students um but it it can vary school by school or economically disadvantaged student population but those seem to be the subgrantal students depending on the building that have the highest chronic absenteeism. rates. Is there any plan to enhance communication
with the parents so that they understand how it would affect not just their the student learning but overall um school performance as as a whole. If we have anything that would go out to parents so parents receive as part of our I guess districtwide approach, parents do
receive notices when you know when their child is absent, when their child is at risk of losing credit due to absences. Uh we will make it a district-wide effort to address this at our back to school nights next year in the beginning of the school year. Um and the principles are discussing how they can
make um not necessarily talking about chronic absenteeism but the importance of regular attendance in schools a focus of their parent of their parent events. And we also just put out today a survey to all of our parents to get their feedback. Um I know that school three
didn't trigger the um the threshold. Do they also have a plan since they are close to Yes. So while school 3's plan is not yet because it's not required by the state they have also they are also developing a plan um to be proactive.
And then lastly I just wanted to um support 1B and G. Um I hope that going forward there'll be better communication to the subcommittees. But I'm excited to hear that we are uh soliciting bits because a number of schools at least the the school years where we live we've
seen a decline in landscaping. Um so we're I hope that this will help enhance uh school three just progressively that the the front yard um the front of the school just get bigger and more bare
every year. Um, so hopefully I don't know if this is part of the plan here, but I just want to share what I've observed in my neighborhood and others have expressed that the same sense to the other parents. Okay, may I have a motion to
open the floor to the public? Motion Kovac, second Rabino. All in favor? Any opposed or extensions? Okay, we will hear first from members of the public physically located here this evening. Then we will take questions and comments from those participating remotely.
Participants are limited to three minutes in which to make their statement. For remote participants, please select the raise hand button. Mr. Roger will recognize each community member in the order of raised hands by lowering the hand. Please unmute your microphone. Everyone state your name and
address for the record and begin your comments. Please again limit them to three minutes. Anyone in person wish to speak? Either form a line or figure out I guess just speak into the microphone so everyone at home can hear. Hi Ariel
Mayor7 Center Avenue. Thanks everyone for being here. So I wrote down all right. This is like I'm like also like my first is very upsetting to me. So this is in regards to the recent
stabbing at the high school. It's a shame to have gone from such prestige to what we are facing now. There were markers and signs in earlier years of grade school and middle school that these students needed more support emotionally, socially and structurally.
This should have been addressed much earlier than this. Only the administration knows why these needs weren't met. How does this happen? How does a principal, guidance counselors, security staff, superintendent, and other staff not know that these antics may escalate? How can they allow this
behavior to get out of hand inside of the school? We need to care about the culture we want to cultivate in the forly school community, not what it looks like to outsider standards of achievements and testing. Expulsions and suspensions may not be a desired look for the district. Our administrators
seem to prioritize short-term metrics over what actually works to help our kids who are there to learn to become productive, happy, healthy members of society and leaders of the community. We should never tolerate bad behavior because how it might look on paper. This
is harming our children. This is not sustainable. The fact that we have bathrooms being used as a place for bad behavior to fester is not beneficial to the community as a whole. When I was at the school for the parent student evening for the eighth graders, I was appalled at the conditions of the
bathroom. Broken screens, broken doors. Is this the best that we can do for our children? My children want to learn. They should never have to have their safety threatened by students who exhibit behavior that seriously threatens the entire community,
especially when it's avoidable. The state offers secondary schools with other programs outside of the district. If this behavior continues to permeate and detolerate, this will ruin the school experience for the students who go there to learn and to participate with pride in our courtly community.
I've seen on Facebook that parents are calling for metal detectors. I hope that this is not entertained as a viable solution. That is a band-aid and a blanket punishment for all the kids which would ignore the deeper problem that the administration seems to have keeping order, decorum, and respect in
the school. I'd like to know what is the plan to show that Ford district will not tolerate this kind of behavior from any of its students inside or outside the school. So, uh, thank you for your comments. So, regarding what our plans are, we met
multiple times with the police as well as with the administration. Today, there was a meeting again to look back at things. Regarding the individual students, you know, obviously we can't comment, but some of the security measures we will be changing will be uh securing bathrooms um during the passing
passing classes. that we're looking at student, you know, in the future of how to deal with students who come who have any student who's having difficulty whether they come here in the first year, second year or through the system. And that's one of the things we've addressed and we've spoken about a lot of times for
multi-tered programs for support. You know, we know that students struggle and in every district around the state they're struggling and we're looking to adapt some of our programs to that. You know, we mentioned before about the wingman program that we implemented in the middle school. We hope to expand that in the future as well as other
offering. You know, we have guidance counselors who are available. We address when the needs are there and we are trying to be proactive as best we can with other districts as well. Just the same way. I hope it gets better because like everything you said sounds great and it sounds like that is already in
place that this happens in our district is like extremely disturbing and I hope that there's like, you know, really get on top of this and like do something like really serious. So, thank you. Thank you. My name is
Nicole. Sorry. Hi, my name is Nicole Smalls. Um, I live at 1412 Drive and um I go there, but I sent my my letter of frustration directly to Mrs. Glenn. Um,
I did send him over while the break was happening. I have not heard back from them yet. Um, I'm hoping that before the end of the week I should hear from her and my request was to um have a inerson meeting with all the parents. Um, the emails that were coming out giving us
the updates. They were a little tone um thoughts and prayers. No one wants to hear your thoughts and prayers. We want answers. The things that you said here today, you couldn't address because it's a police matter or whatever. Parents have questions and we want answers. And
I would like for the parents to be able to be involved, the the principal address the parents and ask that all the parents to come up and ask questions to see what they can answer or what can be done and make sure that we feel that the school is being safe and following the right protocol for our children. Um, so
I don't know if this something that you can do, Mr. practice to ensure that I receive a phone a email back from Miss Glenn. Um I can forward that email to you and add you to it so that you see that she is going to respond. But the request is that we have a meeting at the
high school with all the parents with the board and the superintendent and the principal and let the parents ask the questions and you guys can address us. That's my that's my first request. and then I'll follow up and get back on the attendance thing. Um I receive
attendance um notices as well um multiple times. Um and I do address and I um and I do reach out and find out what's going on with our attendance. Um things I'm finding is that the teachers are making mistakes. My daughter is a
share time student. So it's she's going to two different schools. Sometimes the school, you know, that she's supposed to be going to, you know, um she has to leave early. the teacher marks her out and it's like, "No, I have to leave this time because I have to catch the bus, pick up school." Um, the teacher she was
in school one time and she got proof that she's in school. Oh, I'm sorry. I marked it by mistake. I have to have the the vice principal pull the the sec the security to show that she was in class. It's a lot of mistakes that happen. So, and then the thing is that we're just getting notices, but no one picks up the
phone. No one says, "Hey, I'm showing that your daughter was out of school 20 times." It's like, is there an issue at home? All I'm doing is getting notices. How do you know am I even getting the notices? You know, you know, I have a Gmail problem. My my mailbox is full, but no one's picked up the phone and
says, "Hey, what's going on? Why is Rachel not coming to school?" Like, what happened to that? I mean, we go we go to the school the first beginning of the school year and you you never see the teachers again. That's it. You're there at the beginning and no other time to
see them. when I was in school like my parents were in the school like you always saw their parents in the school and I think that's one of the biggest problems that you know I understand sometimes the parents are like you know they're a little bit centric um it may be a little disturbing but it's a balance you know it's supposed to be
community you know it's a village take it takes a village for us to raise all these children so you need the parent support there could be this happening at home that you're not aware of and you think child that's being you know I'm out of time the child is being, you know, is acting
out of uh, you know, this bad behavior. But it could be something happening at home. It may be something the parenting said, well, you know, something happened and maybe this is why they're acting out. But if you don't have that engagement with the parents and you get the parents out, then all you are seeing is this child acting out and not
understanding like what's causing this happening. Again, pick up the phone, call us. You have our phone numbers. Call us. like why are you not engaging with the parents sooner than later? And that's my mom's response to that. Well, thank
you very much for your comments. as far as um if you do forward me the email. I'll make sure that someone gets back to you right away as far as you know having a meeting as I said and you know we can discuss that with principal how she will address it and we'll take some some conversations as well but there are some
things that we cannot discuss specifically the safety and I think everyone here has alluded to that as well as you know what's um there is an ongoing investigation it has not ended and when we talk about investigations there's always a chain of command the same way so whe whether it's a school
district and it becomes a for police department and it becomes B County prosecutor's office. Each one as it goes up the chain has to step back. So in investigations of this nature, we are the third one on that list respond accordingly and active as well. But when we step in and what we
can do, but you know I will get absolutely get back to you with your response to your email and your questions. Please call forward. Thank you. Thanks for uh being here. I appreciate the time that you guys g me to speak to
you. Just want to say that as a address please. Sorry. Peterian at 1302. Thank you. as a lifelong resident of Fordly in Comey Town. Um I'm graduated for 40 high school myself
1987 and my son going there next year I was very proud and happy that this was happening and when the stabbing incident occurred took it very personally. It was almost as if I was there and experiencing like, oh my
god, you know what's going on here. Never in my wildest thoughts, not dreams or thoughts, but I thought that this could occur before the high school because I always thought that the community is tight. The kids that are going there actually feel like they are there to learn and that was my experience while going to high school
and I agree with everything the lady said prior to me. Uh just wanted to give a couple of thoughts and reiterate what the first lady said regarding metal detectors. I think that's a slippery slope into going to some kind of prison state mentality. I do not like that
idea. You guys should go out of your way to avoid that from happening. That's my opinion and I will I'm not going to fight, but I will make my opinion spelled as long as it takes and as hard as I need to do for that not to occur. Please go out of your way to make sure
that doesn't happen. Uh the other thing is I think uh the children today and I'm not I'm not here to teach parents how to raise their children. That's not my job. I want the kids in this community to understand that it's a privilege to go into this school system. I love I
personally was very proud of Fort Lee. I was very proud of Ford High School, my friends, my teachers. I you know a couple years ago I even had dinner with my history teacher, my coach. That's how much I loved going to Fort High School. the kids. They need to learn that and they need to have that experience. I
think it's a very rich experience to know that you belong to a group of people that you know sense of community. I I don't know what goes on at 4. I'm going to be honest with you. I I'm not I'm not that involved in the community of the school, but my assumption was that that is what's occurring at at this
time. uh as far as the incident just to go back to the incident the only problem I see here is that I don't know the details as you said you have not disclosed anything because it's ongoing investigation but
if the if the two children involved or whoever was involved in these incidents if they realize that there are consequences and that they're there to learn they they need to understand that the reason why they're in school is to learn. If they do not show the desire to
learn, then as as was said previously, they need to be somehow sent to other school systems or wherever else is that they they can go and do whatever it is they want to do. This can't continue and this can't happen again high school. That that's
pretty much what I got to say on that. I was very upset, but I know you guys are going to do your best to make things better at the school. Uh that's about it. If anybody wants to address anything, you know, I I agree. I think everybody on the stage believes that we want always a healthy and safe environment.
We take security very, you know, very uh seriously. We don't want anything like this to happen or take for the pride. You know, we have a slogan, go rigid, right? And we believe in that. We believe that's the best of the best for all of our kids. And that's I think the mantra as I've said with everybody
sitting at these states and all the teachers and all the administrators. Uh hurts us as well. man schools that to to to you know meet with parents to discuss these type of matters we'll be looking at all the options moving forward if we want everyone to feel safe I I will
actually I'll go one step further I will offer my services to help in in accomplishing that goal if I need to show up at football games soccer games I wrestle I I play track I I could assist in any way to to
help the kids have a better experience at to school and show I'm I'm willing to volunteer that my time signing. So what is anybody want to give me a call an email? What weight? Heavy weight.
So I'm ready to go. Thank you. Good evening everyone. My name is Stacy Morray, 30 plus year courtly homeowner. I want to say that anytime that I'm called about my child at school
and I reach out, I never speak here or get to talk to the principal. The people who have been the village and the first responders have been Mr. Kits. Thank you. Miss Gabrielle Brown, thank you. Mr. Joseph, thank you. and Mr. Lamora,
thank you. And as a sidebar of support, officer Buddha, thank you. And Mr. Ley, Miss Leon and Miss Mattis, Miss Rosa, where's the principal? I have yet to see the principal. I've yet to get a call
from the principal. The principal just chastised and my child during the incident that I won't talk about is that would take me somewhere else. Help my child. My child had no involvement. But what the principal does is she finds
people to blame. And as the woman said, suspension is not the answer. It takes a village to raise a child. And the adults should take accountability for what happens, not the child. Second thing is I would ask after paying
taxes here for 30 plus years that you hire a real security system or you ask the police to have some community engagement in the school. But the Keystone cops that are at the school now are horrible,
deplorable. And this is not the second time. A day from the stabbing, there was another incident of breach. This can't go on. And lastly, I would say I am so glad to be free of the Fort Lee board of education
system. It something has to give. Something has to give. My child I get notifications saying that my child is late to class. So my child sent me a video. He could not get through the halls because it was packed like
sardines. So I reached out to one of my first responders. I believe you have 1,200 kids in the high school. They all do not live here. I watched them leave the school and get on the chicken at the bridge, get on the bus at the bridge. In
the morning, I watch them get off the bus at the bridge. Some of the kids now are dressed in red, mostly red. I am from New York, so I know what that looks like. The kids that don't belong here, I cannot continue to pay for their education.
Maybe the bad behavior and the bad culture is coming from across the bridge. I am a child of across the bridge. I'm not saying that everybody deserves a great education, but there are protocols and rules and laws. If you don't live here, you cannot be eligible
to take advantage of our our educational system. And so this has to be stopped. I went to Mayor Squick and he asked me to take video of the kids getting on and off the bus. That's not my job. It's not on my bingo card. I'm asking you guys to
take accountability and weed out the people who live here. Not use uncle's address, aunt's address, grandma's address. Weed out the kids who live here. Bring back truency and follow them to see if they really live here. And then maybe we'll have a better culture.
But right now, the culture is bad. Thank you. Thank you very much for your comments. Just a reminder that we do have a residency officer. Anyone who does reach out to the district, we will do go through their process. I would like to clarify one thing that is always a
misnomer that when someone's living here um and I use the word living here. If they are living in a facility, we have different rules than anyone else any other uh entity in the burrow. So, for example, when people say, "Well, there multiple people living there." The law
basically says wherever you lay your head every night, whether you have a lease or you don't, but if you're part of a lease by way of a signature of someone agreeing to let you live there by a specific form, those are all under the law what we follow. So, there is a
process. So, while you may say, a lot of people say, "Well, those people don't live here." if they can present all the data and we've gone through with the attorney's office on a regular basis. We do it every year that um that we do follow that process. So,
and anyone who does not follow the process, they come before the board. The law has changed over the last year and a half to indicate that, you know, you can't just say you live here. There's a little more strict uh strictness to that that process. But this year, for those of people who have been following the
board agendas, you'll see less and less of that because we have probably removed about 25 students already this year. But for the last several years, and we've had a residence officer who's fantastic, we have another one who's doing their job, but it's a lot of work and but we
do follow up when we can. Steph Hunter Road, Portland, New Jersey. I think what you're saying is not true. And the fact is that known aggressive males with a clear propensity
for violence are permitted to strut around the school in socalled gang gangs. It is an outrageous failure from the top down. I watch these kids roll into school and I see them spill out at lunch
heading to McDonald's. I witnessed multiple fights, highly aggressive behavior, brawls plastered all over Tik Tok, Snapchat, Facebook, and every other social media. And that's pretty much on a constant. The notion that alpha males
without another strong commanding male inside that building to check them and ensure they do not disrupt the rest of the student population is wild and utterly unacceptable. Years ago, I ran a program for troubled teens. I could spot my most
aggressive males in an instant, and I kept them under constant watch. Eight months pregnant, I once had to jump between two 17-year-old guys that were fighting like pit bulls. I could have been killed. But was what was more important was that the 400 other kids
did not think I was going to tolerate this for one second and put them in danger. The school hallways are dangerous. The guys are walking around. They look like thugs. If they're not thugs, then they should not be dressing
like it, looking like it, acting like it. My husband went to Fort Le High School. He said Mr. Richardson would have stopped that in one second. It is unacceptable behavior for young men to be able to go around like that in a
hallway. It also scares all the other children. They they you know and I spoke before about the cell phones in the halls. They are listening to crazy music, screaming, photographing each other. The the the
culture does not feel like we're here to learn. We're here to get from one class to another. And I believe this is a moment for the fathers to step up. This is a moment for all the strong, loving dads just like his father said, um, to
get involved in this town, in the high school. You guys seem to have wanted to turn this into a a a city, a a a urban area. I guess we're doing that now. These aggressive males need direction, training, and letting this behavior
fester is hurting every good student in our district. It is beyond belief that guidance counselors, principal resource officers allowed two guys who are known for brawling, who had just had a fight, who had posted fights to get into a
bathroom together since all the problems always happen in the bathroom. It's not okay. This isn't rocket science. This is simply taking responsibility, taking your authority, which is your authority. They are
children. They need authority. They need discipline. And it's gone way too far. I have, as you know, I have all of the 19 and 20year-old kids are always hanging out with me, playing with me. They said they don't know how this could possibly happen because officers were before in
years past standing in front of the bathrooms. So, that's what I have to say. So, thank you for your comments. Just to clarify, so we do have three class three officers working with the the burrow for le in our district. Those three class
officers, class three officers are armed in the for police guard. So they are within the district. We have seven retired police officers who are on our staff and then we do have an outsourced agency that represents additional guards in all of our all of our schools. um as
far as you know you know what we do and how we do things I don't think again as I said before anyone on this day wants any type of harm to any student but if I may but there was harm and I recognize that and I think everyone does but also some of
the facts that you stated were not necessarily 100% correct when we look at all the information that is presented thank you very much for that is Is there anyone else here publicly wishes to speak? Okay, Mr.
Melanie Goodman, you've been promoted to panelist. Please unmute your microphone and feel free to share your video. Please state your name and address for the record. You have 3 minutes. Good evening. Actually, my name is Andrew Goodman. I actually have my daughter's account because I don't have
Switch. Um, just want to say um I I'm the vice president of the special ed parents advisory group. Um, our last meeting which was a couple weeks ago, we were very very excited. We had over 40 participants. Um, it was a webinar. Um,
we had a um a very very special guest speaker, Dr. Dr. Carrie Marggo. So I just want to thank um Dr. Kravitz, Monica and the entire Foot League Board of Education for making it happen. It was a great great webinar. Um he is a
motivational speaker. Um he is um autistic. He is very very popular. We very very lucky to get him. So again, thank you very very much to Dr. Kravitz Monica and also the education making
that happen. Our next meeting will be on April sorry on May 20th. It will be um in person actually where you guys are now in the cafeterium. I will be at 7:00 p.m. and we will be having a candidates night basically because we are doing
elections for the special ed parent group. Um again it's 7 p.m. Information will be on the website to follow. We also will have um child care will be available also. So, please stay tuned for that. And again, thank you for all of your support. Thank you and good
night. Uh, hi Mel Kodesco to 54 town Hunter Road. Uh, can you guys hear me? Yeah. Cool. So I have two questions. One is regarding the budget. I was looking over it and it seems like the state delivered
um almost a million and a half less than the initial estimates. I was kind of curious why that happened. And then the other question is I'm looking over your um proposal for OC medical service. some single line item over there where it
says uh in regards to students all students are supposed to be evaluated by doctor and drug screen. So I was looking over the proposal. There's two sections where the child study team can recommend students and then there's just student
drug screen and over there says that the school doesn't need parental permission in accordance to NJ law whatever and it reiterates this point that all students are to be evaluated. So I'm kind of trying to understand this section of the proposal. I mean is it a plan to evaluate all students in the school for
drugs? You know that's kind of like what's confusing. So thank you. Can you repeat the u the which which is it 13? Yes. Yes. Okay. So that let me answer that question and I'll say thank
you very much for your comments. So service when we have students who are we suspect are under the influence we serve them we send them to certain locations to be checked. Um it also deals with other medical services for example workers compensation. So it is just
another provider that we will be using if we need to send a student who we suspect is under the influence. That's the first question. As far as the budget being cut by $1.5 million actually I believe it's the opposite. We got more in state aid than we ever did. So state
revenue and I'll get you the exact number is state aid is state aid is was last year 5,819,65 and this year state aid is
$6,139,880 which is an increase of about 5.2%. It's over a million. So, we did get an increase, not a decrease, but in our budget. Thank you, Howard Lip Off. You've been promoted to
panelist. Please unmute your microphone and feel free to share your video. Please state your name and address for the record. You have three minutes. Howard Lip Off. Hello. Thank you. Yes, my name is Howard Lipoff. I live at 161 Main Street in
Little Falls. Uh I'm a teacher at the Louiswis FC Cole Intermediate School and I am the treasurer of the Fort Lee Education Association. I wanted to ask a question about
14F and I guess also 15F which I understand was added but more of my concern was uh paraprofessional and their services. Um, and I think the company is called ESS
Northeast LLC down in South Jersey. Um, the reason I asked this question is Flee and NJA always has positions against privatization of the workforce. we have
found over the years that they are um bad for the workers and bad for the taxpayers as well. So I was wondering if this is some kind of privatization of especially the paraprofessional
services. How much will this cost the district to in addition to paying the power professionals also paying the um this company uh down in South Jersey? Uh so I'd like information about that.
Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Law. Uh the 14 is regarding a specific student that we cannot meet the needs from our own power professional staff. We've had several who are unable to to take care of that position. So in speaking with the union representation
this was the best course of action for the student at the right time. As far as 15 act which is the addition is for substitute services in the recognition clause of the contract does not say substitutes. They are not recognized and we have a difficult time um getting
substitutes in this district. They will assist like any other district that they work with to make sure that we can maintain substitutes in the classrooms if this student if the teachers are absent. So the only change would be for the substitutes which again are not part of the union and as far as 14 is for
specific need that was spoken to uh and worked in conjunction with and I thank them for that regarding the these that individual. Thank you Michelle Barlli Perez. You've been promoted to panelist. Please unmute your
microphone and feel free to share your video. Please state your name and address for the record. You have three minutes. Hello. Yes. Hi. Hello. Hi. Um Michelle Perez, 555 North Avenue. Um a parent earlier mentioned actually two of them
they would be against uh having metal detectors installed and I would agree. Um, I'm have to say though, uh, some of the comments that I'm hearing tonight, I'm a little disturbed that we're continuing this what for the
most part seems to be factually incorrect information that people are coming from across the bridge and looking for gang influence when there doesn't seem to be any. When you ask people with facts about where our students come from and when they look
into it, as Dr. Kravitz have said and I pay attention to a lot of these meetings that these students are discussed. I don't know where they are coming from or anything because I'm a member of the public, but it does seem to be that there are quite a few of these individual students that are being
denied or admitted depending on the criteria. I have to imagine our administration follows the law and I have to feel that there's a little bit of a coordination between maybe things being said on social media and parents coming in and reporting things
incorrectly at meetings instead of it just being individuals coming forth and saying whatever they think. So, uh I don't really have a question. I just would like there to be less lying at some of these meetings by the member of
the public. Thank you. Zena Antic, you've been promoted to panelist. Please unmute your microphone and feel free to share your video. Please state your name and address for the record. You have three minutes. Hello. Can you hear me? Yes. The
background's a little All right. better. So, I'm Nicole Antich. I live at 5 Jeran and I'm a student of Early High School. And I would like to say that what had occurred two weeks ago was a total failure by the school system. Um, what
had happened was the result of a worsening lack of discipline that exists in our schools. There's a lot of students who are not learning who are in the halls in the bathroom smoking including smoking marijuana as well as getting into fights. Um I would say that
there's I've heard a lot of excuses from you guys saying, "Hey, so we have a lot of people on the ground. We have retired police officers. We have security guards. We have people like that." I'll tell you right now as someone who actually attends the school, those measures do not work. Everyone I know who I've talked to about the event and
I've talked to a lot of people was appalled by what had occurred but no one was surprised. There's an exceeding lack of discipline among the underperforming students um that has been perpetuated by the administration. You guys do not do
enough. Um there is no engagement from the administration. You know actually I have a brother my brother he's a sophomore is finishing his sophomore year now. In two years at the high school, he has not once seen or met the principal. He does not know how she looks like. There's very little engagement from anybody. Um, matter of
fact, today, first day back from spring break, um, walking in the halls and it's school school day just just started and I hear the security guard yelling at the bathroom. She said, "Guys, get out. You can't be doing this in here." And I presume she meant smoking or something, which they typically do. Mind you, I get
in, but when I walk into the bathroom, more often than not, there's people in a circle smoking, vaping, and and they smoke carts as well, marijuana. And she said, "You can't be doing that. You just got back." I look at my watch and it's 7:46. Not 2 minutes have passed. School
day starts at 7:45 and there's already people in the bathrooms uh doing what they should not be doing and not getting punished again. You know, I don't know if you if you saw the footage of the event, but it was an organized fight with over 10 people ringing it and recording and egging people on. There's
a lot of people who act like like gangsters. And as Miss Perez actually said, you can't really prove a connection to gangs, to people coming from New York, but they dress like gangs. They act like gangs. They're pretty similar to gangsters. And honestly, I'm totally disappointed in
the school system. actually matter of fact um enrolled in an I'm accepted into an Ivy League institution and I'm one of the better students at the school University of Pennsylvania and I cannot be gladder that I'm leaving. I I do not want to be associated with the school and a lot of students feel the same.
They do not like the administration. There is no connection, no culture, no communication. Thank you. Eth Goslin, you've been promoted to panelist. Please unmute your microphone and feel free to share your video. Please state your name and address for
the record. You have three minutes. Thank you, Jason. I don't really have a voice, but I wanted to just hop on Keith Goslin 2185 Moy Avenue. I wanted to just thank Dr. Kravitz, Monica Hines, and the board
for getting Terry Magro to the CPAG meeting um in uh last uh two weeks ago. So, thank you for that. I have a cold. I feel terrible, but thank you all for that. And that's all I wanted to say.
Isle Sanford, you've been promoted to panelist. Please unmute your microphone and feel free to share your video. Please state your name and address for the record. You have three minutes. Isle Sanford. Kyle Sanford. You have to click
accept to be promoted to panelist. Uh you're muted, Mr. Sanford. Hi, Kyle. Sanford 809 Harvard, please, New Jersey. I just got a question like I want to uh reiterate what Miss what Miss Perez said about uh facts. Um, I like to
know the facts. Uh, I like to know how many kids in the district come to the school that do not do not belong in that do not belong in the Fort Lee area. Uh, do not live here. I'd like to know those those numbers. I'd also like to know
what kind of burden does that put on us, the the people that pay taxes in Fort Le. I it cost how much to have to put a kid through school and then what are those taxes? How much does it cost that they're paying? what's the burden to the school? Um, also I'd like to know,
um, you know, I understand that that, you know, it's it's an unfortunate event. Somebody got stabbed in the school. I understand that it's, you know, it happened, but the knife should have never got into the school in the first place. That's the that's the that's the issue really here. I was around when the Joe Clark era was here.
I remember East Side. I remember Joe Clark locking doors. I remember Joe Clark just to keep the riff raff out. I was in that era. All right. I remember that error. All right. Um so I mean you guys got to do something. You can't let
this keep going on. Um you got to make make a decision and you know figure this out. That's all I'm saying. So but Kyle, you froze on us. Okay, Alexandra, you've been promoted to panelist. Please unmute your microphone
and feel free to share your video. Please state your name and address for the record. You have three minutes. Alexandra. Hi, how are you? Uh my name is Alexandra 800 Palisade A Fort Le. Um I've been in Fort Le for over 30 years. to went
through the entire school system, graduated Fort Le High School, both my husband and I, and everything that I'm hearing today is beyond disturbing. Um, when I was in school, the principal and vice principal were constantly in the halls. There was no riffraff in the
school. Um, anyone who was found in the school, um, attending that was not a resident of the town was promptly kicked out. I mean, I knew several kids from Cliffside Park that one parent was in Cliffside Park,
another was in Fort Le. It turns out that the kids were, you know, living with the mom actually in Cliffside Park and they were they were removed from the school. There were never fights. Um, the hallways were not crowded like they are now. And I also want to know like the
last gentleman said, what is what is the amount of the population that is attending Fort Le that is not living here? Is the town getting grants for all these kids that are attending? Um, is there going to be some type of audit that's being done on, you know, where these kids are lying their head at at
night? Um, there there are many many parents with these questions and more and more of them should speak up. Um, thank you. There are no more raised hands. Thank you. Well, let me close the floor to the public first. May I have a motion to
close the floor to the public? Motion second. Motion second. That was after I made the motion. Correct. Jason, was that after I made the motion or before? They were raised after you made the motion. Okay. So, we have a
motion by Morel, second by Buyers Kang. All in favor? Okay, then you want to open it back up? Yes. Well, I need another motion then. I'll make a motion to open the floor to the public so we can have the last two.
Okay. So, motion by path. Second. Second. Casey. Uh, Mr. Knight. Any all in favor? Okay. Go ahead, Jason. Logan, you've been promoted to panelist. Please unmute your microphone and feel free to share your video. Please state your name and
address for the record. You have three minutes. Um, hi, my name is Logan Chong. I am a current student at Forley High School. I live on 257 Warren Avenue. Um, I would like to just comment on the fact that there are there are genuinely kids from New
York coming into our school. Like my brother personally, he knows kids from New York. They literally told him from their own mouths, they come from New York. They don't even go they don't live in this town. They don't even live in the state. Yet, these are the same type of kids that were involved in set incident. Uh, two weeks ago, I was in
the same hallway that the incident happened. I could hear the kids I could hear one of them running down the hallway screaming and there was and I saw the blood that came out of the bathroom that day. It was genuinely terrifying. I did not know what was going on until minutes after everyone
was everyone left the bathroom. And um there were I'm concerned as my younger brother is going to school for two more years. I'm a senior. I am leaving in about few you know few months from now. But I am
genuinely concerned for my brother's safety and the school has not shown any steps to put any effort into the safety of their students. Like literally la this earlier this month, one of the security guards was fired for flirting with freshman freshman girls.
Um my um my younger brother, he's obviously worried. My parents are obviously worried, but there are multiple cases of students either getting into fights after sporting events or major events at
school. Um, and it's honestly there's like so much worse at the school. I go in the bathrooms every like every day before the incident in between periods kids vaping. There were about like at least six kids in the up upstairs bathroom
vaping. They're all just doing all smoking out of their mouths. Um, and even like in the more even in the morning, like 30 minutes into their first period, like Nick, like Nicholas said earlier, um, there there are kids vaping and you know, school says that
they have nicotine detectors. They have smoke detectors in the bathroom. They don't seem to have any of that. I don't see anything on the ceiling. I don't see anything on the walls. There has been zero effort put into the safety of the safety of my fellow students. And there's been zero effort put into
um keeping drugs out of students hands or keeping weapons out of students hands. Like I was in one of the bathroom stalls like last year I hear a kid talking about how they always have a knife on them. They I walked out of the bathroom. I saw saws right on their
waistband. No safety at all. Um I'm I fear for my brother's safety in the next two years. Um, and I am very much glad that I I'll be leaving in two months as the school has proven to me several occasions that they are not as safe
there is not safe to go here. Thank you. Yes, Nadia Constantinova. You've been promoted to panelist. Please unmute your microphone and feel free to share your video. Please state your name and address for the record. You have three
minutes. Hi. Um, apologies I got disconnected. Nadia Constantinova. Um, 1086 Dearborn Drive. Um, first I just want to thank the two young uh kids that joined and
shared their experience at high school. Um, it's very disturbing. I appreciate their courage to actually stand up and express their opinions. Um you know the Fort Lee is the place that frankly could be c categorized by
three things. One is incredible diversity that a lot of people come here for. Two is respect and three is maniacal focus on education. I've been here, lived here for about 14 years. And what I've observed though in the last
four to six years in particular, um those attributes and and frankly are deteriorating and it's increasingly doesn't feel safe walking closer to the bridge. Uh I've never felt before, you
know, being worried to be around teenagers. I actually don't like it right now. Uh, I think it very much connects to everything that folks ahead of me were talking about. Lots of kids coming across the bridge. I heard the reference to the law
um and and this and it very much feels like a loophole a bit uh and you know a little bit similar to mail fraud. Um, and so I have questions such as actually three questions I'd like to have answers
uh during this call if possible. One, there was a question about facts. When will we know the facts as to how many kids are actually who who come to school but don't live here? Question number one. Question number two, reference to
the law. Is it really all to the law or there's additional uh check marks or things that need to be uh you know addressed for somebody to be able to attend the school? Because again, it feels like a loophole. just just because I'm on the lease, I can
attend the school. Is there a certain minimum number of days people need to live in the in the town? Again, similar to the mail fraud uh thing. And three is folks ahead of me asked very specific questions and what are the specific measures that the school going to be
taking to address the issues that were shared ahead of me. When will we know the answers to this? I'd love to make sure this conversation, if possible, is not just a complaint and a one-way conversation. When is the commitment from this board to actually come back to
the public with the answers? That's it. So, as far as the residency, thank you for your comment section. So, the reg registration process is outlined in the uh website. and you can see all the documents that are required and it explains very specifics as to who is
allowed to stay in the school system and it defines everything very clearly. Um, as far as how many students and I've heard that question asked many times. So again, I'll say that we have a residency officer if we are alert to someone who does not live in the district. We take
an action and go through a process following the guidelines set forth in state statute when we find someone who does not live in the district. That's very clear. and work with the attorneys in the beginning of the year. We've done it in several years. Um if there's, you know, that there's an extreme case where
we would have to bring that person before the board of education, then there's a process the same way that we follow. We do we have a number of students who don't live here. Now we do not have a number of students but if we are alerted to that then we go through that process that following the state law like every other district in the
state regarding getting rid of a student if they do not live in Fort Lee provided they don't fit into the categories that are outlined in our website under the registration tab. Um and as far as final finality on the uh incident that took
place again in some cases this right now it's an ongoing investigation. Some of the instances we cannot discuss students in public nor can we discuss certain things in public including security measures uh if if it deems so. So we'll be happy to share more information as it
is available but some of that information regarding the student we cannot discuss publicly nor can we discuss social da you've been promoted to panelist please unmute your microphone and feel free to share your video please state your name and address for the
record you have three Hi, how are you? My name is uh Sonia Marose and I reside at 11:08 in Wtersworth. I have two kids, one in elementary and one in the intermediate school. And I think my first question is where is the principal? I think that's
kind of been mentioned several times of the high school because I think all parents um whether we have kids who are actively in a high school are very anxious about the protocols that are going to be implemented to make sure that something like this or anything
worse doesn't happen going forward. Um, I've been speaking to a lot of parents whose kids currently attend high school and all I hear is that there is an inundation with emails about um, attendance, latenesses, unexcused absences, excused absences,
um, but lack of communication as to what has happened two weeks ago. Um, I think sending out um, generic emails after a situation like this is just not good enough. Um we as members um of an middle
to upper middle class community deserve a lot better in terms of you know we we put the safety of our kids um as a priority their education um it's a an incredibly diverse town and we want to keep it that way.
However, generic statements. I understand there's an ongoing investigation, but that investigation can be going on forever. There have been other issues raised on previous board meetings, but things going on in schools, and there's an investigation on this, and we never hear back. It's it's
it's literally always a one-way um conversation like um Nadia mentioned before without ever hearing back without the issue ever being reintroduced by uh the board of education or the educators in the schools or the principles or the
superintendent. It's it almost feels like you guys are waiting for us to bring up the issue. However, this issue affects all of us whether we have kids who are actively in high school or whether we're just members living in a community because the kids that were involved this in this incident. I I
don't know if walking around in an area where they're hanging out if I and my two young kids will be safe. I don't know what if a fight breaks out, what if we are the unlucky bystanders? I have no idea. Obviously, I don't know anything about their family situation of who they
are, where they come from. Um the other thing that I've also on speaking to many parents and personally experienced is my understanding is as a resident of Port Lee on um moving your kids into a school district there is a
detective that supposedly calls and makes a check. Majority of parents that I spoke to this never happened. So yeah you can name John Doe as a resident in your home and involve him in your school but it doesn't actually mean that there was a check in process. I don't know who this
officer who is responsible, one officer for over a thousand kids to make these checks, but it doesn't sound like it's physically possible. So, I would like just some clarification how that process actually works, the verification besides me just, you know, filling out a lease
agreement, sending it to the school and listing John Doe as a resident when they might not even be living here. Thank you, Arena K. You've been promoted to panelist. Please unmute your microphone and feel free to share your video. Please state your name and address for
the record. You have three minutes. Ireina K. Hi, uh, Ireina Kash, um, 230 Tmont Fort Lee. Uh, I'm actually really disturbed and I hope the board is a little
perturbed listening to the two excellent students from the high school talking about how they can't wait to get out and how they want nothing to do with Fort Lee as someone who grew up and went to New York City public schools. That's how I felt about my high school. But that's
why I moved my kids here and pay high taxes so my kids feel like a a sense of community and a sense of safety when they go to schools. I h I have two kids in the district, one elementary school, a son and a daughter going to middle
school next year and in two years will be entering high school. And everything the kids have said about their um every day in the school is making me very very nervous for my daughter's safety that she will be afraid to go into a
bathroom. I mean what is this? We should not be paying this much money. And then I'd like to better understand what's going on with the principal. This is the this is the second incident with this principal. We already had an anti-Semitic incident
with the teachers pan pushing Hamas loving agenda to our kids. We never heard back anything from that. And now we have um safety issues and stabbings like what's next? Is there any kind of
accountability? And I've been asking about what happened with the teachers and everything else from that anti-Semitic incident and we never got to hear back anything. So, I don't like we need a plan and a plan for how we're
going to keep our kids safe or we I don't know what we need to do. Hire some private schools that our kids can go to. But like this is this is not a solution. We're very worried for our children. And I don't know if I know a lot of people on the board don't have kids our age
anymore, but like this is not acceptable. Thank you. Victoria, the iPhone, you've been promoted to panelist. Please unmute your microphone and feel free to share your video. Please state your name and
address for the record. You have three minutes. Hi. Um, I have a question. Uh, I've decided to not send my children to the high school. And can you hear me? Yeah, please state
your name and address for the record. Sorry. Uh, Victoria Mlin, 1126 Abbott Boulevard. Um, so I've decided not to send my children to the high school. Uh, the um it it's uh it's black and white
for me. Um, so will I be able to get a refund on my taxes and how much would that be? Is that your only question or do you have additional questions? It's a question. Yeah.
Do you have any additional questions? We wait till the end of the questions and then I respond to all of them. Okay. I look forward to your answer because I don't think that it's safe to send my children. Also, I was thinking about all the children that are attending that
high school that my tax money is paying for and it kind of feels like theft. So, um just pointing that out that children who don't actually live in the school who attend that school, we're all subsidizing them. Kind of feels like
theft and you guys are allowing that to happen. Um, we have been uh we've known about the kids. You guys have known about the kids. We've all seen it. Swept it under the rug for a while. Kind of looked the
other way. Yes. Because it there wasn't really a problem until now. There's a tipping point because now there's violence. And this is the tipping point. This is the decision where parents are deciding to not send their children to
that school. That's crazy. So, I'm just pointing that out and uh I would love to hear your answer about just how much it costs to send a kid to school out of the tax money and how much we can expect back since we're
not sending those children to that school. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. To educate a student in the public schools about $15,000 and there are no refunds for parents who choose not to attend school. There are parents who go to private
schools there parents who go to parochial schools. All of those are at the expense of the parent. Jessica, you've been promoted to panelist. Please unmute your microphone and feel free to share your video. Please state your name and address for
the record. You have three minutes. Hi. Yes. Uh Jessica Morales, 2100 Lynwood Avenue. I have two daughters in the high school and I'm just curious. I know that it's an ongoing investigation, but are you going to allow the person
the student that did the stabbing back into the high school? Um I think it's time for you guys to take a stand as the authorative uh figures in the high school. And I think it's just concerning to me to know that this person would be
allowed back. Is that your only question? Yeah. Um, we cannot discuss student matters in public. Thank you. Julene Stasu, you've been promoted to panelist. Please unmute your microphone and feel free to share your video.
Please state your name and address for the record. You have three minutes. Julene, you're muted. Hello everybody. Hope everybody's well. I just wanted to say that I've been listening to this all night and um I
don't think it's okay to blame one person. When things go off track, it's rarely just one person's responsibility, especially in a school setting. I believe that a meeting with all the parents could be a powerful way to voice
concerns, share our perspectives, and build collective support for real change. It would send a strong message that the community is paying attention and wants to be involved in solutions, not just assigning blame. We obviously have a lot of powerful emotions going on
between parents, students, and the community. And I really believe that um it makes perfect sense when emotions are high and questions are piling up to provide a structured forum that um people can be heard, for facts to be
clarified, and for productive steps to emerge. It really shows leadership and commitment to transparency and unity. So, I'm hoping that after this meeting um the board, the super and the administration could um come together
with the parents and the families who have all these emotions and concern and we can have a a forum. I think that it would be a mistake not to and I hope that you can listen to the concerns of uh the parents and and and hold something and and we should not be
blaming the principal. This is this is not the principal's fault. Um, I just want to state that also. It's it's a it's no one's fault. It happens everywhere, but we need to come together as a as a community and figure this out. So, thank you for listening to me. I
hope everyone has a wonderful evening. G, you've been promoted to panelist. Please unmute your microphone and feel free to share your video. Please state your name and address for the record. You have three minutes. Hi, good evening. My name is Joy
Englesian, 1302 Anderson Avenue. Um, especially listening to the the the current students, um, my son's going into high school next year. I'm very scared and very worried about safety. And I am going to reiterate what the
last um speaker said, Julene, that I think we should need to have a parent meeting with the staff and the board before um at some point soon. I really think we need to sit down and have a face to face and have all the parents at
for solutions. Um it's unacceptable, you know, for to the bathroom issue, smoking, no consequences. I mean, we need to sit down together and work together for some solutions. Thank you.
Maxim Start, you've been promoted to panelist. Please unmute your microphone and feel free to share your video. Please state your name and address for the record. You have three minutes. Hi, my name is Maxim Stardivv. I live on
126515th Street. I'm a sophomore in Fley High School and I was there when the stabbing incident occurred. Uh, how am I supposed to feel safe and not feel worry worried when I'm going into the bathroom at any given point during my school school day instead of like Yes. Uh, how
am I supposed to feel safe and not be more focused on my safety and be more focused on my education instead? cuz I know that there has been staff now locking the bathroom doors 5 minutes at the end of class and 5 minutes in the beginning of the class, but I don't feel
like that's enough. I feel like metal detector should be in place or something else like maybe 24/7 supervision. So my main question is how am I supposed to feel? How am I supposed to how do I feel
safe like being worried? Thank you. That's all. Thank you for your comment. We we consider safety and security very important in every all of our schools. We do our best to maintain that.
There are no more raised hands of attendees that have not yet spoken. She's she spoke already. Motion by Kobach to close the floor public. All in favor? Any opposed? Okay, moving on to resolutions. Was there
anything you wanted to address before we Hold on. Dr. Travis was going to address. No, as I as I've stated, you know, the residency process is is clearly outlined in our website. As far as um I would just say some of the some of the speakers who spoke, you know,
said this evening, you know, it's important to have the facts. The statements that were made are not necessarily 100% accurate. And when those statements are made, that's where things change. And I would ask, really important to understand, it's nice to
cheer. It's nice to make comments and whether it's on social media or in public state in public forums. But when facts are not correct with actual information that are part of an investigation that we can't share to just take a take a step right
back and think about if it was your child and those that information was shared publicly and it was not accurate. So, we do our best with the police department to get all our information and make informed decisions with everything we do. And you're welcome to
look at all our agendas. There's transparency there. And we do our best to answer as many questions as we can. But there are laws that pertain to privacy whether it's students or even personnel that we cannot share publicly. We wouldn't do it to your student. We're not doing anyone else's job. So, just
thank you. May I have a motion to approve items 1B through 3B? Motion. Motion. Curry. Second. Morale. Roll call, please. Miss, yes. Miss Kovat, yes. Miss Curry.
Yes. Mr. Yes. Miss Cotang. Yes. Mr. Lopez. Yes. M. Yes. Mr. Rido. Miss Richard. Yes. I would ask the audience to please lower your voices. so that we can continue our
meeting. May I have a motion to approve item one, B&G? Yes. Motion. Second. Motion by Kane. Second. Morell. Roll call, please. Missy K. Yes. Math. Yes. Miss Curry.
Yes. Mr. Knight. Yes. Mang. Yes. Mr. Lopez. Yes. Miss Moral? Yes, Miss Bur. Yes. May I have a motion to approve items 1 C through 3 C motion? Second. Motion around. Second
virus. Kang, please. Miss Kang, yes. Math. Yes. M. Curry. Yes. Mr. Knight, just hold the kids up on the firehouse and please snack. School. Yes.
Lopez. Yes. Yes. Yes. We have a motion to approve items 1 F through 15. Motion. Second. Motion Curry. Second. Morel. Roll call, please. Yes. Mach. Yes. Miss Curry. Yes. Mr.
Knight. Yes. Mang. Yes. Mr. Lopez. Yes. M. Morell. Yes, Mr. Yes. May I have a motion to approve items 1 P through 7P? Motion second. Motion moral second. Cotang roll call,
please. Tang. Yes. M. Curry. Yes. Mr. Knight. Yes. Yes. I want to um thank Stephen Bello as school three custodian at school three
for your service. Um my children and many children at school please your hard work and that you not only clean the halls but that you provide them with love and care. So thank you. Thank you Mr. Lopez. Yes. Mral. Yes.
Yes. May I have a motion to approve item one P with that administrative change made by Dr. Kravis? Motion second. Sorry. Motion. Motion. Call back. Second. Okay.
Mrs. K. Yes. Mack. Yes. Miss Curry. Yes. Mr. Knight. Yes. Yes. Lopez. Yes. Yes. Yes. Is there any old business?
I don't know if it's old or new, whichever. So, just a couple of things first. I mean, it's very I'm I'm proud to see that our students participated and brought their views and experiences to us. you know,
we're not I'm certainly not in the schools at on a regular basis like I used to be when my son was at the high school. Um, so I I I applaud their courage. It's also very disheartening and I would hazard to say a little
disturbing to me that we actually have I believe students who don't feel safe um that are concerned about younger siblings. Um, I think based on all the comments, um, I would implore our administration to coordinate a community
meeting, um, so that all and it's it's so important for parents and students to feel safe when when they when they go to school. And part of it is I I'm sensing they feel very disconnected and kind of
left out in the cold. And so sometimes just you know a meeting where they can come and ask questions will raise the um the or uh reduce their anxiety. And so just based on the comments tonight I
mean I hope that our administration is taking them to heart and that a meeting is scheduled so they do feel engaged and part of the process. Um on on the the students we know we have a registration program. However, for probably I think
more than 10 years, probably even more. Um, our district has not done a full reenrollment and I know it's cumbersome and it's expensive, but we are continuing to hear things like jinies and red shirts. I mean, that's something concrete. That's not just speculation
that, you know, people are dressed a certain way. I mean I would just ask um and I understand it's it it it's again time consuming but I think we've been hearing enough that you know once you enroll you're enrolled for you know your
entire you know I I did it once when my when my we moved here my son was uh entered the school system and then there was one reenrollment after that my my son was on autopilot and so I think it's time that our district consider a
reenrollment. One to satisfy, you know, uh the school that everyone really remains a student here because once you submit that paperwork, um you're kind of in the system. And so, um I would ask
that a reenrollment be considered. Um lastly, do we have smoke detectors or something of that sort in in all of our bathrooms at the high school? I'm not sure about all the bathrooms. I know we have vape detectors and we do have smoke detectors throughout the building. Uh
specifically to every bathroom, I cannot answer the fact, but I do know we have vape detectors and we do have smoke detectors. So I would just ask that we we look at the cost and and make a decision whether at this point this is a very longstanding problem. My son
graduated the high school in 2020. He regularly talked about people smoking and smoking marijuana in the bathrooms. Um, and so maybe there's something in the way of smoke detectors um that that could address the problem. And again, I know that there's a cost
attached, but at least I think we should get the information and make a determination just to thank the young people I should say because it took a tremendous amount of courage and I think we we need not overlook that. I mean these kids need to
go back to this school tomorrow and and face the ramifications of you know uh their teachers knowing that they came and spoke out. So I just want to make it very clear um that I commend you for your courage and coming out and speaking and I encourage you to continue doing so and I encourage you to become a part of
the conversation and start coming to meetings and just start becoming a part of the solution because you truly know what the problem is. you know, we have to speculate and we have to uh make best guesses, but she know what's going on and I appreciate you letting us know. Thank you.
I just wanted to um add on to what Paula and Casey had already shared. I've heard loud and clear tonight that parents, both parents and student have expressed that they are scared, that they have not heard from their principal, that they need an
action plan, and they would like a town hall style sort of meeting for student both for students and for parents. I hope that we took those into consideration. I know that Dr. Gravitz, you share that we already removed 25
students this year. How does that compare to last year or previous years? I don't have the date in front of me, but I know that we're actively looking through everyone who register through that process. I don't have the date. I can present it the next week. Yeah, it won't be helpful because we understand,
we know that we have gone through um a a process this year to examine our registration process, but a re enrollment um check is is is supported by me as well. Um, and I also want to echo, you
know, we constantly share with parents that absenteeism is is an issue and we need their help. And we're hearing tonight that communication is there are gaps whether or not that's you know that is a one-off
issue or if um if we can do better and enhance the personal communication to parents so that they're not just getting an email and not getting a feedback that if they don't receive the email. I think that would that would help in our absentee strategy. Um, so I just want to
really echo that because I know that that was raised by a parent and if there are errors, if there's a systematic error where we can improve how we check students, that would also help improve our absentee record. So I hope that we can um take those feedback and and
incorporate that in our strategy and I want to thank everyone for coming out tonight. I just quickly want to say uh like many of you trouble trouble by the uh the high
school um as a parent of incoming freshman not only as a board member but also personal level that our children deserve to be um safe uh and and learn in a safe environment. And so, you know, as we move forward, I hope we continue
to listen, learn, and support the community uh in steps that we can take as a board uh to strengthen the safety and trust in our school is is a priority. Okay. May I have a motion to adjourn? Motion Curry, second quoting,
and all in favor? Any oppose?