##VIDEO ID:H7xbp-sIXG8## oh my God all right good evening everyone could we please stand for the flag salute hi United States stands Nation God indivisible andice for all please stand for a moment of silence please be seated in accord with the open public meetings Act njsa 10 4-6 adequate notification of this meeting has been provided by advertising in the record and posting notice in the Board of Education administration building pavad education center and filing notice with the city clerk I hereby call to order the special meeting Wednesday February 5th 2025 in the hackin high school media center at 66 6:16 p.m. Miss sing can you do a roll call please um missir Hamza presid Mr Carol present Miss Ciro Alton is absent Miss Gilmore here Mr Martin present Miss Pringle present Miss Harris present Mr Stein present we have a quorum thank you and just of the public also knows uh Dr McBride could not be here with us tonight because he's at a professional development um however our assistant superintendent Rosemary Marx is here with us tonight thank you for staying with us okay so at this time uh the board's prior Council resigned effective January 31st 2025 due to unforeseen circumstances with prior council's ability to represent us there is a slight gap between our former Council and the award of our new Council which will be selected within the next few weeks as we have an O open RFP right now accordingly we have a resolution tonight to appoint meline Hicks as our interim attorney which we as a board are legally required and empowered to do meline Hicks is a partner at Antonelli caner Rivera and specializes and representing school boards municipalities and other public entities the trustees have been briefed and given the urgency we will start with this agenda item so we can have interim legal council appointed be it resolved that the hakak Board of Education approves the appointment of Antonelli caner Rivera PC interim Council to represent the Board of Education from February 5th 2025 and just for the record there is a little minor typo so that we need to fix that oh yes uh two February 28th 2025 at the following rate of $175 per hour for attorneys and $90 per hour for paralal services and be it further resolved that meline hicks P Hicks will be the primary contact and coordinating attorney and be it further resolved all bills shall be forwarded to the board secretary for review and the processing for payments okay um can I have a motion to appoint temporary legal counsel I'll make a motion okay motion um by trusty ammer hem and a second a second by trusty Pringle missing do a roll call please yes Mr May Hamza yes Mr Carol yes Miss Gilmore yes Mr Martin yes Miss pingle yes Miss Harris yes Mr Stein yes MO passes all right thank you um Miss hix could you please come and have a seat with us at the day congratulations okay uh so at this time we are going to do our interviews of the candidates but before we begin we're going to go over the process um how everything was posted how long of the time we have and I'll leave it up to missing our board secretary okay thank you in order to fill the vacant seat the board followed the district's policy number 0143 which addresses the procedure for board member election and appointment public notice of the vacancy was advertised on January 12 2025 in the Bergen Record inviting qualified candidates to submit a resume and a letter of interest for consideration in addition to this the notice was also sent out on parent square and posted on the hacking sack Public Schools website the notice stated the requirements according to board policy and ngsa 1881 12-11 and 1881 12-15 the board had has 65 days to fill the vacancy if it does not meet this deadline the county superintendent will fill the vacancy in considering candidates who have expressed an interest in the vacancy the board will now interview candidates in a public session the board will then vote to appoint a candidate to the vacancy also in public session a roll call vote will be conducted to determine the candidate who will fill the vacancy the candidate filling the vacancy will be filling the vacated position until the seat is up for reelection this November at that time the candidate will have the opportunity to seek to remain for a threeyear term during the election process okay perfect thank you so much so we need to identify the candidates yes um if you are out in the audience Miss keomi Campbell and Melanie auson could you just please stand okay perfect so at this time we will [Music] have perfect thank you uh she could be at the podium yes just so the public um is aware at this time we only have two candidates we did have three candidates who applied uh one withdrew this Monday so we only have two tonight uh all candidates received the questions prior to them coming here tonight and the trustees will be asking only those questions and no other questions um so stick to the script uh and also yes I I submitted my resume and letter as well last Monday I followed up back missing can you U please identify yourself yes my name Isa but I I can't recall receiving your um did you you send this to me yes yes oh um but however the the closing date was the week before right it wasn't this week last Monday when she not this mon right so the application closed on sorry 27 I don't know I don't know maybe it went to my spam because I don't recall saying it it closed on yeah um missing are you able to check your emails just to double yeah I will just to make sure yeah okay so I apologize just yes just just for transparency purposes and out of fairness we'll double check make sure so we'll just take like a five minute recess okay um so just relax we'll be right with you okay thank you e e e e e e okay so we're going to continue um thank you so much I apologize that there was that confusion uh so at this time we are going to have kiomi Campbell please come up please to the podium all right so miss Campbell so the way this is going to work all the trustees are going to you could tap it just to make sure there we go all the trustees are going to have one question to to ask you and they'll be the same questions that you received ahead of time and uh answer it to the best of your ability and as much as you can so that we can get a good idea of who you are all right okay hi keomi am I saying your name right yes you are kyomi okay hi I'm Gina and I'm going to um ask the first question so my first question is tell us about yourself and why why you decided you wanted to be on the school board okay so I wrote this down because I have to get my words together so don't Beed looking her microphone is not on just come closer yeah okay so firstly I'm a mother a friend a daughter an honest member of this community and a young woman with a vision to do more in spite of the Endless Arts why many of the re many few reasons for wanting to serve on the board are quite simple to create a better future for the ones it impacts upon the children for the ones it reflects upon the most the teachers and the entirety faculty and staff I don't only want to be a voice for the people but a voice of the people that's it thank you okay thank you you're welcome hi Ki hi my name is Shani and I'm going to ask you the second question what perspectives will you bring to the table okay so I have a simple question if I were to give you my glasses what would you see exactly the way I see my perspective on a daily basis because we wear glasses so you know if we were to switch glasses that's a better question how what would you see and what would I see I would do you want me to answer that question no I'm just it's you know it's it's a rhetorical question yeah so you're more than likely see exactly how I do on a daily I asked a question to say this my inputs ideas and suggestions would come from those on the ground the ones who see the ins and out of your beautiful education system day in and day out my T of vision leads me down the path of ensuring that everyone it impacts reflects upon and involves gets the bestest outcome possible our children the students deserve more our principles our full-time and power professional teachers deserve more our IEP our ESL and all the other programs that we have within our schools deserve more our janitors and after school instructors deserve more and we can only get more from the heads which are you guys who are sitting here today you guys are the ones who are able to take each and every want and need off the ground we need to operate as one and not as individual entity our children will be the will be the future of our investor took risk no my sorry I lose cont my one second sorry our TR will be the future of our investment we will take risk and we never give up and that would be the best decision that we could have ever made thank you thank you hi Ki I'm Mark good after good night do you understand the time commitment required for this position I have another quick rhetorical question anything you purchase with your own money you cherish I know that for a fact I give my kid Something 2 seconds after oh it's broken is that okay no problem you just won't be getting anything else so I say all this to say I do I truly understand and would take my role on this board if chosen very seriously like I do all things in which I am passionate about what you sow is what you would reap I want to be a part of a movement that planted that what is planted out of selflessness love compassion so that our future can reap greatness thank you for your time and for giving me the opportunity to share with you this evening thank you once again and God bless you all thank you so much thank you appreciate it BR good thank you okay so then at this time we'll have Melanie Alon come up right evening all right good evening uh just make sure you're speaking into the microphone yep test yes yes thank you and can you just state your name just so that we good evening my name is Melanie Altin balap Putra Perfect all right so just so you're aware all the trustees are going to be well the three trustees are going to be asking you the same questions that you received ahead of time thank you okay thank you and try your best to answer it to the best of your ability and as much as you can so that we can get to know who you are um hi Melanie how are you uh my name is Leila um the first question is uh just if you could tell us about yourself and why you want to serve on the school board thank you for asking my son James is currently a 10-year-old student a hackin sack student in an outof District placement or as principal Whitaker referred to him as a Parker student who takes his classes outside of her building as an Alum a taxpayer and a parent I have a personal stake in the well-being of hackin sack Public Schools I passionately believe there's a way to do what's right for students while at the same time being fiscally responsible I meet the qualifications to serve as a member of the hackin saac Board of Education I've been a resident of hackin saac for over 40 years and a registered hackin sack voter and taxpayer for over 25 years and special to The English Department in hackensac public schools I can read and write I currently serve as vice principal at Bergen County Technical Schools pramis campus after working as a school administrator in Newark Public Schools first as school Chief Innovation officer at Cleveland Elementary School and then as a vice principal at baringer high school prior to becoming administrator I taught math social studies and Computer Applications at hackin Tech Middle School for 10 years before making the transition into becoming an educator I worked as a corporate analyst with Anderson Consulting now Accenture and later with PS psng corporate planning which is the holding entity for the utility and I worked in the corporate Counter Intelligence and data analysis group although I've lived in hackin saac for most of my life I was not born here my family had no ties to this community when we moved here as a result I can relate to those who are from here and bed blue Engle but also can relate to people who are newer to our city despite all of my other credentials degrees experiences my number one qualification is my love for this community which I know all all of you share I welcome the opportunity to serve in this capacity if given the opportunity we're living in interesting times and I think now more than ever it is important that those of people who serve in a public space approach it from a spirit of congeniality and collegiality it's important that people work together to make sure that our communities have what we need especially for our children it is my goal to bring that to this space I know somewhat about some of you and a lot about some of you and I respect all of you not just for your service collectively but individually and I would welcome the opportunity I'd be honored with for the opportunity to serve alongside you thank you good evening um my name is Kenneth Martin and um I have a question uh what perspective will you bring to the table I think what makes me unique as a candidate is all of the different ways that I've interacted or how are am interacting with hackin public schools first and foremost I'm the daughter of a former teacher the lake Garcia Alon who taught course here at hackin high school a student I'm was I was a student and an Alum of hackin middle school and hackin high school was a former staff member hackin teacher at hackin Middle School I've been a parent and a PTA member at girly childhood development center ecdc I've been a parent and a PTA member at Nell K Parker school I'm a member of the hackin sack special education parent advisory group or CPAC for parents of students with special needs I'm a parent of a student in an out of District placement that's an interesting Journey that a lot of people can't speak to I am a descendant of enslaved people but due to marriage I have had some experiences with the Immigrant exp with the Immigrant journey through my husband and my mother-in-law and that has been that was not on my bingo card that has been an experience I've experienced things that I took for granted I've experienced in trying to navigate Medicare for an elderly person who is a permanent resident but hasn't been in the country long enough to have access to plan B but not plan like it's a whole another level of complexity that as someone who's can trace her ancestry back to the 1600s in this country something I never thought I would be dealing with at but it's fascinating and I see where how challenging it is for certain members of our community to navigate this space I am a language minority in my own home I am the only person in my household for whom English is their primary language in the case of my mother-in-law is her fourth language um I had the opportunity to help her prepare to take the New Jersey DMV test in it's offered in 67 languages and her primary language is not one of those languages and I watched her take and pass the test so um there are a lot of different experiences that I've had in this community I've lived in highrises I've lived in low Rises I've lived in a home a single family home um different perspectives of how I've lived in this community and how I've navigated this community I think that I can relate to a lot of the needs of parents in this community um from experiences that I value as a child and experiences that I want from my own child those are my perspectives thank you thank you I am trusty Carol how you doing how are you um do you understand a time commitment required to be on the board probably not honest answer that's honest answer I will tell you what I do know I and I was reluctant I was any anybody stepping into this should be as a healthy place to be reluctant I do know that there are monthly meeting commitments there committee meetings subcommittees of the board um they're the mandatory trainings for New Jersey school boards Association um attending districts school and community events the first the very first thing I did when I filled out the start to write the letter was to look at my work calendar and the school calendar working in a school or graduations on the same day like that would have been the deciding factor like if I can't be a board member who's available to attend graduation that would that was going to be that was going to be a deal breaker for me luckily they're not the same day um but just look looking at Big important events at all of the different schools and can I make the spelling be at hillers and the tricky TR Parker and at least participate in some aspect of school life football games basketball games what have you and still maintain all my other responsibilities and all my kids activities and Civic engagement or what have you um keep my house clean all those things feed my kid so it it I looked at a lot of that I was still reluctant but um I believe I can make that happen thank you thank you all right so at this time thank you so much so thank you for having me no problem uh so at this time uh as a board we will deliberate in public um and before we even begin I just want to thank the two um applicants uh kiomi and Melanie for coming I know how difficult it can be to come and speak publicly about yourself um I myself was also one of those people that also was a candidate at one time trusty Carol was one trusty Martin was one um anybody else here nope just us but uh thank you so much for coming out it definitely means a lot and I think your passion has definitely shown in your interviews so at this time we will deliberate discuss um let's discuss the candidates May want to go first I had my little popsicle sticks I pick at random I know the coming out yeah no I I'll just reiterate you know thank you both for coming out and you know it it does take a lot of courage to come out and offer yourself your time um and you both seem very committed you know members of the community and so I think that that's amazing and we hope that you know both of you in in some way stay connected to the district and and that there's a lot of opportunities for you to participate and that we see you at meetings you know regardless of where you're sitting because it just seems like you both offer really value valuable perspectives thank you okay good I also like to uh thank thank both of you for coming out um I know you have a a heart here in hackin sack a heart in our district and um I'm excited that both of you want to come you know come on the board and and and uh uh give back to the uh Community which is very important so um yeah just just um I'm glad I'm glad that are you're here and uh looking forward to uh whoever is going to be on the board thank you I I too want to thank both candidates um in reading your uh resumés I saw that both of you are very valued to our community as a whole I think you realize the commitment M that is bestowed on you to becoming a board member um and whoever is chosen uh I hope that either one of you will stay involved in the community will step forward when you have concerns and step forward when you appreciate things that we're doing as a board so uh this is not going to be an easy decision but uh we have to select one of two of you hi I just want to uh thank you both um I'm fairly new so um whoever gets chosen I won't be the new kid on the Block um but thank you seriously um about all of your your passion um and your love of hackin saac um and I love that you wor BL gold um because here we we do Bleed Blue and Gold and we all have the same goal is to you know give back to hackin saac and support our students staff and administrators and uplift the community so thank you um thank you to both of the candidate Jesse I'm softspoken too y'all can hear me right okay um with going over um both resumés um they were both very impressive I was more impressed outside of reading was listening to the both of you speak um it reminded myself of about a year ago around this time when um I was a candidate running um and I was a parent running and I had the same concerns and questions and wanted answered and wanted to be a part of so with both of you standing at the podium and expressing that um I understand from both sides um I appreciate um the fact that you want to help be a part of um and whichever one is chosen I'm sure will make the right choice and hopefully we can all work together to become a stronger board and also key thing what I learned because I didn't grow up out here in hackin saac either um but my son graduated from the middle school and the high school my daughter is currently in the 11th grade at hackensac high school what these members and on the board and other people in the community taught me was that whether you were born here or not if your heart is in a community and you want to help the community and Hack and Sack you do still ble blue and gold yes thank you oh um I just want to thank both candidates for uh coming out uh as you guys were both both of you as you were speaking I felt uh the passion that you have for the community and um wanting to be a part of um making making the schools better for um for all the teachers the students and um there's not easy coming up here speaking publicly it's definitely not but um I wish I honest I wish we had two openings to be honest so because it's going to be a tough decision for us to make but um again thank you for coming out thank you um so just my two two things um again I love that you are already Advent invested in the community you have noticed many things you know that it's important that we as a board collaborate with the staff and understand and value their hard work that they are doing day in and day out um you know as a parent myself with a kid with special needs you know you tend to go into many Avenues and you have many perspectives of of this world um or just of the school itself and how it can service you or how it doesn't service you right um I can see the passion in both of you and how you Advocate and that's somebody that's definitely somebody who we need here on the board right um I always say people who Advocate are not thinking of their themselves they're always thinking of others first and as a board member this is what we do um so it's definitely not an easy decision um like trusty Stein had said it's only two of you uh so at this time we will now open the floor for um a motion for a nomination I'd like to nominate Melanie olon okay so that was a nomination for Melanie alustin can I have a second second by trustee Carol any other nominations okay so being that there are none so then at this time Miss can we do a roll call please yes um miss Amir Hamza yes Mr Carol yes Miss Gilmore yes Mr Martin yes Miss Pringle yes Miss Harris yes Mr Stein yes um so Melanie Alon Bal Pusher is appointed to fill the vacant seat on the board okay congratulations okay so just so the public is aware um the administer of the oath of office to the newly appointed board member Melanie Alon uh would be on February 26 2025 pending clearance of your background check all right uh so once again congratulations congratul and you will be in contact with our board secretary Lydia Singh and then she'll give you all the information that you need yes she already has homework for you the clock starts now and tiom me and and Heather who also is here tonight I hope that you will both stay connected and provide your feedback because it's very clear you know just even by offering yourselves you know that that you are very vested in the community so please stay connected to us yes continue involved and engaged there's a lot to do here yes not just on this board thank you thank you yes yes thank you so at this time we don't have any presentations uh we do not have anything for executive session and we're going to move on to public comments I do have have something I need to say okay okay the Board of Education recognizes the value of public comment on educational issues and the importance of allowing members of the public to express themselves on school matters of community interest in order to permit the fair and orderly expression of such comment the board shall set aside a portion of every board meeting the length of the portion to be determined by the board for public comment on any school on any school or School District issue that a member of the public feels may be of concern to the residents of the school district public participation shall be governed by the following rules one a participant must be recognized by the presiding officer and must perace comments by an announcement of his or her name Municipality of residence and group affiliation if appable two each statement made by a participant shall be limited to 3 minutes duration during the public session three all statements questions or inquiries shall be directed to the presiding officer and any questions or inquiries directed by a participant to another board member shall be redirected to the presiding officer who shall determine if such statement question or inquiry shall be addressed by the presiding officer on behalf of the board or by the individual board member four all board Andor superintendent responses to questions or inquiries shall be held until the end of a public participation five the presiding officer May a interrupt Warn and or terminate a participant's statement question or inquiry when it is too lengthy B interrupt Andor warn our participant when the statement question or inquiry is abusive obscene or may be defamatory C request any person to leave the meeting when that person does not observe reasonable decorum D request the assistance of law enforcement officers in the removal of a disorderly person when the person prevents or disrupts a meeting with an act that obstructs or interferes with the meeting e call for a recess or an adjournment to another time when the lack of public decorum interferes with the orderly conduct of the meeting and F wave these rules when necessary for the protection of privacy or to maintain an orderly operation of the board meeting all right that was a mouthful um so at this time public comments is open um you may come up to the podium you have three minutes good evening can you hear me um my name is Victor Hackensack residence um I wish to thank both Ladi for appearing today willing to get into the I could say fight for a better school system here in hackin one thing that stood out to me is Miss um Austin already understand that there's a commitment that must be made you know she was talking about going to the State Board um I don't know what they call it meetings once a year that was very important to hear that that she already understand that I wish other board members would take that advice and if you committed or you on the board please make the commitment to get there because there's a lot of information we can use in our community thank you anyone else in the public anybody online okay at this time we will close the public comment section on okay resolutions we don't have any uh community relations anything you want to update sorry trusty Gilmore as CH I'm sorry thought you're looking over there hi I'm happy to um inform you guys that the community relations committee has been finalized uh we have 14 uh community members one student representative and three trustees are going to um be on the committee and we're excited about um you know just getting some ideas and just getting this um important committee um off the ground because um the community is the heart of hackin saac um and we're looking forward to Bringing um new ideas and uh collaboration uh to the town and you know have some fun with it that's thank you thank you thank you uh and other committees at this moment we do not have any new business we have none uh following the order this would be our second public comment section where individuals may address the board on agenda or School matters of community interest for one minute do we have anybody here in the public anybody online going once going twice okay moving on to board comments uh trusty Carol we'll start up with you are you okay yeah yeah I start to my right and I go this way okay now I know again I want to thank the two candidates for coming out and uh wanting to be a part of the board um I really don't have too much just thank everyone for coming out and have a good night thank you all right trusty Martin yes um again uh thank you to the both candidates um for coming out and um taking interest in this um and uh to Miss Campbell um there's always opportunities available so keep your eyes and ears open you know and um uh don't give up and and um we'll be there you know looking forward to hope that you know you'll make it again and then Miss Austin uh congratulations looking forward working with you um I know that uh good things will happen and we'll bring um hack isack to another level along with this board thank you and uh good night everyone thank you trusty emmer Hema I also just want to reiterate our uh congratulations to miss Alon and a huge um uh thank you to kiomi to to Heather also for for coming out and and we really do want you ladies to stay connected with us um and thank you all for joining us tonight um I also just wanted to um remind everyone um that you know the board is working closely with Dr McBride um everyone at central office all of our teachers administrators and staff to ensure that all of our students um our staff our community in general feel safe and welcome at our schools um and I do want to continue to commend Dr McBride and the team at central office and our teachers for for um continuing to try and identify new resources um for students especially our immigrant students and their families and um members of the lgbtq community um and please a reminder that there are resources on the district website and those resources will continue to be updated um as we receive new information um I also uh did just want to remind folks um uh that um we do have the preschool open enrollment uh registration that is open um next week on February 12th and so that information is also available online but um thank you all for joining us tonight thank you trusty Gilmore hello I just wanted to remind you that um February is American Heart month and this Friday is National Wear red day so everyone please remember to wear your red um and take part in activities to raise awareness um to improve your your health reduce your risk of heart dis disease you can join a heart walk walk share healthy recipes um be more active drink in moderation and you know if you can get good quality sleep all of these things contribute uh to having a healthy heart and being healthy in general thank you thank you have a good night thank you trusty Pringle hi as we enter into our art and uh February Black History Month um we're going to recognize that I just want to remind everyone about um the Hackensack High School dance team presenting celebrating black history Through The Art of Dance Volume 3 Friday February 7th at 6:30 the doors open Showtime is at 7 um I almost forgot myself so this is why I'm reminding you guys um I also again want to thank um all three ladies that did come out um and for everyone who took the time to come out um this evening and um everybody have a blessed night get home safe thank you thank you vice president Stein it's never easy when you have two very qualified people unfortunately we only had one seat to fill um fortunately unfortunately we only had one seat to fill um and on a good note last night I attended the ladies comets basketball game they were uh down by about 16 points in the second quarter going into the third quarter they made that up and the lady comets were very successful in winning last night's game against fair laon so my uh Applause goes out to the ladies comets basketball team on that note uh we do have Refreshments so we hope everybody will partake in the refreshments at the conclusion of the meeting perfect uh so as we know February is a very busy month here in our district um this week is actually National School counselor's week uh so shout out to our school counselors who are definitely in the front lines of the day-to-days especially with a lot of changes that are happening in our school district um also it is Black History Month I encourage our families I encourage our residents to go and see our children perform to go read in their classrooms there's so many opportunities happening in a lot of our elementary schools it is a perfect opportunity for you to hop in and see your favorite teacher or to uh say hello to your child in class which I'm sure they would love uh if you have that opportunity um as trusty Gilmore had mentioned it is uh it's also heart health month and on Friday it is a national wear red day um highlighting the importance of heart disease um prevention for women so that's why we would wear red on Friday and obviously last but not least again thank you to the candidates I do look forward um in working with Melanie Austin but Heather and kiomi please continue to stay engaged uh there will be so many events so many opportunities there will be opportunities for town halls the community relations committee when the application comes back out again for the following school year please please um look out and apply and I believe that is all I have and I just want to thank the board members for all their hard work that they did this week weekend during the week um with our little emergencies that we had going on but we took care of it all and it's a pleasure working with all of you and central office thank you as well for keeping us updated on everything and making sure that the district is taken care of so thank you all um I wish everyone a very good night hopefully crossing fingers that there is snow tomorrow or it's a late a late opening listen I just I just we don't know Jennifer jennif but we don't know yet it's not out yet no it is MC bride already said I saw it briefly is be a delayed opening tomorrow everyone check your yes manifested it all right so at this time can I have a motion to adjourn motion okay motion by trusty Stein can I have a second second trusty Carol second by trusty Carol all those in favor say I I anyone to POS all right our meeting is closed at 7:07 p.m. thank you so much have a good night everyone