Okay, if you guys will speak a little louder background noise. >> Okay, so this meeting is now called to order at 703 and we all rise for complete. [clears throat and cough]
I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> In the event of emergency, all people may exit to the right and the left of
the room and proceed to the exit doors. All doors will be open from the inside. [clears throat] Open public meetings announcement. The New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice and to
attend the meeting of a public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon. In accordance with this provision of this act, the Helden board of education has caused notice of this meeting to be published in the North Jersey Record
Herald News, the board's official newspaper on January 15, 2025. in December 8th, 2025. Notices of this meeting indicating date, time, and place were posted publicly on the door of the
main entrance of the school and filed with the clerk in the municipality of health. Moving on to the certified results of the 2025 school election. The district had three available
with 932 votes. Evelyn with 936 votes. >> It might be I'm trying to mute myself right >> Tanisha Gaitlin with 738 votes. Lisa Issa with 468 votes. Raphael Martinez
with 657 votes. and Jamie Saridosia with five 452 and writing votes of 16. At this time, the district will elect the newly board members Michael Kleta and Evelyn Garcia into the 2026 election.
If you guys want to stand here with your family, you want to do it separate or we can do all together. What would you like? >> Sure. >> Separate. Okay. So, we'll go with this letter, please. >> You ready? Take a picture of your bike.
[laughter] Ready? >> So raise your right hand and repeat after me. >> I state your name. I, Mike Petta, >> do solemnly swear or affirm >> do solemnly swear or affirm >> that I will support the Constitution of the United States >> that I will support the Constitution of
the United States >> and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey >> and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey >> and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same. and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same. >> to the governments established in the United States >> to the governments established in the
United States >> and this state >> and this state >> under the authority of the people >> under the authority of the people. >> So help me God. >> So help me God. >> I state your name. I, Michael Carter, >> do solemnly swear and affirm >> do solemnly swear or affirm >> that I possess the qualification
prescribed by law >> that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law >> for the office of member of a board of education >> for the office of member of board of education >> am not disqualified as a voter >> am not disqualified as a voter
>> pursuant to RS194-1 >> pursuant to RS194-1 >> am not disqualified due conviction of a crime. I am not disqualified due to conviction of a crime >> or offense listed in >> or offense listed in
>> NJSA 18A 12-1 >> NJSA 18 A 12-1 >> and and that I will faithfully >> that I will faithfully >> impartially >> impartially >> and justly perform all the duties of
that office >> and justly perform all the duties of the office >> according to the best of my ability >> according to the best of my ability. >> So help me God. >> So help me God. >> Congratulations. >> Now we will have I state your name. I, Evelyn Garcia,
>> do solemnly swear and affirm >> do sovereignly swear and >> that I will support the constit constitution of the United States >> that I will support the constitution >> in the Constitution of the State of New Jersey. and that I will bear true faith and
allegiance to the same >> and to the governments established in the United States >> the government established in the United States >> and this state >> in this state >> under the authority of the people >> under the authority of the people. So help me God. >> I say your name. >> I
>> do solemnly swear and affirm and affirm >> that I possess the qualification prescribed by law. >> I possess the qualifications prescribed by law >> for the office of member of a board of education. >> I am not disqualified as a voter.
>> I am not disqualified as a voter. Pursuant to RS194-1 pursuant to RS94-1 I'm not disqualified due to conviction of a crime >> disqualified >> or offense listed in
>> or offense listed in >> NJSA18 12-1 >> and that I will faithully Y >> and partially >> partially >> and justly perform all the duties of that office >> according to the best of my ability.
>> according to the best of my ability. >> So help me God. >> Congratulations. Yes. >> You have a question. It's okay. >> Well, I'd like to talk, you know, just [snorts] we we have another board member that you know want a seat and we're once
the we're quite confident the fingerprints will be cleared, but once they get cleared, then we can officially swear her in. We're looking forward to that day. >> So, we're moving on to the election. I'm sorry. Yes. >> Got me off track.
>> Okay. So, let's have our official go for Mrs. Cerna >> here. >> Mr. Ketta >> here. >> Miss Krada >> here. >> Mrs. Fischer >> here. >> M Garcia >> here. >> Mr. Guzman >> here. >> Miss Johnson >> here.
>> Mr. Williams >> here. We're moving along on the agenda. The next item on the agenda is to elect the board of presidents. Can I have a nomination for president? >> Mike for president.
>> Okay. We have Mr. Kleta. Do we have any more nominations? >> I'd like to nominate Mr. Do I have any more nominations for board presidents? Okay. Nominations are closed. I will take a roll call in the order in which
the candidates were nominated. Mrs. Cerna, this is a um I'm taking a roll call for Mr. Klette. Okay. Mrs. Cerna, >> yes. >> Mr. Kleta, >> yes. >> Miss Kad, >> no. >> Mrs. Fisher, >> no. Miss Garcia,
>> yes. [clears throat] >> Mr. Desmond. >> Who was the uh second nomination? >> The first nomination we're on right now is Mr. Kleta and the second one is Mr. V.
>> Four. Uh my vote is no. >> Mrs. Johnson, >> yes. >> Mr. Williams, >> yes. >> And congratulations, Mr. Ketta. [applause] Hey. >> Yeah. It requested me to be on video, but I
tried >> [clears throat] >> So item number 3.2 like for a motion for board vice president. I'd like to nominate Roxanna Cerna. >> Is there any other nominations? >> Yes. We have two nominations. Merna, Missado,
is there any other nominations? >> Mr. President, do you have a second for those nominations? >> We don't need a second on the nominations as far as the uh nominations for positions. Seeing no other nominations, we close the nominations and vote in the order in
which the candidates were nominated. >> So now we're going to take a um roll call for Mrs. Cerner as vice president. Mrs. Cerna, >> yes. >> Mr. Kleta, >> yes. >> Miss Kadra,
>> Mrs. Fischer, no. >> Miss Garcia, >> yes. Mr. Gman, >> yes. >> Mrs. Johnson, >> Mrs. Mr. Williams, >> yes.
>> Congratulations. I know. I'm sorry. [snorts] >> Sorry. >> Change seats. I just want to take an opportunity to thank uh the voters in town who all came out and uh supported a great team. Uh
thank the people that ran against us as well for their uh will to come out and try to help the community. Hopefully we could all work together going forward. I want to thank my wife and my family for being here, for allowing me to do uh things like this and give back to the community. And
I wanted to thank Roxanna for being a huge part of the team. Hopefully, we can all work together going forward and um we'll have a good school year. With that being said, we move on to 4.1 committee reports. We do not have committee set,
so we're going to go off of the list that we had from last year. Um I have them here in front of me. Starting with uh I have no report. Uh moving on to Mr. Waka, chief school administrator. >> Thank [snorts] you president. I want to welcome the uh first and
foremost the new board members. Um you've heard me say this a lot, but it takes a lot of faith for you to to run for board because you know you're not getting emails telling you how great you always get emails. You know, a lot of times complaint it could be a burdensome thing and you want to do good for the
kids. And I I I think it's a lovely volunteer philanthropic service that you offer to your your community. So I really appreciate you guys showing the bravery to do that. Um the second part is just the oath. Like the oath the hardest part is is is reciting that oath
because it gets a little complicated and I've done that twice now. Lama does a good job trying to make it user friendly. >> Uh but like that that thing can tongue twist you a little bit for sure. And the third thing is just the idea of boardsmanship. You know, like it's it's it's you know, there's there's there's
lots of different ways you could assist and benefit a school district as a board member and that's what boardmanship is. And um I think that you know this board's been fairly active in in getting their training and and and learning
about the minutia issues, emailing me about things. So I appreciate that. And you know, I want to have the best relationship possible. Um, my report's quick because tonight's the reorg meeting. Every meeting is the board's meeting. It's what they call a board meeting. Um, but if there's ever a
board's board's meeting, it's it's the reorg meeting when you [clears throat] elect your president. It's when you elect your vice president, it's when you the committees are begin to create their establishments. And I know uh you know I I presented a a draft of a a board
meeting schedule to the board president, but that that's something that's malleable that it's supposed to be malleable. You know, we're going to work together and create a board definitive board meeting scheduled to email to all the board me present to all the board
members soon. Um and uh what's happened lately HPS. So even though it was a long long long winter break, we were open because uh we had like about a 12-day window where we can get all of our HVAC instruction done. It was the kind of thing where if we didn't do it during a
break, we would have had to relocate the classrooms more than we had. Uh we got a a big chunk of our one of one of our three HVAC projects done. This was the interior, the rooms that don't really have access to windows. Um, so I was here for almost all of it. I know, you
know, custodians and Germaine did a great job with that. Um, and otherwise, we're starting a school year. We're our first year back today and we're looking forward to another good school year. And like Mike said, we want to have a great year. And you know, we I think it's important to realize like we had a year last year where we we lost $880,000 in
state aid. We lost $330,000 in federal aid. We lost preschool aid. And and we kept our staff full. And then to me that, you know, even though last year was tough, it was still a really good year. Uh and a lot of good things happened here. And then I expect that to happen this year and I expect it to happen next year. So I'm looking forward
to working with all the new board members except for George who's at home. This is a completely different board um you know that that that has hired me and I'm looking forward to working with it. So that's my report. Any questions for the chief school administrator?
>> I'm moving on to the business administrator Miss August. I don't have anything before. The only thing I want to note is that um the resolution that's on the agenda with the schedule meeting notes. Um there is one um recommended
schedule which is on here and the majority of the days were on Tuesday but we did make three different versions and you guys should have been able to see that on the attachments and the executive content. you guys can just make sure you take a look at that before we get to it so that we can solidify
each case. >> I can interrupt on that because like you know that's ultimately it's going to be the recommendation of the board president that we're going to vote on. So uh you know Mike however you want to go about forming whatever sort of defense you want for that but if you let
us know that it helps us prepare. >> Okay. And I really prefer you. [laughter] >> Let's keep it very good luck. >> Yeah. So, and just a note that I know this agenda is lengthy. A lot of this is
just renewals from last year. So, um for the new board members who've never participated in a reorg meeting, it's just kind of reertifying some of the business that were already taking care of um the year. But if you have any questions, I can definitely clarify. >> [clears throat]
>> And that's it. >> Thank you. Is there any questions for Miss August? >> M just confirming. So the one that's on here is one there's two attachments. And if you if you want to create a match
up of all three before we go on to the next report, I just want to take a moment and thank uh the two guests that we have as from Manchester regional board president and Mr. Fischer as well for coming out and
>> thank you as well. [laughter] >> We don't have the committee set yet. So we're going off of what was from meeting from last year. So, personnel and management. Last year's chairman was Mr. Gossman.
Um, are we um are we going into committee reports or are we Sorry. >> Yeah, this is just committee reports at this time, Mr. President. >> Yeah, nothing to report, Mr. President. >> Thank you, sir.
Curriculum and technology from last year was Mrs. Cordova. >> Nothing to report. >> Thank you, ma'am. >> Policy and public relations would also be Mr. >> Nothing to report.
safety and security also. Mr. Gman, >> uh, nothing to report, Mr. President. >> Thank you, sir. Community and extracurricular was Miss Cordo. >> Nothing to report. >> Thank you. Finance and fiscal plant, Mrs. Fisher.
>> Nothing. >> And state and county was Miss Scor. I just have a small update in regards to the district consolidation. Um I did look into it. Um and there's it's still pending. It has not moved from the state senate committee. So I'll I'll keep
follow up on that. >> Thank you. And that brings us to uh Mr. Brown the board of one quick thing. I want to congratulate the new board members and the new board officers. And recall there was a petition filed by the EGA about the
votes a few months ago. The court has corrected all of that. We had a conference call at conference call attorney is trying to get the NJBA's blessing to withdraw that petition since it's all been dissolved. Have another conference with the judge on the 13th.
So I hope at the next board meeting I can tell you that it's been one other thing I noticed at the next thing on the agenda is another mandatory ethics training and I understand for that that's not important or
anything for tonight. Okay. That's all for me. Before we move on, if anybody has any boards that they or rather committees that they're interested in being part of uh or something that they feel they would uh best serve the board, please let me know so that we could put
together a list of the new committees for this year. So, >> yes. This way we can uh highlight everyone's different talents and where they think they could best help with the school. >> So can I have a motion to table uh 51
motion second? table. We have the state. >> Yeah. interest. >> Yes, >> Mrs. Cerna. >> Yes, >> Mr. Petta. >> Yes,
>> Mr. >> Yes, >> Mrs. Fisher. >> Yes, >> Miss Garcia. >> Yes, >> Mr. Buzzman. >> Yes, >> Mr. Yeah. And Mr. Williams. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> Moving on to
six adoptions. Do we have a motion to move the items under section six? >> Motion. Mr. Williams. >> Second. >> Second. Mr. Johnson. Roll call, please. >> Mrs. Cerna. >> Yes. >> Mr. Ketta. >> Yes. >> Mr. Dorado. >> Yes.
>> Mrs. Fischer. >> Yes. >> Miss Garcia. >> Yes. Mr. Budman. >> Yes. >> Johnson. >> Yes. >> And Mr. Williams? >> Yes. >> Moving on to number seven. >> They put on number six. >> Yes. >> Yes.
>> All right. Well, nothing will matter. Did I just pick up the first time? We don't participate in NJ SIA. So maybe that might have been low in there for for Manchester by accidentally >> our kids don't participate things. Maybe
they should just make a note of that but we don't need to prove that I'm sorry. >> All right. Moving on to section seven under appointments. Uh do we have a motion to move the items 71 through
7:46 motion. >> Second >> motion. Miss Johnson, second Miss Roll call, please. >> Mrs. Cerna, >> yes. >> Mr. Ketta, >> yes. >> Miss Gado, >> yes. >> Mrs. Fisher, >> yes. >> Mia, >> yes. >> Mr. Bman,
>> yes. >> Mrs. Johnson, >> yes. We'll see. [laughter] >> Moving on to number eight, contracts and joint services. Um, you miss forgot before we go to the other ones. Do we have any questions, comments, or concerns regarding any of the items on
section 8? With that, seeing no questions, uh, do we have a motion to move the items from 81 through 8:21? >> Motion, Mr. Williams. >> Second. >> Second, Mr. Johnson. Roll call, please. >> Mrs. Cern, >> yes. >> Mr. Ketta, >> yes.
>> Miss, >> I'd like to abain from 8.3. And then in 8.7, I just um I'd like to abain from Horizon with Trust Shield. Everything else? Yes,
>> Mrs. Fisher. >> Yes, >> Mr. >> Mr. Buzzman. >> My vote is yes, >> Mr. Johnson. >> Yes, >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Thank you. Number 9.1. How does one proceed when we
don't have to set schedule yet? just now. >> We're moving on to section number nine, designations. Uh we'd like, would anyone like to open discussion on any of these items, including 9.1 >> I'm happy with the Tuesday schedule that
we have here. um that does work for my schedule because I don't have to take off every Wednesday night. Um if that works um but I am willing to uh you know work with everybody else in their schedule. Does anyone see any major conflicts with these dates that
are listed under 9.1 that would uh preclude them being available or that we'd like to move? I said I'd be happy to work with everybody and try to make it as easy for everyone to be here as possible. Do we have any discussion or questions
on any of the other designation items under section 9? >> Mr. President, I make a motion to move designations. >> Motion, Mr. Gusman. We have second. >> Second. Mr. Johnson. Roll call, please. >> Mrs. Cerna, >> yes. >> Mr. Ketta,
>> yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Fischer, >> yes. >> Miss Garcia, >> yes. >> Mr. Buzzman, >> yes. >> Mrs. Johnson, >> yes. >> Mr. Williams, >> yes. >> Thank you [clears throat] very much. >> With that, moving on to section 10,
hearing of citizens on the agenda item only. Do we have a motion to open the floor? >> Motion, Mrs. Fischer. >> Second, Mrs. Cerna. Roll call, please. >> All in favor? >> The floor is open again. Please, when
you come up, state your name. Uh, three minutes. It's now open to anyone here wish to speak or anyone. Well, I'll be a citizen and I'm going to talk about 2.2. And that I want to let uh especially Mr. Williams know that I'm very happy to
offer you a tour of the school at whatever time is most convenient for you. Um, and after we do that tour, you know, I'd like to have a conversation with you about our finances and our her long-term district goals where we're at. Also answer any questions that you might have. Um, so, you know, see halen.org.
That's probably the best way to reach me. It's right at the website and I'd love to have you 85. >> We have anybody online? >> Seeing no one uh coming forward. >> Step up, sir, please.
>> Hello everyone. >> My name is Danny Rodriguez. live at 489 Broadway in Pake, New Jersey. Uh I'm also a commissioner on the board of education in the city of Pake. So reason I'm here is because I came to support um my good friend Evelyn Garcia as she uh
was elected. I just want to congratulate everyone that was elected um Mr. President Vice President as well as you know I know some of the commissioners commissioner Cor and of course Commissioner Goodman that's online right now. um just want to congratulate you and just if I can leave one piece of
advice that I always do is that uh one of the things that I've always come by and I share this with the new uh electes is that the decisions we make isn't just for today is for tomorrow. So I'm I'm sure that decisions that you're making today were were done 25 years ago 20
years ago. Now sometimes you have to unwind them and do so just always keep that in mind. So that was it. Thank you very much. >> Tell I say hello please. Huh? >> Tell do I say hello? >> I definitely will. I definitely will. Thank you. >> Seeing no one else, do we have a motion to close?
>> Motion, Mr. Williams. Second, Mrs. Pado. All in favor? >> We don't have any. So for number 11, correspondence, we have no correspondence. So we'll move on to section 12, approval of prior minutes. Do we have a motion to move the
prior? >> Motion, Mr. Johnson. >> Second. >> Second, Mrs. Fischer. Roll call, please. >> Mr. Sa, >> yes. >> Mr. Ketta, >> yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Fisher, >> yes. >> Miss C.
>> Yes. >> Mr. Guzman, >> yes. Johnson. >> Yes. And Mr. Williams. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> Moving on to section 13, personnel management. >> Mr. Guzman, do we have anything for
personnel management? >> Mr. uh Mr. President, let's move uh 13.1 through 13.4. Move >> by Mr. Guzman. We have a second. Second, Mr. Williams. Do we have any discussion questions or concerns?
>> Mrs. Serna, >> yes. >> Mr. Ketta, >> yes. >> Majo, >> yes. >> Mrs. Fisher, >> yes. >> Miss Garcia, >> yes. >> Mr. Buzzman, >> yes. >> Mrs. Johnson, >> yes. >> And Mr. Williams, >> yes.
[clears throat] >> Moving on to section 14, curriculum and technology. Um, Mr. 14.1 and 14.2. >> You have a second. >> Second. >> Moved by M. Second by M. Mrs. Fischer.
>> Roll call, please. >> Mr. Cerna, >> yes. >> Mr. Ketta, >> yes. >> Missado, yes. Mrs. >> Fisher, yes. Miss Garcia, >> yes. >> Mr. Buzzman. >> Yes, ma'am.
Mrs. Johnson. Yes. >> Yes. >> Thank you very much. >> Section 15, policy committee. There's uh no agenda items. Section 16, safety and security committee. No agenda items. Section 17,
community engagement and outreach as well as extracurricular activities. Also no agenda items at this time. Moving on to finance and fiscal plan. Mrs. Fisher financ 18182.
>> Second. >> Moved by Mrs. Fischer. Second by Mrs. Coado. Roll call, please. >> Mrs. Cerna, >> yes. >> Mr. Kleta, >> yes. >> Missado, >> yes. >> Mrs. Fisher, >> yes. >> Miss Garcia, >> yes. >> Mr. Buzzman,
>> yes. Mr. Johnson. >> Yes. And Mr. Williams. >> Yes. >> Uh number 19. Does anyone have any new or old business they wish to address at this time? >> Just me real quick tonight. That's with the uh committee chairs
that you have. You know, I really like what we do with the finance committee where like first Monday of every month or whatever it is, we all meet on Zoom. be in person, but we we choose to assume it's something that's in our schedule. We meet like that. Um, you
know, we have this board meeting boards committee. So, it's incumbent upon the the chairperson of whatever the committee is to work to decide how is that you guys want to meet, right? I'm going to look to provide that service. Um, but I I it's kind of thing where
once we make those committee recommendations, uh, they're approved. Uh after the next meeting, I like to meet with all the committee chairs and then and then just kind of map out, you know, a calendar that we we think will work for us. It'll be valuable, but something we kind of have some set in
writing um so that we have a a set. >> That's all. >> Anyone else on new business? [cough and clears throat] >> I just want to say congratulations to you and Miss Turner. Congratulations. Mr. President, Mr. President.
>> Yes, sir. >> I just want to congratulate you as well as Mrs. Cerna um presidency and vice presidency respectively. Um I have confidence in both of you that you will do a a great job in leading our district. It's important that we all
work together. Um and I'm sure we will. I also want to thank uh Mrs. EA and Mr. Martinez for their years of dedicated service to our district. Um, as well as I want to welcome aboard, Miss Garcia and uh, Miss Caitlyn. So, with that
being said, let's work together and let's continue to put Wildcats first. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. President. >> Moving on to number 20, hearing of citizens on operation of school. Do we have a motion for a hearing of citizens on school operations?
Motion, Miss Johnson, second, Mr. Cerna. All in favor? 7:41 the floor is now open. >> No one seeing no one in the building and seeing no one online we have a motion to close
the hearing of citizens second. All in favor. >> We have no executive session. So at 7:41 we have a motion to adjourn
Mrs. Fisher seconded by Mrs. Johnson. All in favor? >> Thank you guys.