We're going to call the meeting to order. If you'll rise for a flag, please pledge allegiance 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. >> Mood of egress. In the event of an emergency, all people may exit right or left from this room. Proceed to an exit door. All doors open from the inside. The open public meetings announcement. Open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have
advanced notice of and to attend meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon. In accordance with the provisions of this act, the Hilton Board of Education has notice of this meeting to be sent to the North Jersey Record Herald Duce, the board's official newspaper on June 30th, 2026
and July 1st, 2026. Notices of this meeting indicating date, time, and place were posted publicly on the door of the main entrance to the school and filed with the clerk of the municipality available. Roll call, please. >> Mrs. Cerna, Miss Padrad, Mrs. Fischer,
>> here. >> I know Mr. I was here. >> Yes. >> Miss Garcia >> here. >> Miss Gatlin >> here. >> Mr. Guzman, Mrs. Johnson >> here. Mr. Williams >> present. >> And Mr. Klet
>> present. >> Thank you. >> We are going to do a brief executive session. There's one question uh before we go. The >> the citizens executive session is first. >> Okay. Yeah.
>> Uh, brief executive session, five minutes, and then we will proceed. >> Do I have a motion to go into executive session? >> Second. >> Motion, Mr. Johnson, second, Miss Fischer. All in favor? >> I. >> Do I have a motion to open the floor to a hearing of citizens on agenda items
only? >> Motion. >> Motion, Mr. Williams. Second, Mr. Johnson. All in favor? >> Any opposed? Seeing no one opposed, the floor is open to members of the public to speak on agenda items only. Anyone
online? Seeing no one in in here, no one online. Motion to close, Miss Cerna. Do we have a second? >> Second. >> Second, Miss Fischer. All in favor? >> Committee reports. All right. for the president's report. I just want to say that I'm happy that we
made it to this point. I want to thank the county superintendent's office for helping us get these contracts done so that we're able to stand here tonight. I also want to thank the board and their families for all the time and effort that they put into finding a leader to help move our district forward. Uh tonight, we're going to be voting to
approve the contract for Dr. Mary Melissa as the new superintendent here at Hilton Public School. Uh the board reviewed over 40 candidates and Dr. Melissa was a standout from the very first interview. I do want to point out that I do know that uh change is hard and scary, but I
promise that this board has done everything in our power to provide the district with a leader who we believe will help push the district forward and to achieve the goals that we have set for our students. Our goal is to do the best for the children and the district as a whole. And I truly believe that this decision will help to ease some of
the anxiety and stress that has been caused over the past year. And I hope that today marks a start of a new era for our district. And with that, I end my report. I have nothing to report. Personnel manager, Mr.
Unless there's something. All right, perfect. All right, with that there are no other issues. U we're going to move on to number five, personnel management committee. Do we have a motion to move items 5.1 and 5.2?
>> Motion. >> Mr. Williams, second, Miss Guado. Roll call. >> Mrs. Turner. >> Um, okay. So, we're voting on the 54.2, right? >> Yes. Correct. >> Okay. So, choosing a superintendent is our most important responsibility. And
while this process had its roadblock, a definitive change was absolutely needed for Hailen Public School to move our our school forward and onward. This was a learning experience that will allow us to handle this this major responsibility better if we ever face it again. Our
staff and students need stability. While I still have very little reservations, I am voting yes to give this district the opportunity to thrive, and I look forward to working with the new superintendent to ensure our success. Miss Gado,
>> yes. >> Mrs. Fisher, >> yes. >> Miss Garcia, >> yes. >> Miss Gatlin, >> yes. >> Mr. Guzman, >> my vote is yes. Dr. >> Mrs. Johnson, >> yes.
>> Mr. Williams already exuberant. Yes. >> Thank you. Mystic 11. >> Yes. >> Do we have any new or old business? >> Uh, I still want the resol is that anybody oppose that um putting it on the
ballot and we need to get that like done and started 74 days before the election. Could you repeat asking the taxpayers um to see whether or not they would increase their taxes in order to
not riff next year? >> I' I'd like to um motion uh that we add that resolution if that's an option. >> There's no resolution right now on the table for that. I think you were asking for
>> discussion. Everybody okay with that? >> We need to get that started. >> I'm definitely for something like that. Um but we would need a formal resolution that we can consider to be. >> So then we can ask if you want to make a motion to do a resolution to vote on. We
don't have a resolution to vote on. So if you want to make a a motion to form a resolution, we could vote on that. Correct. >> Yes. But I would encourage everyone to have a discussion on what that entails first. >> Okay. >> Do we have a certain percentage of Marine at this?
>> Well, right now, had we done six, we would been okay. Um, but next year, I'm guessing if we would did eight or nine, that would be it. That's why I feel like you guys should have discussion
attorney attorney has to be present to to take care of the way that you're going to go with that because there's a lot of dos and don'ts with that. >> Um, >> so where should we next? >> Let's have a discussion. I don't think
we're going to solve it right now. I think we should talk to the attorney. We should look at what we want to do next year. We can discuss the bank cap that we already have. We do all of those things. But I think Mrs. Cerner is saying because of what happened last this past budget in us making that
decision because there have been conversation that some taxpayers are willing to do this but we don't know that is true. Right. So what we're saying is that you know she's saying let's have a discussion with all the stakeholders not just the board and see if this is something that we want to
move forward in. I wouldn't just say, you know, let's make a decision on the percentage today because we don't know, you know, the town may say, you know, we have one or two people are speaking out on that. We don't know if that's work um districtwide or that's the whole community's sentiment on that. So, we
need to get that decision from our community. >> Any other new business? I just want to thank the board for um their time and effort to um going through the process and selecting a very qualified candidate
my left here and um I look forward to her meeting the wild cats. >> Do I have a motion to open the floor the hearing of citizens on operations of the school? >> Motion Miss Cerna second Johnson. All in favor?
Okay. >> All right. The floor is open if anybody wish to speak. Miss Dr. Mos, if you'd like to speak. >> Thank you so much. I really would just like to say thank you so much, Mr. Thank you to the entire board of education. It is an absolute honor to be appointed superintendent of Hailman. And I look
forward to meeting the community, the families, the students, faculty, staff, and administration so that I can honor the progress we've made and forge something new together. Um because of the day, I would also just like to say thank you to everyone on Zoom who is
supporting me. I'm leaving a district I've been with for 10 years. And so to have the support of the South Superintendent, Board of Education, colleagues, community members, um I bring all of that here and I look forward to creating relationships and
experiences like that with you here in Halen. So thank you for the opportunity and it's going to be great. I'm really excited. So thank you. Can you hear? >> Do we have anybody online? >> Seeing no hands. Motion to close. Mrs. Cerna do second. >> Second.
>> Mrs. Johnson. All in favor? >> I. >> All right. My favorite part of the meeting. Do we have a motion to adjourn the meeting? >> Mr. Special. President, I just want to acknowledge our mayor Mike Johnson who's here who
cares to be stand in solidarity with our school district as we're hiring superintendent. Um, and my vote is yes on the uh call to adjourn the meeting. All right, >> meeting is adjourned at 6:47.