globally contract some people not terms it's organizations fun so like now in the vote I help
Good evening and call the meeting to order. Please join me in saluting the flag. >> I 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. Good evening everyone. >> Pursuant to the Open Public Meetings Act, adequate notice of this meeting has been provided as follows. by having the time, date, and place of this meeting
posted on the bulletin board in the administration building January April 6th to 2026 and by sending a copy of the meeting notice of the star ledger in the local source and by filing a copy with the Township Hillside Public
Library. Roll. >> Okay. Roll call. >> Miss Best, >> present. >> Miss Auid, >> present. Mr. Estster >> here. >> Miss Horton Given
>> here. >> Mr. Okai is absent. Miss Parks is absent. Mr. Shapiro is absent. DP Hargrave >> present. >> And President Dr. Howard >> present. We have a quorum.
Barely, but we have one. Okay. Do we have any announcements before we begin? All righty. fire drill and lockdown reports have been received. We'll move directly into our superintendence report. Dr. Perez, take it away. >> Okay. Good evening everyone.
>> So, I wanted to open the night as I generally do this, but I think it's important to really acknowledge and recognize all that our students and our staff uh who are behind our students are achieving on their own. And while we do have the opportunity to look at these through our district news feed, I think
it's just important to really just bring it out and remember exactly what talent are um in our what talents are in our building and what support looks like and what the results are like from that support because of the staff that we have in place. So, a lot of these are
going to be shout outs. I want to definitely give a a big congratulations to Uea Gayishi. Excuse me if I mispronounced your name. She was one of seven winners from the various New Jersey school districts who participated in the Alpha Fi Alpha Fraternity Inc.
Zeta uh New Lambda chapters uh stock market challenge. So we definitely wanted to honor her. Uh we also wanted to congratulate our Hillside High School student council because they were recognized as this year's National Gold Council of Excellence by the National
Association of Student Councils. Another shout out to our HR scholars who were inducted into the National Honor Arts Society and that was held uh the day before we went on spring break. We also definitely want to continue to give shoutouts to our performing arts club um
or uh students I should say at the high school. They received four nominations at Monontlair State University's Foxy Awards and the awards are going to be taking place in May. So happy to see our students are up and going through the guidance of our staff and our
administrators. Uh continued shout outs to our staff again, Miss Fernandez at DGTA. Our students are experiencing what goes into food production through the hydroponics uh program. And so as it says there in the last sentence, from seed to harvest and ultimately from hydroponics lettuce
to lunch. So there's some images there of what our kids are engaging in in their classes and also what's coming from those particular opportunities that they get. Uh another incredible experience for our high school students who participated on going to Italy and
Spain during spring break. Uh thanks to Mr. Skelton and Miss Andino along with anybody else. Thanks also to the board for allowing that to happen. uh to give our students the opportunity to be abroad and see what culture uh experience is in different languages.
So, I wanted to just uh share that. I also wanted to give a big shout out to Miss Salah Deakuna's uh class because we see often if you're walking through the high school, you'll often see students with video cameras or their phones in their hand and they're uh taking uh video shots of each other or acts and it
actually came to a fruition for them because their um going gone uh video made it to the 18th annual Kent Place Film Festival. So I identified the names of the students who were a part of that project. So, huge shout out to her. We also want to thank our staff at AP
Morris for recognizing uh World Art Day. Thank you to Miss Branch and Miss Cardardoso for really engaging our families and continuing to engage our families outside of the school day by having them take part in um these activities that are not just for their kids, but also
for them to have an um to have the the chance to engage with the staff at the building at a different level as opposed to having to speak to them during parent teacher nights. Uh uh thank you really more to the community who came out uh last week for the spring and into
conversations with me. I really appreciated the transparent and cond candid questions as well as the suggestions that came from that. It really does help frame how we have to move forward as a district and how it's all community based and not just unilateral. So, I thank um all our
staff, all our community members, and our residents who not only participated last week, but in the first one during the winter. Thank you to all who were part of that. Uh this weekend, uh one of the things that I wanted to do in in my time here is to really get a better understanding
of not just the course offerings, but the programs that are offered to our students outside of the regular school day. One of them was Toast Masters that came to HIA on on Saturday. What I liked about this particular program was that it was open to our WK students. It also
uh gave our uh students that heard a looker the opportunity to also participate and it's really just exposing them at a young age how to present with confidence, how to speak, how to avoid fillers like um uh well, you know, you know, which is what we tend to do. So, it was a a a good
opportunity to see our students be participate in something that really postures them where they are poised to speak and uh take take whatever they're doing and applying it in this program, in their classes, and even outside of
their classes as they move on. Uh, another big win that I want to share is our boys volleyball team. We have two seniors that are leading the way for a winning season. That's Aldi Alexander and Jesus Diaz. So continue to wish them well as they are in their volleyball season. We also want to celebrate our
first year's Hispanic Honor Society that took place this Monday. The chapter is called Ves Sunila. And thank you to me to board member vice president Margie Hargra for representing the board and for really starting to see more of our students take part in such activities.
And there was also a musical performance by two of our students. One of whom we were like, "Oh my god, we never would have thought that this was something that our kids, the gem that they hold within. But this is what I'm talking about. The fact that we have staff that are there poised to push our students forward and really provide them with the
opportunity that they need to excel." Uh, couple more things. In celebration of Earth Day, our WK students and our DGTA students worked in conjunction with uh the department of public works and shoppers of hillside to clean up uh me
uh in commemoration of Earth. Hence, so wanted to thank our building administrators for making that happen and really continuing to carry the mission forward of us collaborating not just in district but out of the district. and and a special special special shout out to all of our
administrative professionals. A lot of the work that we do really can't get done without your support, without your guidance, and your feedback, and also with helping us engage with our families when they're calling or coming to the offices. So, thank you to all of you. Couple things that are coming up in the
next uh week or so. We have NJSLS testing that starts next week. We also have uh a third play that our high school performing arts department is putting on. They usually do two a year, but this year the kids wanted to do a third one. And so uh thanks to Miss
Pvish who allowed that to happen, who made that happen. So if you haven't purchased your tickets, please do so. The showings are next week. And um with May being next week on Friday, these are the particular things that we're going to be recognizing. And I'll be sending out a flyer to commemorate these and any
part any ones that fall outside of the month per se, there will be individual flyers just to commemorate and remind uh the district what we are honoring on a particular day or week. And as I've been um sharing with you from month to month, uh a lot of the
work that we do really is not possible without our staff. That's teachers, uh our our administrative assistants, that could be our custodians, our security guards, our paras. What we do can't be done alone and this is why we do this on a month-to-month month basis to just
remind ourselves of how it really does take a village and thanks for that village because our kids are in incredible hands. This month we were honoring Hillside High School and the four individuals that were recognized were Steven Seberino, Chrissy Acasta,
Rachel Priish, and Gina Martinez. So, if you'd like to learn more about them, you can definitely go to our website, click on uh each of their bios or the summaries about them to better understand why they were identified as the honorary members for their particular school. And thank you to our
high school administrative staff, Mr. Obina Manaka, Miss Hartwell Jimenez, Mr. Eric Batten, and really all of the Hillside High School staff and students for uh making this possible. And to all of you, thank you. That's all.
Thank you. Thank you so much Dr. Perez for that wonderful uh and insightful and enlightening report. Uh at this time we will move directly into our student representative report. So, if you're ready, good evening everyone. My name is Jada
and I'm the Hillside High School student council board of education representative. April has been a very busy month for Hillside High School. During our spring break, some of our students got the chance to take a trip abroad to Europe, visit Italy and Spain. The students who attended said they had
an amazing time, got to see new sites, and try new things. Speaking about trips, the some of our US history students got a chance to take a trip to the Statue of Liberty and to Ellis Island.
Some of our juniors and seniors went to New York City to see the musical Heathers. Today, the Hillsa High School is hosting a multiculture night tomorrow, April 24th, where students will be presenting
traditional traditions, foods, and information about their cultures. On April 28th and 29th and 30th, freshman and our juniors will take the NJSLA and the NJ GPA science test.
The Hispanic Honor Society proudly celebrates its historic milestone on Tuesday, 20 April 21st with its very first induction ceremony held in the Hillsa High School media center. 14 outstanding students were in
inducted as some members of this new chapter, the first kind at our school. This marks a beginning of many meaningful traditions. Our performing arts club will be presenting the one act play disaster on
April 30th and May 1st at 6:30 p.m. in the Hillside High School auditorium. I do have some flyers that has a QR code where you could purchase your tickets either on credit card or cash.
The tickets in advance are $5 and at the door they're $8. So, please come out and support our performing arts club. Finally, I'd like to finally have a lot to celebrate this past month at Hillside High School. So I would like to take this moment to congratulate the
following. Four cast members of the performing arts club fall play radium girls were nominated for Foxy Awards at Monontlair State University theaters night awards for their outstanding performance. The following students are
Leilani Ortega, Clyde Gibbons, Frances Kayla DMA, Kyne Lug. The award summary will be held next month at Mon Mont Monontlair State University. Our our student council was recognized as the as a 2026 National
Gold Council Excellence by the National Association of Student Councils for their third year in a row. Mrs. Cella Cella Deacon second period film production class won best represent
representation for a theme that and that the annual can place film festival for their original film go gone and finally Mrs. Norin Doridge for being selected to speak as a speaker at the
National Council teacher of teachers of English annual convention which will be held at on November 19th and 20th. As you see, April has been a very busy month for Hosa High School and May seems like it's going to be the same. On May
13th, the dance ensemble will hold will be holding a their per will be holding a performance. And the next day, May 14th, the band and chorus class will present their spring concert. We hope you all
are going to join us for these events and I hope you all have an amazing rest of your April. You too. >> Thank you, Jen. As always, um, we celebrate those who do the work and we celebrate those who sacrificed all they could until they
could do no more. We lost a very, very important member of our staff. Most recently, in the name of Mr. Brown, um, I would ask that we observe a moment of silence in his honor. Thank you. The work never stops.
At this time, we would like to move into public comments. Residents are required to state their names, addresses, and subject matter. In the event it appears the public comment portion of the meeting may exceed 15 minutes, the presiding officer may limit each statement made by a participant to
three minutes duration. Issues raised by members of the public may or may not be responded to by the board. All comments will be considered and are responsibly forthcoming if and when appropriate. The board asks that members of the public be courteous and mindful of the
rights of other individuals when speaking. Specifically, comments regarding students and employees of the board are discouraged and will not be responded to by the board. Students and employees have specific legal rights afforded by the laws of the state of New Jersey.
The board bears no responsibility, nor will it be liable for any comments made by members of the public. Members of the public should consider their comments in light of legal rights of those affected or identified in their comments and be aware that they are legally responsible and liable for their comments.
At this time, we will open the microphone and the floor to anyone in public comments. >> Oh, sorry. My fing motion to go into public comments. >> Thank you. >> All in favor? >> I Good Lord, Dr. Howard's having a day. Sorry.
>> Good evening everyone. >> I want to thank Miss Jill Seeker for this shirt. We had bring your children to work day and we had 29 children come in and we did a lot with them today. Oh, Shireina
Del Ros 63 Clark Street. I want to say um the spring into conversation was wonderful. It gives the community a chance to ask questions and say what it is they want to say freely without people just like looking at them like
they don't know what they're talking about. And a lot of the parents text me and they say, "Why didn't you tell me about it?" It's all over. You know, what do you want me to send you a smoke screen? But I'm just saying it it's something that was needed and it's appreciated. So, I wanted to say Dr.
Perez for your vision. Thank you because the absolutely that's a clap up. And then on June the 6th, over Edwards will be sponsoring a color run. And Dr. how I have pictures of you, boy.
You can't even see his face. He's so colorful. But it it's June the 6. Um, we're going to put the website up so you can register. I would like all of you to come out and get painted. It's a fun time and the kids would love to see your
faces. Thank you so much. Good evening, president, members of the board, superintendent Perez. Good to see you. And Hillside School District Community. My name is Dan Denos, founder and executive director of Leaders 21st Century. My apologies, 60 Park Place, Newark, New Jersey. Uh I also want to
acknowledge uh superintendent Perez for your leadership uh in sustaining strong partnerships that directly support student success. Uh that level of alignment is essential when we are serious about outcomes. So so thank you. Uh through the leaders of 21st century fellowship, our focus has been clear.
Leadership development, college readiness, and the power skills students need to successfully navigate life beyond graduation. To date, we have served 125 hillside students through this partnership. The results reflect that focus. Students report have three
to five trusted adults that can turn uh for college guidance. We've seen 85% increase in students feeling prepared for post-secary education. An 82% increase in readiness for professional world and a 91% increase in understanding self- advocacy and a
critical leadership skill. That is not increment growth. That is measurable transformation. Students are leaving more confident, more prepared, and more connected to their future. One student entered the program uncertain and left with a clear direction. Another successful advocated for her acceptance
into Temple University by applying the communication follow-up strategies learned through our program. This work extends beyond academics to strengthen school culture by building confidence, fostering meaningful relationships and preparing students to take ownership of their future. At Leaders of the 21st
century, we believe in exposure, expansion, and elevation. Through this partnership, we are seeing those principal come to life within Hillside School. We would also like to formally invite you to our citywide symposium on May 9th in Newark at Arts High School with our
partners uh Orange Planefield as well as Hillside and Newark Board of Education. This experience provides students with the opportunity to apply what they've learned in real time, engaging in real-time networking, building connections, collaborating with peers from across the state of New Jersey who have participated in our program. As we
look ahead, I am confident that continued partnership will deepen this impact and expand opportunities for our students because this work is not just preparing students to graduate. It is by preparing them to lead. I want to thank you all for your leadership. I know it's
not easy doing what you all do. Uh I've been in many school buildings as the founder executive director. Uh and you can feel the presence um something special that's happening within these schools. Uh again uh you I've been in a lot of buildings so I want to salute you
all for your commitment uh and doing this work. Uh it has been and it's good to see you uh in this partnership. Uh so I thank you all. Thank you. Thank you. >> Um hi everyone. Aruna Mathther 133 Silver Avenue and teacher at WK. I just
came up to remind everyone that on May 30th we will be having our second annual hopefully annual continuous um daddy daughter dance. It will be hosted at Ola Edwards. Um and we're excited for it. So hope you can come out and join us. Thank
you. >> Thank you. Thank you Dr. teacher voice. That's okay. Thank you. >> Do we have anyone else? Any more public comments? >> Okay. Do we have a motion to close public comments? >> Motion second. >> Second. >> All in favor?
>> I. >> Wonderful. At this time, we will go into our committee reports. Vice President Hargrave, if you would. >> Thank you, Dr. Howard. Uh, board member Shapiro, can you provide the finance report? That's good.
>> Sure. On Monday, April 30th, the finance committee met and had a discussion in regards to agenda and non-aggenda items. >> Thank you. >> Spirit, >> Miss Eu, can you provide the buildings
and ground committee report? >> Second. I just want to clarify one thing. >> There are on finance a number of agenda items that were added afterwards >> after the committee met questions. Just
>> Board member Eu, can you provide the buildings and grounds report? >> Thank you. On Monday, April 20th, the buildings and ground committee met and discussed items one, two, three. Thank you.
>> Thank you. Board member Horton Given, can you provide the education committee report? >> Thank you, Vice President Hargo. Excuse me. Education Committee met on this past Monday and we reviewed items 1 through
10 on the agenda. >> Thank you. >> Mr. uh board member Estra, can you provide the policy report? >> Yes. on April 23rd,
agenda items were me for policy and reviewed. >> Thank you. And board member Best, can you provide the labor relations? >> Good evening. On Monday, April 30, April
20th, uh the labor relations committee met to discuss all resignations, retirements, terminations, and all personal matters. Thank you. And that concludes the committee reports. >> So done. Thank you, Vice President
Harrave. If unless there is anything else, do I have a motion to go into executive session? >> Motion. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Favor. >> I. Be it resolved pursuant to the open
meetings act that the board of education meet in closed executive session at this time to discuss matters relating to but not limited to personnel pending or anticipated litigation, labor negotiations, contract negotiations of particular student or students and
attorney client privilege. The board will reconvene in public session at the conclusion of close session. The matters discussed in close session will be disclosed to the public as soon as the need for confidentiality no longer exists.
Thank you so much and we will be back. >> Do you do I have a motion to go back into open session? >> Motion second. All in >> Thank you so much. Thank you so much for your patience. Those of you who are still here, thank you for waiting.
Uh at this time we have done that. So we will move into our board agenda. Um Miss Hargrave, could you move item one under organization items?
>> I move organization item number one. >> Second. >> That was easy. Okay. >> Okay. Um, roll call. Miss Best. >> Yes. >> Miss Aguheday.
>> Yes. >> Mr. Estra. >> Yes. >> VP Hargrave. >> Yes. >> Miss Horton Given. >> Yes. >> Mr. Shapiro. >> Yes. >> President Dr. Howard. Yes.
Mr. Shapiro, would you move finance, please? >> Move items one through 10 under finance. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> All right. Roll call. Miss Best.
>> Yes. >> Miss Auedang. >> Yes. >> Missra. Um one line numbers one through nine. Yes. Abstain on 10. >> Okay. Noted
>> G. Miss um Horton Given. >> Yes. >> Miss Parks. I'm sorry. I mean Mr. Shapiro. >> Okay. Um, I'm going to bring you this list, but I have to read it into the record. Okay. >> Of course. >> All right. I'm
I'm abstaining to number eight. And sorry, the answer is yes. I'm abstaining to eight. And on number three, I'm abstaining from the following POS. They all begin 2600. I'm only going to read out the last four digits and then I'll record.
>> Okay. 1225 2408 249 2410 2317 2318 2455 2456 2466 2467 2468 2469 2476 2480 2539 2543 If anybody here could
read those all back to me and get a prize at the end. >> Okay, got it. Um okay. Um VP Hargrave. >> Yes. >> And President Dr. Howard. >> Yes.
>> Mr. Eu, would you move building and grounds, please? >> I move items one through three. >> One note on item number three. >> It has that um >> 3.85, not 3/85. >> Yes. 3.58. Yes,
>> he already put down. >> Sorry. 3.58 >> 3.58 not three >> 3.58%. Okay. >> Did you get a second? >> Yeah. Do we have a second? >> Second. >> Okay. Miss Best. >> All right.
Miss Best. >> Yes. >> Miss Aguided. >> Yes. >> Mr. Estster. >> Yes. >> Miss Horton Given. >> Yes. >> Mr. Shapiro. >> Yes. >> VP Hargrave. Yes.
>> And President Dr. Howard. >> Yes. Miss Horton Given, would you move education, please? >> Yes. I'd like to move items 1 through 10 under education. >> Is there a second? >> Second.
>> Okay. Miss Best. Thank you. >> All right. Roll call. Miss Best. >> Yes. >> Miss Aguidede. >> Yes. >> Miss Estra. >> Yes. Miss Orton Given, >> yes. >> Mr. Shapiro,
>> yes. >> VP Hargrave, >> yes. >> And President Dr. Howard, >> yes. Mr. Estro, would you move policy, please? >> Yes. Move line items one.
Is there a second? >> Yes. >> Okay, Miss Aguided. Thank you. >> Okay, roll call. Miss Best, >> yes. >> Miss Aguide, >> yes. >> Mr. Estster, >> yes. >> Miss Horton Given,
>> yes. >> Mr. Shapiro, >> stay. >> VP Hargrave. >> Yes. and President Dr. Howard. >> Yes. And finally, Miss Best, would you move labor, please, sir?
>> I would like to move items 1 through 21 under labor. >> I'll second that. >> Okay. >> One good turn to another. >> Thank you. Okay. Roll call. Miss Best. >> Yes. >> Miss Auedang.
>> Yes. >> Miss Estraum. >> Yes. >> Miss Horton Given. >> Yes. Mr. Shapiro, >> yes. >> VP Hargrave, >> yes. >> And President Dr. Howard, >> yes. >> Thank you, everyone. Thank you, Mr.
McNeel. At this time, do we have any old and or new business that comes before the board? There being none, um we will have uh board representative
comments at this time. Um I do want to take a moment to certainly um acknowledge and pass along our condolences to our esteemed colleague um Mr. Hammond who experienced a terrible loss this week. We you know we truly are
here with you in prayer and in spirit and in solidarity. Also, we had a rather serious incident happen since we last met regarding one of our students and a very unfortunate incident that happened uh out on Route 22. Um I
personally want to commend the staff and the students of the high schools, particularly the support staff and certainly uh Dr. Perez for her leadership. It was handled very quickly. It was handled professionally um and it was handled with a sense of purpose. So,
I do want to publicly applaud you for your work in a very unfortunate situation, and we pray that kind of thing doesn't happen again. Do any board members have any comments? Anything they'd like to add before we close? All righty then. Thank you everyone. Uh,
enjoy this crazy weather up, down, as it goes. Uh, turn on Don't quite turn on your heaters yet. Don't And don't quite turn on your central air yet. Don't turn them off. Exactly. They don't turn them off either. >> Uh, exactly. I don't know. But, uh, my
wife likes to put her winter stuff away. I don't recommend you do the same. Not just yet. And thank you all for coming. Have a wonderful weekend. And, uh, we will be seeing you soon. Just as a reminder, we will be also we will definitely be having our special meeting
on May 5th uh, to discuss the budget. We're hoping that we get information from the state before then that will enlighten some of the decisions that we need to make and things you need to hear as a community. So, um, please open. We'll open that up to the public when the time comes. Thank you all for coming
and good night. Drive safely. >> Motion to close. >> Is there a second? >> All right. >> All in favor? >> Favor. >> All righty. Motion. Thank you very much. >> So happy to be out here before 8:30. >> Hey, I know that's I'm trying to see. >> 8:30. 8:15. That's That's unheard of for the draft. I
>> know, right? Do >> you take these back or do you keep them? >> All right. >> Oh, I started the draft tonight. No, the folders. >> You guys know who you're getting. >> Well, if they if you happen to leave them here, I will take >> But you recycle them. Recycle. You're a giant.
>> Please also get new folders now cuz it's probably going to be easier for you to take this stuff. >> I'm trying to get out of here. >> Let me get out of here. Appreciate you. >> Did you unlock me yet?
>> I showed it to you. I guess