Good evening and welcome to our regular Jersey City School Board meeting of Thursday, 03/26/2026. Let's please stand for the pledge. I'm sorry. Wait. This evening, we have Lincoln High School ROTC presenting the colors. At this time, we will have Jeremiah Ferguson, a sixth grader at middle school seven, leading us in the national anthem and the flag salute.
Jeremiah, go ahead. Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light? What so proudly we hail fight. O'er the ramparts we watch were so gallantly streaming proof through the night that our flag was still there. Oh, phenomenal. Jeremiah. Ask him. Jeremiah, can you come back a second? Jeremiah, please come back. Please come back, gentlemen.
Jeremiah, please come back. Jeremiah, please come back. Now we will pledge. Can you lead us in the flag salute now? Okay. Thank you. Alright. I pledge allegiance to the flag of United States Of America and to the Republic from which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. I know. He should have been at the match game today. Right? Miss McKenzie, roll call, please. Good evening.
Wow. In accordance with the open public meetings act, NJSA 10 colon four dash six, Adequate notification of this meeting has been provided by advertising in the El Diario LaPrensa on Friday, 03/06/2026, and the star ledger on Sunday, 03/08/2026. Notice was also posted on the district website. I will now take the roll call. Trustee Blunt. Please write the pen now. Present. Trustee Ioffe. Okay. Trustee Mohammed? Present. Trustee Patel? Present. Trustee Rosabella?
Present. Trustee Richardson? Present. Trustee Schneider? Present. Vice president Morris? Present. President Velasquez? Here. And student Present. Gwyneth Freeman. Sorry. We have a quorum. Thank you very much. And, again, thank you all for attending this evening. First of all, let's give another round of applause to this young man. He was fantastic. Wow. I think we heard all of the committee reports, last at the caucus, but we do have one quick report.
Are you from from the not from your, committee, but from your event on Tuesday. Well, just a few words. Thank you. Trustee of five. Yes. I was able to attend the Unsung Heroes Awards where, nine of our schools presented, Unsung Heroes, seniors classes. We even had students from Regional Day and, Renaissance Academy, High School Academy to, share the stories of the students who who are going through, some of them very critical circumstances and still managed to show up to school and
persevere through high GPAs and, also graduate with associates. And some of them are getting their associates before they even graduate. Wow. It was a beautiful event to attend, to hear the stories and to see our students and see the actual background of what, Jersey City Public Schools are who Jersey City Public Schools are supporting. Thank you. Thank you. And and, usually, doctor Fernandez and I do, attend, this event, unfortunately, and may and sometimes eve I mean, other trustees. However,
due to the change of schedule, of the meeting of the caucus meeting, we were unable to attend. But we were well represented with you. Thank you so much. Yes. I did let them know that, doctor Fernandez and president Morris and yourself were able to congratulate them from the distance. Yes. Thank you. Okay. Now, doctor Fernandez, we do have a long, a long agenda and, this evening. So will you just have your reports, and then we'll introduce who's gonna speak. So before we go on, I'd like to,
recognize two schools. Well, first, miss Bernasquez, the principal at MS seven, for coming to support, Jeremiah. Thank you for joining us. We were very fortunate to hear him at the Black History Month celebration. And that was he was he's phenomenal. So Yes. He is. Kudos to everything the school is doing. We also have two other schools that we are honoring this evening. Before I go on, I'd like to thank Lincoln High School for presenting the colors and,
always delivering that introduction. So, first, I'd like to recognize the Doctor. Maya Angelou Public School twenty for their attendance award. PS 20, Maya Angelou, would you come up? If you join us in the center and trustees, please join me. Trustees, don't go too far. We also have the this is the evening of the newest schools getting the award for attendance. The, Pat Noonan Elementary School, PS twenty six.
Congratulations. So I guess there was some sisterly rivalry going on with these two schools. The APs are sisters. Come on, dude. Come on. Thank you very much. No. Thank you. How long? At this time, I'm going to ask doctor Luce if you would introduce, the auditors, please. Yes. Thank you. At this time, I would like to introduce mister Rob Hague, who's an accountant with the audit firm of Lerch, Vincy and Bliss. Mister Hague, along with, others in his his firm has done our fiscal audit for this year.
I want everyone to know that the date that is for the autumn, for the fiscal audit was due on January 15, and we've submitted it on time on that particular date. Thereafter, there is a thirty days where we need to meet and do an exit interview in order to have the audit presented. We did have a date at a time in February. It was canceled due to the snowstorm. It would have been doctor Fernandez, myself, mister Hague, and others from his firm. And so we had the audit, exit interview shortly thereafter.
And so here we are today at the March board meeting and for mister Haig to explain the audit. Thank you. Thank you, doctor Lewis. Thank you, everyone. Yeah. This is your annual test required every school district, really every governmental entity, each year. So this report covered your twenty twenty four-twenty twenty five fiscal year, so covered the date 07/01/2024 through 06/30/2025. So just to give you a little history of how the audit progresses, we start your audit field work on-site around September. The year closes June 30, District needs some time to get everything ready for the audit.
So we usually come in around mid September to get that field work started. That takes about a three month process to complete all of our field work, so that basically takes us through the end of the year or January, with the holidays. And then the first order of business as Doctor. Luce mentioned is, we file the electronic version of the financials with the State and the ODSOM system by January 15. The State needs that information because that rolls into your budget process. So as those numbers get input into the State system, that allows them to upload those numbers into your upcoming budget cycle. Then we move on to having our final audit exit interview to review the results
of the audit and then prepare our final report for issuance, which was issued about a month ago. So now what happens is, tonight really what you're doing is, after the presentation, you'll have you'll accept the audit or have the option to accept the audit. And then from that point, that starts a thirty day clock where you'll receive a corrective action plan from the administration on how you're going to intend to correct the recommendations in the audit. And then at that time, the Board can either approve that corrective action plan or then that starts another thirty day clock for the Board to accept those corrective action plans.
So it's kind of this is the beginning of the the audit was issued, we have thirty days for the acceptance of the audit, another thirty days for the presentation of the corrective action plan by the administration and then thirty days to approve that corrective action plan. And then the last step, which doesn't necessarily acquire board action is the administration will have to certify to the state by June 30 what the status of that corrective action plan is. So that's kind of takes you through the whole order process. So what we do, the two reports that are issued on your to the state and what the board receives, you get a bigger report from us, which is the Annual Comprehensive Financial Report.
That includes all of your financial statements, our audit opinions, note disclosures, some various other statistical information, really any financial information that's necessary for the audit. And then you get a smaller report from us, which is the Auditor's Management Report, that discusses the results of the audit with any resulting findings or recommendations that will require corrective action. So just to touch on the highlights of a couple of the reports. In the comprehensive financial report, you received three opinions from us. One opinion is on your financial statements, whether they're prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles.
There's a second opinion, which is required of any governmental entity that's report on your internal controls. So not so much on the numbers themselves, but your internal controls on the procedures to determine those numbers. And a third opinion is what we call your single audit opinion, that's a required opinion on your compliance with state and federal grant programs. So as you get state and federal grant awards every year, we're required to look at certain programs and make sure you're compliant with the requirements of those programs. So what I can report is all three of those opinions, you receive what we call an unmodified opinion. It's basically the highest level of assurance we can give.
We start at that unmodified level. If anything happens during the audit that would require us to lower that level of assurance for any of the three opinions that will become what we call a modified opinion. And then there's two lower level opinions, which is an adverse opinion, which is a negative opinion and then a disclaimer opinion, which really means we couldn't even give an opinion. So really, in all three instances, you receive an unmodified or clean opinion. So very positive there on the opinion front. The financial statements, what happened during twenty twenty four, twenty twenty five is as the year closed and you collected the revenues on your
budget, spent your budget money, you really ended the year with about $70,000,000 less in fund balance than you did in the previous year. And that was the real main driver of that was in the previous year, you received some one time state aid revenues to help in the twenty twenty three, twenty twenty four budget. So you receive those monies in that one year, that money was available to assist in the twenty twenty four, twenty twenty five budget operations. But now obviously when you close 2025, that money was used and that because that was kind of a one time, state infusion of revenues, those were not available again in 2024,
2025. So when you look year over year from June 24 to June 25, you did see about a $70,000,000 decrease in total fund balance. How that rolls into, affects the coming year. So in the twenty five-twenty six budget, the current year you're in, you're using around $150,000,000 of your own fund balance to balance the budget. Okay? Coming in from twenty four-twenty five, you have 80,000,000 set aside from that budget to assist in the 2627 budget. So when you compare year over year, you're using $150,000,000 in the current budget you're in and you're bringing an 80,000,000
from last year to help in the 2627 budget. So that budget is really around $70,000,000 short from what you had in the previous year as fund balance and it's almost primarily due to that loss of state aid. So if the state aid was similar in a similar amount to what it was the year before, you'd pretty much be on equal footing as you were from the year before. But that's really why you see that decrease in fund balance when you look year over year from '23 to '24 to '25. Some of the other financial during 2425, the ARP money, American Rescue Plan money that expired during 2425.
So as that's been rolling on for a few years now, those monies expired. I believe most, if not all of that money was spent by the required deadline. So that's just a highlight that moving forward into next year that those monies are no longer available. Some of the other big monies, you have your energy savings program, that's noted in the sort of two. So you had about $130,000,000 in the total energy savings project as of June 25, that was about halfway completed. So you had about $60,000,000 of the $130,000,000 that was unexpended. Most of it was committed in contracts, just as far as completed contracts, it was about halfway done at June 2025.
So those are really your three big areas financially. You have your budget money, which results in your fund balance. You have your grant money, which most of that is your ARP money that move forward that's expiring. And then you have your E SIP program for your energy savings in your capital area. So those are really your three main financial areas. And if anybody has any questions on the financials, I'd be happy to take them before I move into the other area of the report. Are there any questions? You can move ahead. Okay. So the smaller report, the auditors matter report that discusses the results of the audit. So what we have in that report,
there's 13 recommendations that do require corrective action. What I can say on these recommendations is that, when you look year over year, the number of recommendations went down. So from the when I looked in the previous year audit, you had 19 recommendations that required corrective action. This year, you have 13. So you did see less number of recommendations. And also, there's three levels of recommendations we give. The basic level is what we call a general comment, general recommendation. The second level will be a significant deficiency. And then the third, which is the most severe one is a material weakness. 19 you had in the previous year, you had four material weaknesses and three significant deficiencies and 12 general comments.
So this year out of your twenty thirteen, you have no material weaknesses. So really all of those material weaknesses were either cleared or they dropped the level to that significant level. So while still significant and still need corrective action, they dropped in the severity from the previous year. So of the '20 13 issue, you have no material weaknesses, you do have three significant deficiencies, and then you have the rest of what we call the general comments. So all of them require corrective action, but when you look year over year, you did see some improvement from the previous year, not only in the number of recommendations, but in the severity of the recommendations that we noted.
The significant ones really had to do with the year end. It's really the closing of your books at year end, so the year end is June 30. It's really important to get those books closed and ready for audit as soon as possible closer to year end. Usually by we try to like we said, we start that audit in September, so we kind of like to have those all the information ready and finalized by that date. So what was happening this year is there was a time lag between the end of the year and by the time the books were really ready for final audit. So kind of delayed the audit a little bit as far as the start time.
The second one that was a little more significant was just the monthly reconciliations of your accounts. So each month, the finance the bank accounts are reconciled with your internal financial records, obviously. So that process was happening, which is positive. But there were differences each month when those two numbers were compared. So it didn't rise to level of material weakness because the process was actually happening, it wasn't happening, it just wasn't reconciled 100%. So we're looking for that to be corrected, because we don't want to see any big numbers in future. And really that's I could say it was an improvement.
Financially, like I said, you saw a little bit of a decrease because of that state funding. You do have the recommendations that require corrective action, but I think in talking to the administration, some of that corrective action is already taking place. And then hopefully, by the end of this year, the certification can be made to the state that most, if not all of these recommendations, at least the corrective action is implemented and that will lead you into next year's audit. Can you just state what was the third significant finding? You mentioned the year end, the monthly reconciliation, and what was the third? Yeah. So so the two were the two that I mentioned were on the that that
was in the first opinion, which is on your financial statements. So those were the two that were more financial in nature. The Third one was on your internal controls. That was over, your compliance with public school contracts. So we looked at a number of your contracts that were issued throughout the year, and we just found various instances, nothing specific to one instance, but just various issues on your your your procurement of contracts, the documentation held to support those contracts. So as we look for documentation to support contracts, we're missing some of the required documents. Some of the procurement may have not been procured correctly if it was a state
contract or a cooperative agreement or whether it was supposed to be bid and it was another procurement method was used. So it was kind of, a few different items within that same area, and that resulted in one recommendation to basically, be compliant with local public contracts. Thank you. Madam President. Yes. My question is not to the auditor. My question is actually to the, to the VA. From the recommendations from the auditor for the, 13 findings, how much I said that was gonna or how many of, these recommendations have you already started to implement from the time,
you were served, with them until now? So some of these have already been remediated prior to the audit being completed because this audit was completed for last year ending in June. So even over the summer and in the fall, we have remediated some of these items. Okay? So this will show up in next year's audit. Okay. I understand that. My question was how many, and let me add to that, which ones, were remediated. I could affirmatively say eight. Okay. The other ones,
I am working with the departments to make sure that that is happening as we speak. Okay. And are you receiving cooperation from the department? Absolutely. Okay. Thank you. Any other question? Through the chair. I just have one question. On February, it says Jersey City Public Schools response to findings. So the last sentence says the Jersey City Public Schools responses were not subjected to the other auditing procedures applied in the audit of the financial statements. And accordingly, we expressed no opinion on the responses. So every place where we see management has reviewed this this finding and has indicated
the corrective action plan will be taken, that's something you haven't given opinion on. Right. So that that would really be in the in the subsequent audit. So, you know, we give our findings and then what your corrective action is, we can't really give an opinion on that because we haven't audited to make sure those procedures were implemented yet. That would really be in the subsequent audit. We're required to look back at previous years and make sure that corrective action was implemented. So we can't give an opinion on that in this report because we haven't audited the current year yet. Thank you. Any other questions? Continue. Through the chair. Thank you. Yes. Oh. Yeah. I just have one on the,
this is on page five of your your management report. Finding twenty twenty five-seven, the federal funding. It says employees whose salaries were charged to the ESEA Title I, Title II, and IDEA Part B grant programs were not approved in the minutes, and certain salary accruals were charged to ESEA Title I and IDEA Part B grant programs via year end adjustment, which could not be supported with a detail by individual employee. I hear the recommendation, but, you know, can you give us an assessment of that?
And then also because on that last audit, in this same area, we had overspending, and I'd like to know if that is continuing. We did not find any overspending of your grants in '24 or '25, so that area was cleared up. The two that were mentioned here, like you said, the what we do is we select a sample of the employees that you're using federal grant programs to fund their salaries. And what those grant program requirements, require are that those employees, when their salaries are approved in the minutes by the board, they're supposed to be approved as federally funded salaries.
So they although they were approved in the minutes, you know, the employees were there and they were approved, they weren't approved as being funded by federal programs. So that's the first area of it. The second one was that, there was instances where salaries were transferred from your budget fund to your grant fund to charge those federal programs, but they were done in kind of one lump sum. We didn't have a detail to tell us, okay, what employees are you moving from your budget to your grant fund. It was just done in one, number. So that number probably was made up of several employees,
but without the documentation, with the detail, we couldn't determine which employees were there. So that was the that's those two recommendations there. But as far as the over expenditure, we have to find them over full Doctor Lewis, will you be able to speak to to that at all? So this is what we're talking about here, you know, title one grants and people that are paid under these grants. We just need to make sure, and correct me, Rob, if I'm mistaken, that it needs to be properly recorded on board docs for one. This and the second part on our books as opposed to making this,
you know, a $100, 10 employees. It needs to say each employee was $10. Right? So it needs to be listed and detailed. And so the one of our departments didn't have the specific details to support what had occurred. So corrective action with that regard, would it be that next time they list down the number of employees, not necessarily names, number of employees and how much for each? And salaries. Yes. The dollars. Yes. And that's in the works?
Yes. Thank you. Okay. Any other questions? Yes. To the chair, just to follow-up on what you were just saying. I guess this question's for the BA or the auditor. Are we are we recording employees, like in the instance when these people were moved over? Because usually when you apply somebody to a program, you know, through fund accounting, which you operate under fund accounting, The there's a there's a code or program they're allocated to. And so if people were moved over in a lump, were they lumped over but they were properly allocated,
or were they lumped over and it was just not documented properly because they're not normally on those programs? I don't know if they're normally in these programs. It was documented. It it moved over in a lump sum. And when our accounting department was reconciling the books, they recorded it as one lump sum as opposed to individual employees with the respective salary. So we will ensure that that it was not we will ensure that that is taking place going forward.
Okay. But are those people allocated to those programs? Yes. They are. Via the beginning of the program? Yes. Okay. Madam, president so just so just for clarification, to the VA. The only the only error is the detailed aspect. Everything else was, unsatisfactory. So, basically, it was an administrative oversight and not being detailed in the, itemized, number of employees that were receiving, but the outcome, the bottom line number was the same and has not changed. Exactly. Thank you. Rob? Yes. Yes. So when we look at the rent,
it was okay. You had x amount x Yes. You know, when we look at the grant, it was okay. You had x amount x number of, amounts charged to salaries for, say, the title one grant program. There was a piece of that total that we couldn't support by the individual amounts and individuals. So the amount was there. The amount was charged to the grant. But when we said, okay. Let me see who who makes up this x amount numbers. We didn't have that detail by person. But the numbers were allocated to the grant. So it's procedural? Yes. Okay. Any other question? Thank you. Doctor doctor Luce? So at this time, next on the agenda is to approve the audit.
So we need to take a vote. Miss McKenzie? Motion. We have to have a motion for right. Motion. I'm sorry. Vice President. Second. Second by Trustee Afau. Roll call, please. Trustee Richardson? Yes. Trustee Patel? Yes. Trustee Mohammed? Yes. Trustee Blunt? Yes. Trustee Ioffe? Oh, trustee Rezaibala? Yes. Yes. Yes. And thank you for your time. Appreciate it. And president Velasquez. Yes. Thank you so much. Thanks for, the thorough information that was sent to all of us.
Thank you for clarifying this for us today. And thank you, Doctor. Luce, for your work. Thank you, Mr. Hague. If I may, President. I would like to acknowledge two officials with us this evening. Assemblywoman Brennan and Deputy Mayor Doctor. Bryant. Thank you for joining us. Okay. Okay. What's next? What's next? So oops. Is that okay? Yes. Absolutely. It's come to that time. And as everyone knows, our mission has been to educate and provide every student a thorough and efficient education.
However, as we prepared on the budget for twenty six-twenty seven, fiscal '27, we found ourselves at a critical junction. We are facing a perfect storm of fiscal challenges and threaten, the very heart of our classrooms. We have been there before. In 2018, the district eliminated 400 non tenure teachers. That is not the case this time. But despite, the record breaking, state education budget overall, Jersey City was the second biggest loser in funding in the state.
And at this time, doctor Luce is going to present the budget. So keep that in mind that we have been facing financial, challenges for the last few years. We've lost over $300,000,000 in state funding since 2017. And that together with that, we're also impacted by the rising costs in utilities, insurance, salaries, and all the requirements. So thank you. Doctor Luce? Thank you.
Good evening, president Velasquez, superintendent doctor Fernandez, vice president Morris, members of the board, and the public. We are here tonight to present a preliminary budget for the 2627 school year that is the culmination of a rigorous process that began last September. This proposal that I presented closer to the mic. They're saying you need to be closer to the mic. Okay. Thank you. This proposal that I presented to the board members yesterday represents our deep commitment to the 26,000
students of Jersey City, balanced against a clear eyed understanding of our current economic landscape. Every dollar in this $1,100,000,000 instructional goals, maintains the safety of our facilities, and fulfills our obligations to our dedicated staff. We have worked collaboratively with all administrators, department heads, and stakeholders across the district to find efficiencies and prioritize the resources that most impact student success. I am here tonight presenting this preliminary twenty twenty six, twenty seven school year budget for your review and vote.
So if I may begin. So for we began with the budget process. So with respect to the budget preparation, it it is defined in NJSA 18 a colon 20 two dash seven. This process varies by district. Here in Jersey City, we began this process in September. Administrators were asked to prepare their respective budgets, including a table of organization, which was their staffing for the 2627 school year. We included stakeholder collaboration.
All stakeholders were asked to be cognizant of the current economic conditions and the district's ability to fund programs for the next school year. The business office staff met with each department head to discuss budget needs and specific requests for the next school year. All budgets have been reviewed by the superintendent. So as you know, tonight is the preliminary budget hearing. It It will be submitted to the county tomorrow, and our final budget hearing will be at the April board meeting of April 30.
Next slide. The twenty six-twenty seven budget review timelines. It began with an analysis of school based budgets on September 15. After that, there was a distribution of school based budgets to all of the schools and the principals on October 20. Business office meetings with the schools began on October 27. The school based budgets with central office were due on November 14. The review of those budgets for both the schools and the central office began on
November 18. The midyear budget review submission was on December 27. The midyear budget review meeting with the county superintendent with doctor Fernandez and myself was held on January 21. The AUDSIM, which is the audit summary that ended in June 2025, was certified and submitted on January 15. The Dewey net budget development began on February 2 and continued up until this week.
With that being said, as you know, the governor's address took place on March 10, and we did not receive our state aid numbers until March 12. So with all of these, initiatives happening concurrently, we had a very short turnaround time to balance this budget. As of yesterday, we I met with each of the board members in a three by three meeting to present the budget that you were seeing here tonight and to give them the opportunity to ask any questions and to clarify any concerns that they may have had.
Today, it obviously is the but preliminary budget hearing. And once again, it will be submitted to the county tomorrow, and the final hearing will be April 30. So just to review some basic definitions, the tax levy, it's the amount of revenue raised through property taxes to support the general fund. The budgeted fund balance, it is the surplus funds from the prior year budgets used as revenue in future budget years and or unused appropriations from prior budget years.
Extraordinary aid, state aid for special education costs that exceed $40,000 for public school students and $55,000 per year for private school students. Semi aid. It is our federal aid for services provided to special education students that are eligible for Medicaid reimbursements. Capital reserve. It it is our surplus funds reallocated from the fund balance set aside for future capital improvement projects.
Debt service, funds for payment of principal and interest on outstanding bonded debt previously approved by the voters. Our other funds. Fund 11 is our general current expense. Fund 12 is our capital outlay. These are items that are funded by the general fund revenues. This includes increases in the general fund capital reserve account, equipment, facilities acquisitions, and construction services. Fund 15, these are our school based budget accounts for revenues and expenditures by schools for those
required to prepare school based budgets for whole school reform. Districts with schools preparing school based budgets must record all the revenues and expenditures for each school separately in character class 15. So I wanna bring to your attention, we use an allocation of $500 per pupil to each of these school budgets. That number has not changed in years due to the lack of funding. Fund 20, special revenue, accounts for the proceeds of specific revenue sources that are legally restricted for to expenditures
for specified purposes. Example, title a and IDEA funds, which are for a special education. The grants, or transfers from the general fund to augment the grant. Separate accounting must be used for each capital project. Fund 40 debt service accounts for accumulation of resources for and the payment of long term debt, principal, and interest. Fund 60, food service, it's used to account for any activity in which a fee is charged to external users for goods and services, and that is our lunch program.
So for the 2627 projected revenue, for this year, our total operating budget for 2627, I should say. The total operating budget is $971,223,877, which is an increase from last year of $56,357,515. So how we come up with this total revenue? The local tax levy for 2627 is $545,175,855
with a net increase of $92,838,486. The local tax levy, the bank cap, the bank cap for this year for the 2627 is $80,128,833. It is a decrease from last year's bank cap of $2,019,930. Payroll tax. The payroll tax for 2627 is $84,266,505.
We received an increase very recently from the city of 3272381 Dollars. We are utilizing our miscellaneous revenue and interest, for next year of 4,000,808 thou $800,041 to and 200 and I'm sorry. $4,841,237, which is an increase of $3,000,000. Our equalization aid,
as you see, we are we don't receive any, but we our state aid has decreased 3%. So our state aid for 2627 is 125,746,990. So we had a decrease of 3% last year. We have a decrease of 3% again going into next year from state aid. So in the past two years, it's 6% total. Our extraordinary aid, we received an increase of $227,273,
equaling $3,227,273 Our semi, which is our Medicaid initiative, has increased by 786,386 for a total of $921,881. Our budgeted fund balance, we are using our to balance this budget, 98,245,713
thousand dollars. And as you heard, mister Hague say, it's a decrease of 15,000,000 from last year. And, again, or in order to balance our budget, we are withdrawing our capital reserve. Our capital reserve is $12,739,608. That is going towards our projected revenue. Again, our title one contribution remains the same of $15,929,982.
So those are our project that is our projected revenue for 2627. The next slide. This is a pie chart that just goes to show that most of what we are using is from the local tax levy and our budgeted fund balance. So for our 2627 projected expenditures, our regular program instruction is a decrease of $2,784,691 equaling $206,218,761
For our co curricular activities, athletics, alternative education, and ESY program, it is a slight decrease of $2,063 So it is $5,513,402 Our special education instruction has increased by $2,000,424.800 and $424,819 for a total of $101,649,335.
For our special education tuition, there has been an increase of $4,000,002,200,063 dollars 646 for a total of $29,827,877 For our attendance, health and home instruction, a slight increase of $948,221 for a total of $13,018,545.
For the improvement of instruction and professional development, there has been a decrease of $1,776,069 for a total of $22,964,374. For our general administration, there's a decrease of a $195,277 equaling a total of $13,393,212.
Our school administration, again, a decrease of $1,166,434 for a total of $23,177,549. Central services, which is human resources and the business office. It is a it is a slight increase of $385,431 for a total of $9,655,164.
Technology, a slight decrease of a $173,551 for a total of $5,802,966. For our operations, maintenance of plant security, an increase of $1,689,411 for a total of $93,398,050. Our student transportation, and this is to transport our students,
mostly our our students our special education students, It's a decrease of $74,040 and it is for a total of $34,032,683 Health and other employee benefits has increased at $11,225,352 for a total of $180,140,172.
Our total general current expense for fund eleven is 738 $738,792,090 which is an increase from last year of $14,764,755 Our capital outlay, which is our Fund twelve, has increased by 57,000,000 dollars 57,178 for a total of $22,276,597.
What I want to say here is the total fund 12, this total of 22,000,000 also includes our capital reserve of 12,000,000 that we are putting in that line item. Our transfer to charter schools, and this should be noted, we went from $25.26 of $168,619,608 to for the projection of next year of $210,155,190
for a total of a $41,000,000 $535,582 increase. In one year. So that is off the top that we make that severe contribution to the charter schools. So our general fund grand total of funds 11 through 15 is a total of $971,223 and 87 $223,877
for an increase of 56,000,357 and $515. So please note, we have increased over $56,000,000. Of the $56,000,000 $41,000,000 goes to charter schools. Special Revenue Fund twenty, we've increased $12,910,515 which equals $141,247,257
less our title one contribution to the school based budget of $15,929,982 For our total expenditures and and appropriations for our budget will be $1,000,000,096,541,152 dollars So, again, this is the pie chart that just shows the overview of the numbers that I have just read. If we could move on.
For our regular program instruction, salaries and program expenses, this comprises 18.81% of the district's proposed budget for the twenty six-twenty seven school year. These line items represent salaries for kindergarten, bilingual, and grades one through two teachers of $178,354,141 Our classroom aids, dollars 8,710,330.
General supplies, and this is district wide, dollars 3,943,502. Our district wide textbooks, dollars $4,869,196. Purchase services, $5,176,710 and miscellaneous expenses of $768,724
Our contribution to the preschool program is $5,330,756 for this for our grand total of $206,218,761. This is actually an appropriations decrease of 2,000,007 $2,784,691 For our co curricular activities, athletics,
alternative education, and summer school, this comprises point 50% of the district's proposed budget for the twenty six-twenty seven school year. These line items represent the co curricular activities of $738,212 Athletics, dollars 3,817,220. And if I may add, we have always fully funded the athletic department, and we continue to do so. Alternative education, $182,553.
Summer school, $775,417 for a total of $5,513,402 for a decrease of $2,063 and these line items present represent the salary of the twenty six-twenty seven school year. And these line items represent the salaries for our learning language disabled our our behavioral disorder, multiple disabilities, resource room,
and preschool disabled teachers equaling $82,839,583 our classroom aids of $11,616,659 speech services, dollars 402,205, other related services such as occupational therapy and physical therapy of $3,579,639
Our administration secretary and child study team equals one million seven seven thousand six hundred and one eight hundred and thirty four dollars. Our supplies and computers is $234,245. Our purchases services is $1,215,170 for a total of $101,649,335
for an appropriations increase of $2,424,819 Our special education tuition. This comprises 2.72% of the district's budget for 2627. These items represent tuition for our out of district placements to other LEAs, our VOTEC Regional Day, our County School Special Services, and private New Jersey schools. Our total tuition has increased by $4,263,646
for a total of $29,827,877 For our attendance, health services, home instructions, guidance, and library, this is this comprises 1.19% of the district's budget for 2627. These line items represent represents salaries for attendance of $2,263,299 For health services, which is our school nurses, of $6,318,431
Home instruction other than special education, 450,000. Miscellaneous purchase services, $3,238,820, supplies and computers of $747,995 for a total of $13,018,545 for an appropriations increase of $948,221
For our improvement of instruction, this comprises 2.09% of the district's budget for next year. The salaries for our instructional supervisors is $459,007 For our teachers, $7,590,562 For our guidance, $8,499,134 For our library media, $3,817,105.
For our secretarial services, $535,522. For our miscellaneous purchase services, $1,515,876. For our supplies and materials, $384,598. And for our in our for professional development, $162,570. For a total of $22,964,374
It's an appropriations decrease of $1,776,069 For our general administration, this comprises 1.22% of the district's proposed budget for the 2627 school year. These are the salaries for our superintendent, assistant superintendent, directors, and secretarial services, $5,704,239. Our legal services, $1,859,852.
Our audit services, as you just saw, our auditor, $299,000. Our judgments, $3,000,202,100,000 dollars. Copiers, communications, etcetera, 2,330,000 doll $121 for a total of $13,333,212 This is a decrease of $195,277 So for our school administration, which is our fund eleven and fifteen in our school based budgets,
there is a it is a total of $23,177,549 This comprises 2.11% of the district's budget. The salaries for administration is $15,150,884. For secretarial services, $7,154,048. Purchase services, supplies, and miscellaneous expenses is $872,617.
This is an appropriation decrease of $1,166,434. For our central services, which is our business office and human resources, For the business office, it's point 72% of the district's proposed budget for next year. This supports the business office, administration, and staff salaries, secretarial, purchase services, budget software, payroll, supplies, and miscellaneous expenses. Our total is $7,934,495
For human resources, it comprises point 16% of the district's proposed budget. This supports the human resources office, their administrative and support salaries, secretarial, miscellaneous services, HR software, supplies, and expenses. For a total of $1,720,669. The combined total is $9,655,164 for an appropriation increase of $385,431.
For technology, this comprises point 53% of the district's proposed budget for the 2627 school year. These line items support the district's technology initiatives and includes salaries for staff, purchase technical services, miscellaneous expenses, and technical supplies. It is a total of $5,802,966 with an appropriations decrease of $173,551
For our operations, maintenance of plant security, salaries of staff supplies, cleaning, repair, maintenance services, our professional technical services, which is our software, other purchased property services, which is our water, sewage, trash, insurance, security services, total of $10,033,945. This is an appropriations increase of $1,689,411 Student transportation.
This is our salaries for our bus drivers. Maintenance of our school vehicles. Special education transportation expenditures. Our agreements with our joint chair transportation. Field trips, this is 3.10% of our total budget for a total of $34,032,683 with an appropriations decrease of $74,040. Our health benefits and other employee benefits.
So for the budget breakdown, it is 16.43% of our total budget. Our health benefits, which include medical prescription and dental, equal $135,925,096 Additionally, our other employee benefits, our FICA contributions, PERS, which is pension, TPAF, unemployment, workers comp, tuition reimbursement, and our compensated absences equals $44,215,076
for a total of $180,140,172. That's an appropriations increase of $11,225,352 Our capital outlay, which is our fund 12, this comprises 2.03% of the district's proposed budget for 2627. This is for architectural and engineering services of $363,750
the construction services for our capital projects of $20,889,891, and equipment, $1,022,956. This is for a total of $22,276,597. I want to again say this includes the money from our capital reserves of 12,000,000 some odd dollars for the total. This is an appropriations increase of $57,178.
Our transfer to charter schools. This comprises 19.17% of the district's proposed budget for the twenty six-twenty seven school year. This is the largest portion of our budget that we pay out right from the top. This line item supports the school's enrollment of students in 23 charter schools for a total of $210,155,190 Additionally, there is a pre k contribution that is not included in this for $1,600,000
If we did include that, it would be a total of $211.07 $211,712,100 bringing us up to 20% of our total contribution off the top two charter schools. So our appropriations increased $41,535,582. That is a 24.63 increase in one year to the charter schools.
Our special revenue fund, which is our fund 20, is 12.88% of the district's budget for the 2627 school year. This includes our preschool aid, our IDA flow through, that's our special ed, and our title monies, which is ESSA, consolidated aid. This is supported by state and federal sources with the general fund contribution to the preschool program for a total amount of $141,247,257.
This is an appropriation increase of $12,910,515. So just for the recap, our general comments expense is $738,792,090. Our capital outlay is $22,276,597. Our transfer to charter schools, $210,155,190.
Our special revenue, which is our fund $2,141,247,257 minus our title one contribution to the school based budget. That is our blended money of $15,929,982. Again, our total budget for the 2627 school year is $1,096,541,152
with an appropriations increase of $69,268,030. So this is just a synopsis of our staffing, our vacancies, our planned capital projects, bathroom renovations, boiler replacements, masonry repairs, auditorium upgrades, roof replacements, elevator upgrades, floor replacements, HVAC upgrades, and cafeteria upgrades. Also, we list our collective bargaining agreements, which are up until '26 until 2027 or 2028 with the exception of PSA,
which is our Principal and Supervisors Association. We're about to currently begin negotiating with them. Next is a sample of our resolution to adopt the 2627 school year budget. Be it resolved that the Jersey City Board of Education County of Hudson State of New Jersey adopts the 2627 school year budget, and it lists the capital outlay, the numbers I just said, and to be further resolved that the general fund tax levy is $545,000,000 1 $545,175,855
is approved to support the 2627 school year budget. Tax rate for 2627, the average home assessment was $487,501. The proposed school tax rate is 0.0119. For 2526, the net valuation tax was $47,014,032,020.
The net valuation for 2026 in Jersey City was $48,684,370,320. So I wanna just focus on this so everyone understands that the valuation of the property in Jersey City has increased in one year by $1,670,338,300.
So according to the tax rate and the state, we are considered a wealthy city based on this assessment. So the increase to the average assessment will be $66.25 a month based on our tax levy using our bank cap and our local fair share. And this is partly due to the inadequate funding of the city's contribution to the local fair share over many years. For 2026, our budgeted per pupil cost is $28,689
and our employee benefits as a percentage of salaries is 42.84%. So as I share this slide, which says our shortfall of $62,943,493 that was our shortfall that we were working with. That once we received the state aid, we see we did receive some additional money from the payroll tax from the city. We were supposed to receive $80,000,000.
We received 84 something. This was our shortfall. We still needed to balance the budget. So there were a number of decisions that had to be made with the superintendent and the administration and speaking to departments and to make sure that we are able to move forward for the next year. So if you could go to the next slide. So as you can see, our budget cuts, central office personnel, and a reduction in force. We are first looking at vacancies. That is our first cut and efficiencies.
We spoke with the departments, and we met with them to see what was absolutely necessary. Many of the departments were able to put some things aside. Over time, and all of the rest of these finance and operations, special ed, curriculum, student life services, HR, technology, early childhood. These the non instructional staff members will be taken out of these departments. So this is our total impact for our budget cuts. In order to have balanced the budget with the shortfall of $62,000,000.
So that concludes the formal portion of this presentation. So once again, I would just like to say that this budget has been carefully developed since September with input from stakeholders across the district district to ensure we meet our educational goals while remaining cognizant of our current economic conditions. In closing, this budget is a responsible roadmap for the upcoming year. It protects the core of the district's mission, go for the gold at all times. Additionally, it addresses long neglected infrastructure needs and makes difficult but necessary choices to stabilize our
financial future. I respectfully ask the board to vote yes on the preliminary budget tonight. Your support ensures that we can continue to provide a high quality education in a safe, upgraded environment for every student in Jersey City. Thank you for your support. Wow. I think you need a drink of water. Sure. That's all we can offer here. Or something else. Wow. Any questions on that? I know that we all have met I know that we all have met with, doctor Luz and the administration,
but if you have any further questions, let's take them now. Yeah. Yes. Trustee Iofe. Thank you. Through the chair. Doctor. Luce, thank you so much for the presentation and for the benefit of the public. I want to, emphasize that unlike any prior years that I could think of, the board has asked for and received multiple prior updates and projections even though that's not something that you know the district has practiced in the past. But Doctor. Luce has been very accommodating to try and predict what might happen and also stay
on top of what the governor might, unleash on Jersey City public schools. Also, as a general picture for those who may not have been following the governor's budget address and just the state of the finances and the school districts across the state, Jersey City, I think, is has received officially the highest cut in the state, second highest cut in the state of New Jersey amongst public school districts. Newark remains to be the highest recipient. And just for comparison, Newark is the only city, the only public school district that's larger than Jersey City public schools.
Their budget is almost $2,000,000,000 of which 1,400,000,000.0 is provided by the state. Meanwhile, Jersey City keeps receiving cuts based on our property worth basically because ironically as large as Newark is and as large as our school district is, their property values are only half of what our property values are. And so the formula is definitely not in our favor, unfortunately, which is why this board is actively advocating for any ongoing legislation to amend the funding formula in order to reduce the harm to high poverty districts such as ours.
So even though we are a wealthy city among the wealthiest in the state, we are Jersey City Public Schools is still categorized by all definitions as a high poverty, at risk, every definition you can imagine, district within a very wealthy city. And so having said that, I noted that the local, levy has increased to 5 over 500,000,000. And to those who may think that there is a major or rather the formula cannot mandate more than 2%. Correct, Doctor. Luce?
Yes. So so the 2% is the only thing that is being imposed in this case, and that is being imposed by the state. I mean, because that is part of our mandate. Additionally, to the shortfall, it just looks that between what the state is providing in this case, which is a $125,000,000 plus the, forgive me, the banked cap, which is what the district has to utilize in this case, banked cap plus the total state aid is not even enough to pay the charter school bill in this case. So the charter school bill this year, supersedes pretty much anything that we've ever seen before.
And not only does the state aid alone does not cover it, but even the emergency mechanisms that district is employing in this case are also not enough to cover the charter school bill. So anything else that is being pulled on top of those mechanisms, such as the fund balance being depleted essentially just to make ends meet for this particular year, That's just to make our schools survive. So the shortfall particularly made an emphasis on us. I think it was very heavily discussed with the board through committees and through the
retreats and in caucus as to the impact to our classrooms. We've met with parents in the past weeks, who've made requests, who made their needs rather known, valid needs, absolutely valid needs. And we were trying to kind of pre anticipate that, you know, around this time, we may be looking at just major cuts to programs, to positions, and and that is something to to be contended with. So that was my one question with regard to the 2% to make it clear that, you know, the 2% mandated cap is the only thing that's being utilized in this case case.
Nothing more. Thank you. Thank you. If I may, I'd like to invite our citywide student councils who will be speaking before we proceed. I think we need to vote on this first, doctor Fernandez. Hold on. Yes. We I'm sorry? Because I wouldn't know if we vote right after we see the budget for that. I know. We're at section four point o two, which is public comments only on the preliminary school budget. So if you signed up for that portion, this would be the time that you'd be allowed to speak on the preliminary school
budget. And budget alone. Budget alone. That's That That's, miss McKenzie. That's standard three minutes. How many speakers are there? How many speakers? How many speakers do we have on the budget? How many? Okay. To the chair. Okay. Are are we gonna are we gonna hold up the students? Are they just presenting? We're not holding up the students. We're, going to allow the people to speak on a budget, and then they're going to present. It's only a handful, and they're only going to get a couple of minutes to speak on the budget. We're going to vote and then the students.
So Yes. So based upon the, chair president's discretion, we're going to reduce public comment to two minutes for this, agenda item regarding, public comments on the preliminary school budget pursuant to board policy '1 167. So it'll be reduced to two minutes. Okay. Okay. You to call the names the names that I have that have signed up for, budget. The first one is Sylvia Charles. Through the chair. Madam president, would you like to have, mister Rivera read the preamble? For the read it for the regular,
and then we'll take it all from there. Thank you. So not so not reading? He but now as well. Okay. Somebody make? Yeah. Good evening. I'm gonna read the public comment statement now. I'm also gonna read it during the general public comment statement. All speakers must adhere to the two minute speaking rule. The clock shall not be stopped. Speakers will be called to the microphone to speak in the order that their request is received. All statements or comments shall be directed to the chair. It is the expectation of the board that comments will remain positive and focused around the best interest of students in the district and as a whole.
The board will not condone comments that could be perceived as harassing, insulting, threatening, or lacking in respect or civility. The chair reserves the right to, a, interrupt, warn, and or terminate a participant statement or comment when it's too lengthy, b, interrupt and or warn a participant when the statement or comment is abusive, obscene, or may be defamatory, c, request any person to leave in the meeting when that person does not observe reasonable decorum or presents themselves as a danger to others in the building. D, request the assistance of law enforcement officers in the removal of a disorderly person when
that person prevents or disrupts a meeting with an act that obstructs or interferes with a meeting, including threats by words, actions, or objects. E, call a recess or an adjournment to another time when the lack of public decorum interferes with the orderly conduct of the meeting. And f, waive these rules when necessary for the protection of privacy or to maintain an orderly operation of the board meeting. Thank you. So our first speaker is Sylvia Charles.
The budget or not? No. So good evening, president Velasquez, Superintendent Fernandez, and members of the Board. My name is Sylvia Charles, and I'm a parent in this district. As we sit here during budget week, the community is being asked to trust this Board with nearly $1,000,000,000 But trust is earned through transparency and results. And currently, we have a deficit of both. We cannot ignore the financial mismanagement cited by independent auditors in the special education part
one report and tonight's audit. We have seen reports of missing millions, reckless hiring, and vendors being paid for services that were never rendered. This isn't just miscalculation. It is a betrayal of the tax payer tax payers, and more importantly, a betrayal of our students. I noted tonight just a couple findings that, appropriations to our teachers are being cut, while the business office and HR appropriations are increasing, while earlier this week, we already found that $935,000
was misspent, on a program purchased and then unable to be used. I noted that we are also including in our budget 100 $1,859,852 to lawyers and $3,200,000 for judgments. Speaking to the fact that, what goes on in this district, we're budgeting for it now. The board recently blocked a resolution to release the second half of a special education audit. If you want us to support this budget,
you must stop hiding the data. You cannot ask for more money while refusing to show us how the previous millions were spent on the children who need it most. Thank you. Alyssa Nann. Good evening. My name is Alyssa Nann, and I'm a parent at PS thirty seven. Quick question. Doctor. Luce, will your presentation be available on BoardDocs? I'm here because our district is facing a crisis of confidence that matches the fiscal crisis. When we look at the 2627 budget and the proposed tax levy increase, we have to address the historic lack of planning that has brought us here.
While we hear that the deficit is the result of state cuts, it's also time to acknowledge the role of local mismanagement. The public sees the lack of fiscal responsibility and failure to engage with city administration for a holistic approach to school planning. As our city grows, our schools remain in a state of physical decay, and some are dealing with current severe overcrowding, which is also going to be an imminent problem at other schools like thirty seven. Let's be honest about why the cost of charter schools is ballooning. It's because parents are choosing them. They aren't just leaving for the sake of it. They are leaving because they have lost trust in this district's ability to meet the
most basic needs of our children. Families see crumbling infrastructure and low test scores, and they see an partner a partner they can believe in in charter schools and not with an administration that treats them as an enemy. As recently reported in the Jersey City Times, the district committed to the LINC system only to abandon it and return to systems 3,000. That is nearly a million dollars of taxpayer money set on fire. And to hear that in the caucus meeting, it was said that the board cannot publicly discuss reviewing the contract to try to recoup those funds is ridiculous. It's your fiduciary responsibility to us as constituents to try to recoup any any money
that you can. Also, we were told at the August after the HR audit report that conversions to link was gonna be the solution to the problems identified in that report. So I'm curious to understand how these will now be addressed going forward. Mistakes in a district of this size are human nature, but leadership requires taking ownership of those mistakes and explaining them transparently to rebuild faith instead of defensiveness and deflection. I'm glad to see some Thank you. Show Golden. Nobody moving. Show Golden. Sheena Da Silva. Kirsten Meister?
Good evening. My name is Kirsten Meister. I'm a parent at a PS thirty seven. My other parents have already addressed the questions that I had. My suggestion is that perhaps the presentation that was just given could be available on BoardDocs prior to our meeting, instead of having to be read a thousand numbers. We can have a better use of our time, use as a discussion, then you wouldn't have to limit the time that I had to talk to you. And since I only have two minutes, my one request is please stop limit public speaking. When you do this, you're blatantly telling the public we don't respect your time or your opinion.
We don't wanna know. Personally, I have been up since 03:30 this morning. I'm tired too, but I'm here. I asked this for the respect of parents. Two months ago, mister Morris sat there and told parents, you need to stay here. You need to listen to the end. Be here and present for comment. But then the next meeting, he went ahead and voted with a motion to limit public speaking to one minute. Please stop doing that. We wanna have conversation with you. We're here. We're showing up. We're asking questions. And then we prepare a three minute speech, and then you limit our comment to one or two minutes. Or you say it's only for the budget.
You can't speak about other issues when there are so many issues to speak about. So please stop doing that. Sabrina Harold. No. Hold on, please. To the chair, I just wanna remind members of the public that this portion of the public comment period is for comments on the preliminary school budget that you just witnessed. If you want to make comments about general Board of Education issues, that's for the general public comment period. And just quick reference as to the limitation on the time, that's pursuant to bylaws zero one six seven,
which is a public document that allows the board to limit the time based upon the ninety minute limit for public comment that's in their policies. Just so you know. Alright. So, before I start, just to be clear. So the budget this is just a budget hearing. I can speak on the budget hearing as it is by statute that when there's a public and then I can speak on my line item later. Or really able to speak on speak one time this evening. I just wanna be clear, sir. You're clear. You you can speak once for the budget because that's what you signed up for.
No. I spoke I I signed up for both. So I can only speak on if I if I speak on the budget, I can't speak on the line items at this It says budget hearing. Right. But I also spoke I also put on there, to speak on the audit report. That's two separate things. But no One is a line item. That's part of the agenda, agenda item. The other one is the budget. The budget statutory by law says that when there's a public hearing, this is the public hearing. The other issue is a separate issue. So I just wanna understand why I'm here.
So while I start speaking. So Please start our time. Deliver whatever your comment is now, please. Alrighty. I will be reporting this as well. Okay. Good evening, trustees and superintendent. I am here to address the deeply concerning financial and administrative failures revealed in the 2025 auditors management report and recent board discussions. First, we must talk about the $935,000 software shakeup. For two years, this district spent nearly $1,000,000 of taxpayer dollars to transition to the link platform.
We were told this would modernize workflows and fix the very audit deficiencies we are discussing tonight. Instead, that transition has been abandoned, as Superintendent Fernandez admitted, and, admitted the company overpromised and underdelivered. We have now returned to the same system we've used since 2013, effectively wasting a million dollars for zero results. Where was the oversight during those two years of failure? This waste is especially painful when you look at the auditor's management report. The audit reveals a lack of fundamental internal controls.
Financial systems were not closed for months after year end, and the auditors found that checks were being backdated. Furthermore, the district failed to submit required administrative contracts to the county for review and could not provide proper documentation for salaries charged to federal grants like Title one. This isn't just paperwork. It is a failure to account for money meant for our most valuable students. Finally, fiscal accountability is impossible without public accountability. This past Tuesday, we saw a speaker, Mary Cordero,
removed from this room from for her time canceled simply for challenging a trustee's remarks. When the board uses its authority to silence critics rather than answer their questions, it destroys the public trust. The community deserves better than backdated shows. Thank you. Nisha Patel. Good evening. I'm a Jersey City homeowner, taxpayer, and parent of two children in our public schools. Thank you for the budget presentation. I have two primary requests, greater accountability and a firm commitment to infrastructure, transparency and accountability. To make these meetings more productive,
I ask that these budget slides be shared with the public in advance. Instead of reading numbers off of a page, our time here should be spent discussing the logic behind your decisions and how this district's needs have shifted. Public trust is earned through diligence. We are deeply concerned, as other parents have mentioned, of seemingly poor decision making and financial mismanagement. Our district can simply cannot afford million dollar mistakes. I am asking the board to publish regular public facing accountability reports detailing exactly how you are rectifying these internal controls to ensure our tax dollars are reaching the classroom
and not failed projects. Please continue to also partner with our city and state administrations on ways to, help fund our schools. Secondly, please continue to prioritize the repair of our aging buildings. My children attend P. S. 37, where we have been waiting for an auditorium fix that is dependent on a roof repair. I was encouraged to see both of these items listed in the budget summary. A listing, though, is not a timeline. Our children shouldn't be sitting among broken chairs and floorboards. I urge you to commit to a summer twenty twenty six latest start date for these projects. And,
also, as you're reviewing infrastructure needs across the district, please reallocate funds if needed from areas that don't have proven academic returns yet, where research hasn't been done yet, such as some of the some of the areas of EdTech. I'm not an expert, but just saying that we should consider safety and infrastructure as a highest utmost priority above other things. Thank you for your time. Luna Zhu. Luna. Preeti Doshi, Jim Nelson, Thank you, Jim Nelson, Parent at Innovation High School, speaking in my personal capacity both being informed by the team of Education and Law
Center and the JC Together and Healthy Schools Now Coalition. First, I want to thank Senator Bikourji for restoring $3,000,000 to the budget last year. And I also want to acknowledge that in 2025, in addition to the scheduled amount for the employee payroll tax, the City also provided another $46,000,000 of employer payroll tax, in April 2025 that became part of the fund balance that we are relying on. So I want to thank those entities and the leaders for that. First, some opening questions. Does the combined bank cap and local levies stay within the 2% cap or is
that are those separate figures? Second, does not filling vacancies mean that schools that were short teachers in the circuit positions will continue to be short those teachers and will lose the budget to try to hire in those roles? Third, are we tracking what facility repairs and improvements we are delaying and the cost of that delay? I've heard that for every dollar not spent on properly scheduled or recycled maintenance can cost $4 to $7 in emergency repairs. It's not sufficient to point to original dates of school construction, but years of delay since the last generational cycle of improvements and upgrades.
Fourth, how would our conversation be different if we were budget planning for two to three years? Now I'd like to mention that we are talking about budget as a school district schoolhouse. In that and tonight, you're approving the framework, the foundation and the framework for that budget. Then late April, we'll be talking this is possible to talk about the line items that shuffle the furnitures. But also about the windows and the doors, the doors and our pathways for our students to look out to the world and the opportunities. The windows are how they look out into the world and and how we provide the social
emotional support, the infrastructure, and the streetscape in the the green environment. You've got 10 questions, 10 points in my written written remarks that were emailed to you earlier. But just underscore that we need the transparency, the collaboration, and to move forward. Elizabeth Mitolo. Good evening. In virtually no other sector would an organization present a budget of this size, ask the public to absorb a 17% tax increase, and still provide so little operational detail about how those dollars will be spent, what outcomes they are intended to produce,
and how success will be measured. Jersey City has a strong tax base, so the issue is not simply the revenue. The issue is whether the district is spending efficiently, strategically, and in alignment with student needs. I have a lot of questions. The first, what did the district learn year over year about its spending patterns, operational inefficiencies, and budget performance? How were those lessons applied to this year's budget? If there is a continued decline in student enrollment, why is the spending continued to go up year after year after year? One year from now, how will the public evaluate whether this budget was successful? What specific investments in this budget will improve student outcomes compared to last year?
And will that be meaningfully different for children in our classrooms today? We voted for each of you on the board based on your professional backgrounds, your relevant experience, and I need assurance that each and every one of you have seen this budget in detail and have the technical foundation and experience to evaluate a budget of this size at $1,000,000,000 in the complexity that it brings. So I'm gonna ask, at what points in the budget development process did each and every single board member provide input? How many working sessions were held between administration and the entire board,
not just a handful of you, before this budget was presented publicly today? What specific revisions did board members request, and did those recommendations materially change the budget? And which of those recommendations were incorporated into this final proposal? Our expectation is that each board member participates in this process, and I unfortunately do not believe that was the case. So I have one final question for you. How can this board fulfill its fiduciary due duty to students, families, and taxpayers if they cannot fully and meaningfully be involved in building the budget itself? That's the last person that I have listed for the budget.
Did any of the other people that you called and did not show, have they come in? Uh-huh. You might wanna quickly run down. Okay. Show golden? No. Okay. Shneha Da Silva? Yes, doctor Fernandez, you wanna you wanna answer before we take the exam? At this time, I'd like to invite Marjorie Sanchez, our student at, middle school seven, who's the timekeeper for the citywide student council. Marjorie. Good evening, superintendent doctor Fernandez, assistant superintendents, principals,
board members, and community members. My name is Marjorie Sanchez, and I'm a student at Franklin l Williams Middle School. When I first came to my middle school, I didn't want to be there. It wasn't because I was nervous or But because I wanted to attend a school with an AEP program. The more time I spent in class, the more I liked attending school. I started making friends with people I might have seen but hadn't talked to in elementary school, and it felt like a fresh start. I've been able to join clubs like the drama club, which a friend introduced me to. This has led me to become an assistant director for my school's fame and Beetlejuice
Junior productions, as well as serve as backstage manager for all my school productions. I've also joined one of my school's art clubs. I've always had a passion for art, so when given the chance, I jumped at the opportunity. Joining the drama club and ATC has helped me narrow down the programs I want to join in high school. One day, my Hermit teacher asked the class if anyone wanted to join the student council. She said the class representative needed to have a good grade and be responsible. At the time, I believed my grades weren't the best, but I still wanted to try. To this day,
that is the best decision I've ever made. I love that I can help out at my school and keep my classmates informed. I've been my class's representative since sixth grade, and this year, I've become a student council officer at my school. In sixth grade, I was too scared to actually help coordinate school events and interact with too many people, but I still wanted to help. So I have fundraised my son snacks. In seventh grade, I decided I had to stop being shy and begin helping more. I helped sell snacks and decorate my school's haunted hallway and Valentine's dance. The most memorable event that I helped with was Santa's workshop.
During a meeting, my adviser, mister Moleski, brought up that my school was hosting a Santa's workshop. I hesitated to join because it would be pretty late in the day, but I still signed up. There, I helped children make cookies and took plenty of pictures. This really encouraged me to help out more at my school. Citywide Student Council was introduced to me in sixth grade. When I first heard of Citywide Student Council, I was immediately interested. In seventh grade, I was given the opportunity to join. I attended three meetings. And at my third meeting, I was asked if I wanted to become my school's officer.
I didn't even consider saying no. This year, I've tried to limit the number of activities I participate in so I can devote more time to citywide student council as our organization's timekeeper. Participating in student council was never for the community service hours to graduate. I did it just so I could help out my school. My experience in Jersey City Public Schools has taught me the value of giving back and supporting my community. This experience has helped me learn how I could succeed in school while still tending to my responsibilities. My parents divorced around the time I was 10, so I live with my mom. Since she works long hours, I spend most of my time taking care of my younger siblings until my grandma
gets home. Most days, I try to tend to my hobbies like crocheting or baking while making sure my siblings are fed and not fighting. Taking care of my siblings has actually helped me grow as a person. I've learned how to make meals from my culture to feed them, which will be helpful in the long run. It's helped me mature so I can become a responsible adult, and most of all, take care of myself and serve as a positive role model at my school and throughout the community. Managing my school and home life has also prepared me for high school. I'm currently not sure well we'll be attending next year, but I do know it won't be easy.
My responsibilities have helped me find a balance between schoolwork and home responsibilities. They'll be very useful in high school no matter where I go. Looking to the future, I'm currently preparing myself to attend either McNair academic high school or accounting prep. In addition, I will audition for the JCR's program. I will be leaning on my support system of my mom, grandma, advisers, teachers, and friends to help me make this decision. My experiences with the citywide student council have bolstered my confidence and given me the strength to know that no matter what choice I make, it'll be the right one for me. Finally,
I'd like to thank my mom who takes care of my brothers and me with barely any help. Her strength and persistence have helped me to grow into the best version of myself. Even through setbacks and challenges, I've learned resilience from her. She encourages all my hobbies, and she's the reason I am where I am today. Thank you, doctor Fernandez and advisers, for this opportunity and your time. Thank you, Marjorie. That was excellent. And I recommend that you continue to hope for JC Arts. It's a wonderful program. Last evening, I was able to enjoy the performance Chicago that they put in their new JC
Arts, black box at, Gross Nickel Hall at NJCU, and it was phenomenal. It was standing room only, and the parents and the students were thrilled. They were fabulous. So I strongly recommend you stay in district because we wanna watch you continue to grow and flourish. At this time, I'd like to invite, Luzmary Vargas, a event coordinator and a student at Ferris High School. Luzmary? Thank you. Good evening, superintendent doctor Fernandez,
assistant superintendents, directors, principal work, and community members. My name is Lasmeras Vargas, and I proudly serve as the citywide student council event chairperson. I am also a student at James J. Ferris High School, and a proud graduate of public school number eleven. But beyond my achievements, I am a daughter, and that is the role that has shaped me the most. I was born in The Dominican Republic and came to The United States when I was five years old. We first settled in Manhattan, surrounded by families from our home city. It felt familiar and comforting. I was happy making friends and adjusting well.
Then came the news that we were moving to a city I had never even heard of, Jersey City. Back home, everyone knew about Florida, New York, and California. Everywhere else felt like a mystery. I expected to feel like an outsider in a place where no one looked or sounded like me. Instead, I found something unexpected. I found family. What I fear would become unfamiliar quickly became home. I made new friends and found my place. But as I settled in, I also began to change, and not for the better. I talked in class, struggled to sit still, and rarely listened at home.
My My mother's discipline felt suffocating to me at the time. I saw her as my enemy rather than someone trying to guide me. Although I was often reprimanded and grounded, my defiance continued. That was until the summer before my freshman year of high school. One morning, I woke up to my grandmother's voice in the living room. She was coughing up blood. My heart dropped. I had been told that my mother's was only a little sick, but this was far more serious. She had developed a severe case of pneumonia, which re induced complications with her heart.
That summer was the most difficult of my life. I replayed moments when I had disappointed her. And for the first time, I saw my actions from a different perspective. Finally, the day of my mother's second open heart surgery came. We waited for hours that felt like days until we heard the words we had prayed for. The surgery was successful. When I visited her, she softly whispered, For those that don't know, it means God bless you. That moment changed me. I realized that if I did not change my path, I would regret showing my mother the woman I was capable of becoming.
I entered my freshman year determined to be different. I joined clubs and sports. I applied myself academically. At first, it was to prove to her that I was someone better than what I was. But it transformed into something bigger. I demonstrated discipline, focus, and leadership. During my freshman and sophomore years, I discovered my dream of becoming a cardiologist. Watching my mother endure not one, but two open heart surgeries inspired me deeply. Her resilience, her strength, and her unwavering love inspire me every day.
I want to dedicate my future to healing hearts just as hers has shaped mine. I continue striving to grow and lead. I'm honored to have been accepted into the National Honor Society to serve as secretary of the Ignite Wellness Club, to maintain a weighted GPA of 95, and to represent my school as the citywide student council event chairperson. I'm also very grateful to have had the opportunity to participate in many of Ferris High School's student council events, such as the annual Turkey Drive, Kindness Day, Back to School Day,
and our annual Valentine's Day fundraisers. Now, as a junior, I plan to apply the lessons I learned as the citywide student council event chairperson to my future goals. This year, I plan to take the SAT twice, once in March and again in June. I aim to hopefully score a 1,300 and considering my options, I'm interested in applying to UMass Boston, Penn State, and Montclair State University. After four years of college study, I hope to attend medical school where I can pursue a career in medicine. To begin preparing for this path,
I've earned my CPR and first aid certifications while working as a summer camp counselor. And each of these accomplishments reflects not only my hard work, but the lessons my mother has taught me. Finally, I would like to thank miss Williams and miss Wilson for giving me the opportunity to share my story today. I am deeply grateful for the responsibility to lead and for the chance to stand next to such dedicated and inspiring individuals. Thank you. Lou's Berry, I'm speechless. Your story is one of thousands,
but thank you for showing what the public schools does. The public schools delivers each and every day to students. And our growth and development is a testament to the hard work of many dedicated employees and teachers, counselors, custodians, security. It's the whole team. But thank you so much, and, Thanks. Thank you, president Velasquez. Wow. Thank you, doctor Fernandez. And I too we're voting. Yeah. I too,
congratulate the two young ladies that just spoke. You know, some of us, like doctor Fernandez and myself, also came from another country as, children here, and we know exactly what you your plight has been. So kudos to you for every success that you have had. Now I will take, motion to vote for the Motion. For I'm sorry. For the budget. Motion. Motion by vice president. Second. Second by trustee Iofe.
We're gonna have discussion if needed. Any yes. Yeah. I just wanna Trust the Thank you. Thank you, madam president. Yeah. I just wanna go on record, and and share my comments. I'm not really looking for discussion. Just wanna voice where I am. I wanna start acknowledging the work that went into this budget and the time constraints we're all facing. We recognize it. It's not easy to do. It's it's it's very difficult. And I fully support funding our schools, meeting our obligations to students. I have two two children in the district. I see firsthand, walk going around to our events, going to our facilities. There's great needs,
and I feel them personally. I see when the elevator is broken at at my school. At the same time, my role as a board member requires me to uphold the public trust and exercise the independent judgment to ensure that district is well run. That means recognizing that more money alone does not automatically lead to better outcomes. We also have a responsibility to ensure those recess resources are used effectively and sustainably over the long term. These concerns are not new. I raised similar issues last year when I voted no on the budget, particularly around long term planning and sustainability, and I believe those risks remain.
My concern is not about this year's budget in isolation. It is about what this budget budget sets up for us sets us up for in the years ahead. The budget relies on several one time measures, including significant use of fund imbalance and capital reserves to support ongoing costs. While that balances the current year, it does not resolve the underlying structural pressures that we are facing. We're experiencing declining enrollment, increasing charter school transfers, rising labor and benefits costs, while we are seeing a reduction in state aid. We keep hoping that the state and city will pony up more funds,
but hope is not a strategy. There is no guarantee that we will save any extra funding in the near future. At the same time, the special education audit remains incomplete, which limits our full visibility into a major area of spending that continues to grow. Without a clear multi year plan to address these trends, we risk deferring difficult decisions rather than solving them. And again, relying on future funding without a defined path forward is not a strategy. We've seen in areas like PS 16 overcrowding how challenges persist when responsibility isn't clearly addressed. And I'm concerned we are seeing a similar pattern here.
Going forward, I believe it is essential that we establish a clear multi year financial plan built upon measurable goals focused on student outcomes. We must complete the special ed audit and ask for a third party to complete a detailed operational review to find savings starting with special ed. We need to ensure our resources are aligned to our long term needs. For these reasons I cannot responsibly support the budget as presented. Thank you. Madam president. Yes, vice president. I I just wanted to, for the administration, to clarify. The budget cannot be posted on board docs until until it's voted on.
Correct? I'm sorry? The budget the the budget the presentation that you just gave cannot be posted on board docs until it's first voted on. Correct? Correct. And this is the preliminary budget. The final budget will be April 30. I just wanted clarification for the audience because several people wanted to, view it on board docs, but the reason why you couldn't view it was because it had not been voted on yet. So that's the reason why. Number two, regarding the, the speakers, that's according to how many speakers we have on the list and based on the amount of time that we have in the speaking portion.
So the reason why that was put into policy was for situations where we have a large speaking list and we have the ability to decrease it. So it's not about what you have to say, but it is about what the policy states about how many people we speak will speak within a ninety minute limit. So that's clarification for those that were wondering. Thank you. Doctor Luce, you just, said that this is preliminary, and then in April, we're voting for the final. What is the difference? Is there would there be a difference, or why are we doing it now? It's possible. So this is submitted to the county tomorrow.
The county will review it, not just this this is Right. The most irrelevant part as far as, like, this fun the slides. They we submit what we have on the dewey net. We there's a number of appendices we have to submit that support this document and others. The county has, if I'm not mistaken, I wanna say April 20, to to approve the budget and get back to us. They may have changes or recommendations in which we will have to adhere to. Should that be the case, we will do so.
Additionally, if we are to receive any money, say, from the city or from the government or any other entity who would like to contribute, that will change our bottom line, and we will have to make revisions to this document. Okay. And if there's any changes, any concerns, anything upon return from the county, how, will we know I know we'll know ahead of time. I know that. But will we have an opportunity to sit again with you? Yes. Okay. Absolutely. Thank you. So Real quick. Yes. One of the speakers mentioned public participation and transparency,
and I just want to recall something that the board already openly discussed, which is a town hall dedicated to the budget, which I think is being planned for the period between now and the final budget vote. So that will be a great we've done it before. We talked about it in prior meetings, how good it was, how important it was. I recommended and the district, complied with adding all the budget presentations for prior years onto the district's website so that it's at a glance easy to see the changes through the years as well as the video of the prior town hall.
So I think that would be really helpful in order to, dissect the departmental areas and and why things are being allocated the way they are. We have that date, vice president. It's gonna be, within the next couple of weeks. I just have to sit with the administration so we can set up the logistics. Thank you. Yes, trustee Resabella. Thank you. Mhmm. I wanna begin by acknowledging the work of our business administrator. Budget season is complex and requires balancing competing priorities under significant constraints. So I recognize the effort that has gone into engaging leaders across the district and
navigating a challenging fiscal environment. As presented, we are operating under increasing pressure, the adequacy budget continues to rise, the expectation of local fair share continues to increase, and charter school payments have grown to approximately $210,000,000 We are also seeing rising costs in health care benefits and transportation, both of which are fixed and difficult to control. At the same time, families are making educational choices that best meet their children's needs, and I respect that. We are also navigating uncertainty in revenue, particularly with the payroll tax.
I want to acknowledge the administration, President Velasquez, Trustee Ioffe, and Trustee Snyder for advocating for these funds to be used to reduce the burden on Jersey City residents. That advocacy reflects a shared understanding of the pressures facing our compute our community. From a financial perspective, these conditions represent clear external constraints. However, they also require a high level of discipline in how we plan, forecast, and make decisions. My concern is not with the recognition of these challenges, but with how we are positioning ourselves to respond to them over time.
We are seeing a pattern where fixed obligations, including charter payments, health care, transportation, continue to grow while revenue remains uncertain. When reoccurring expenses outpace predictable reoccurring revenue, it creates the risk of a structural imbalance. A budget can be balanced in a single year and still be unsustainable over the long term. This concern is compounded by enrollment trends. As enrollment declines, revenue follows. However, our cost structure does not reduce at the same pace. That gap requires intentional multi year planning.
At the same time, I remain concerned about gaps in transparency that directly impact our ability to make informed decisions. As we continue to lose funding tied to special education, we still do not have full clarity on the magnitude of that loss or its impact on services. The agreed upon report was intended to provide that level of detail and without it, we are making decisions without a complete financial picture. Additionally, recent audit findings continue to reinforce my concern that stronger internal controls are needed. One of the most concerning findings in my view was the financial reporting system for
fiscal year twenty twenty five was not closed for several months after year end, resulting in financial misstatements related to district cash balances with checks from the 2024 to 2025 fiscal year backdated and posted in the subsequent period. From a governance and financial oversight standpoint, this is not a minor issue. That concern becomes even more significant when paired with what we still do not know in special education. Audit findings identified instances where students reported as special education or attending private schools for
the disabled did not have an IEP in effect as of the statutory reporting date. Additional findings related to transportation showed inconsistencies, missing IEP documentation, transportation not aligned with IEP requirements, and eligibility discrepancies. When these findings are considered alongside the still unreleased agreed upon special education report, I'm left with the level of clarity I believe this board needs on both compliance exposure and the full financial magnitude of what has been lost. I also have concerns regarding internal financial practices. When we invest in systems,
particularly in HR and business operations, there should be clear due diligence, stress testing, and feasibility analysis prior to implementation. There should also be clear accountability when those systems are later abandoned. That is a basic expectation of financial stewardship. On facilities, while I recognize the challenges related to the SDA, it raises concerns when projects exceed budgets by as much as 27%. Variance of that magnitude point to a need for stronger cost control, more accurate forecasting, and tighter project oversight. With a budget that is this constraint,
it's imperative that we clearly understand the forward impact. We need to know whether these pressures will create bottlenecks, whether they will eventually reach classrooms or whether they will delay elements of our long range facilities plan. They are planning requirements. Best practice in financial governance includes multi year forecasting and scenario planning. Projections create a narrative that allow the board and the public to understand how today's decisions will shape future outcomes. Without that level of clarity, we are making decisions in isolation rather than understanding their cumulative impact.
It is also important to recognize that every financial decision carries an opportunity cost. A lack of precision in planning and execution risk diverting resources away from direct student impact. As a board member, we have fiduciary obligation to ensure that public funds are managed with transparency, accountability, and long term sustainability. That responsibility requires independent evaluation and at times difficult decisions. For these reasons, I'm unable to support this budget. This vote is not a reflection of the effort of the business administration staff or
the reality of the external pressures we face. It is a reflection of my assessment that we need stronger forecasting, clearer transparency, and more disciplined financial planning to ensure long term stability for our classrooms and our community. Thank you. Anyone else? To the chair. Trustee Afopp. I don't have any long speeches or written responses. Okay. But, you know, throughout the year, if anyone's paying attention, there have been reports through special education on what's going on and how things are being remedied. And this where we are right now as far as charter schools and special education,
this is a long history of in education that dates back to the civil rights era Thank you. Where we have had and I just wanna speak a little bit of truth to all of this because it's just it it irritates me to the point where, nobody's really looking at the history of school and and the education system and how we got to this point and how we got to where special education is even an issue in school. When we look at the charter schools and public schools and children being taken out,
first of all, charter schools was there to offset funding the same way that the Dunbar School back in this in the fifties was shut down so that title one funding could be spread out throughout other schools. When children are sent to charter schools and then sent back to the district as special education, that's where the price goes up. That's where the transportation goes up. And there were legislators here or they still still are here. If we look into, how charter schools are should be held to the same,
standards as public schools if they're getting public funding so that either they can accommodate children who are who are exactly special classified as special education, qualified so that they could provide those services instead of sending them back to our district as special education students where it's raising on budget again. But, I think that the district is doing the best that they can. I see the professional, development that's being taken place as far as trauma informed practices so that not only
just staff are educated on how to, accommodate students when they're in a in a crisis, but also so that parents can, at home, also offer the children their, their child the the supports that they need when they're having an emotional crisis at home through the TICE, parenting practices, which was actually was the agenda for the PS 16 that was supposed to be for the the student outreach committee that was changed to accommodate PS 16 parents. So this budget,
I I think it was very clear, noticing the changes and, you know, in the special education department where there was a lot of information given in the reports that I made and enduring the committees that you would, I say I'm going to agree with this budget. Thank you. Trustee Richardson? Through the chair, Where do I begin? I just wanna say first and foremost, I feel like I'm on a merry-go-round because of what happened at last month's meeting. Now I know. We had a retreat Saturday. And the BA told us to our face,
this is a public meeting. You need to vote for this budget as if, you know, you're telling us what to do. Looking directly at me looking directly at me, it's a shrine that was sitting next to me, but you were looking in my direction. I didn't say anything then, and I politely asked for some information. I didn't receive any of that information, Particularly breakdown now if you look at the last page of the presentation, there's no numbers attached to any of those efficiencies, this, that, whatever. I specifically asked for that. That was the first thing I asked for.
And then I see this information that was put in there about the, the capital fund. But it was also specifically right out on the onset of this meeting with this same statement beginning the budget. No. We're not because I wrote this down. No. We're not fixing bathrooms. No. We're not upgrading schools. And then I said, will we get the dollar amounts and the positions by line item when you talked about because there was an article put out about a 150 to 200 positions.
Mhmm. None of that came. None of it. Right? Let me go back to my notes because I left my pen so I had to type notes. I'm sorry. So, here are my concerns about this budget. Only 20% of this budget is instruction and programs, if you go back to that presentation. 20%. The 69,000,000 increase that we talked about that in spending, it appears we're pulling in money to supplement the 42,000,000 going out to the charters. Now, remember, if the money goes out to the charters,
the money is supposed to go and everything else with it, including people. You're supposed to cut. Let's keep it real. We gotta keep it 100. Now, I'll just throw this in there as before I continue. Myself and former trustee, Barcooch, met with some people from Georgetown who talked about this very same problem about the fiscal cliff. Nobody wanted to hear anything about it. Nobody wanted to have a discussion about it because I brought that information back. And we still could have an opportunity to maybe have a discussion with them, maybe have them look at our stuff and give us an an an honest and
objective assessment because we need an objective assessment. We really do. Because even with the audit, let's be quite honest. Some of that stuff is vague. Some of that stuff on there is vague. Now Can you clarify that, please? The vague? Yes. Because they they said they didn't look at it. So we don't really know what that is because we weren't presented with any detail. Now if we look at if we ask for copies of their, their work papers, if we can get copies of their work papers to see where that's noted based
on, then maybe we'll have a little bit more visibility. Right? But let me continue. And I gotta get back in my phone. Hold on. What did it say. Did you have an opportunity I'm sorry. And and you'll I'll I'll get back to you. But did you have an opportunity to bring all of these issues up at your three by three yesterday or that was not Three by three. The The numbers didn't change. There was nothing else to say. The numbers didn't change at all. Not one iota. So now operation maintenance of plant security, big number, dollars 93,000,000, very big bulk.
But that's we we gotta have a talk about that. That that should have been broken down. And it's not that we didn't ask for components of details of what makes that up. Like, for instance, if you're gonna let people go, let's say you let a 100 people go, we should know the titles and the money that's tied to it. We don't need names. We just need the titles and the money that's tied to it. I used to be president of this board in 2020. We had that listed in the documentation. Go back. You can go back and look at the the documentation online. It should be online. Now another item.
We are talking about the we were talking about the levy. What we're not saying, what's not being put out there is that the even though the levy is, 500 some odd million, the the regular levy, but you're levying additional, the $80,000,000 which makes it $625,000,000 Now the the actual levy would be $625,304,688 if I'm correct. That's what the board resolution says. Excuse me. I apologize. Go ahead. No.
Go ahead. Right. That is exactly what the board resolution says that I sent to everyone today, and it is on board docs. And I've said repeatedly through here, if I may, that we are using the bank cap. The 80,000,000 is the bank cap that we are using. But my In addition to Do the chair. The tax levy. Thank you. Do the chair. But the public needs to understand that it's 545,000,000 plus 80,000,000 because even trustee Ioffe said it's 2%.
It's it's that plus $80,000,000 So it's 600 $625,304,688. It is not stop saying 5. It's 6. Because when people get that tax bill, they're gonna say, what the heck happened? Now to the chair here's here's here's the thing. Here's the thing. This is the last thing I'm gonna say. Now before vice president Morris spoke, and I have to say this because I wanna be transparent. Business administrator,
mrs. Luce, doctor Luce sent a text on her phone and prompted him to look. Now if there's something on that text between them two, if you sent him a text I I don't okay. Just hold it. Lorenzo. Send him a text. I'm sorry. I have to stop you. That is inappropriate. Lorenzo, I have to stop you. I understand. But that is not you don't know. You do not have any evidence that that took place. So you're madam madam president? Yes. So let me just clarify. You're submitting You said that you have evidence of that?
You are. I always put Come look at it. Come look at it. Trustee Richardson. Then don't then they'll inquire then. Trustee Richardson, do you have evidence of that? No. Come look at it. I just told you, I observe No. No. You tell me. Observation. I'm observing a lot of people texting. I don't know if they're texting you. So can we move on back here? Through the chair. Through the chair. Through the chair, please. First of all first first, we operate under Robert's rules. In order to speak, you must be recognized. So let let's let's stop let's stop the back and forth.
I thought I had You you did have the floor, and you raised an issue. Then the president has the purview to jump in and ask questions. So let's just let's tone that the back and forth because we no one can hear what's happening. Okay. With respect to your statement, if if you're making an allegation, that's something that we can look into. But you are making a statement that because doctor Luce looked at her phone and texted something, and then trustee Morris looked at his phone contemporaneously, they must be texting. I would have to say that is a very weak allegation on its face.
Say that. I say And it's reckless to bring that up. Wait. Let me finish. I said Let me let me finish. It's reckless to bring that up in a public meeting like this without more evidence of it. So I would just give you some advice that if you do have concerns like that, it may be a better form to bring that up later as you collect more information than to just throw that out there that because she looks at her phone and she excuse me from the public, please. I'm just saying It's not your time to speak. You will have time to speak. You will have your time. I'm just clarifying that that, to me, creates a dangerous dangerous precedent here that if we're gonna look at everyone when they're
looking at their phones and texting and assuming that they're texting someone else and making a further assumption that they're texting about something related to what the person says, that's too tenuous. And I really commend you with that. Please don't interrupt me. I'm not interrupting you. He's out of control. You're interrupting me. Let me say this. You can respond. You can say as much time as you want. You're not on me. You're not on me. You're not on me. You can respond and say whatever you want. And for the public, the mics sometimes go off when multiple people speak, so it's not intentional on behalf of anyone here.
I'm done, but my rec just to reiterate, please do not make allegations like that without if you wanna consult me, we can talk about it, but it's not fair to everyone here. Thank you. So, are you are you finished, trustee Richardson? I'm good. Thank you. Alright. Madam president? Yeah. First of all, let me just be very clear. I don't need the administration to invoke anything on me because I asked the questions to the administration. And if mister Richardson is so concerned about my text history, he's more than welcome to come and look at my call log. I don't have anything to hide. So after in closed session,
if you wanna sit with me and we go through each text message, we can sit and do that. Madam, chair, I yield. Thank you. To the chair. Trustee Affai. I was in a three by three with, trustee Lorenzo, and he really did not say anything at all during the meeting. And it's it's concerning that all of this information that he's requesting or wanted to see in the report was not mentioned at all in that meeting, but here at the table where there can no correction can be done right now. Due to chair, I already stated on record that my questions were asked at
the retreat. They were not responded to. And the numbers we got, because she was in the meeting too, was myself, right, you, and Trustee Schneider. And what happened? The numbers were exactly the same. Anything different? To the chair. Yes. Doctor Luce did say that some of the numbers did stay the same, and they were gonna be corrected for this meeting. Thank you. Any other, yes, doctor Pham? If I may. Through the chair. Yes. The question was asked about titles. And my response, mister Richardson, was that we have tenure laws,
and we have civil service. And there are bumping rights. Therefore, we could not provide those lists. Teachers have tenure. And if I'm putting support staff back into a classroom, they will be bumping, and there will be other titles. So it's at this moment, it is an amount of money after we have the civil service audit returned from civil service, then we will have clear indications of titles.
Thank you. Could we vote? Thanks. Miss McKenzie oh, I'm sorry. Doctor Luce, did you want to clarify? And I think you should. I appreciate that. Thank you, president Velasquez. If If if I just one moment. If you could show slide seven. Go ahead. Very quickly. Yeah. Yeah. She's Take your time. So on this slide, it clearly states for 2627 as I stated yesterday, and I stated again today and I'll do it again now that the local tax levy is $545,175,855
The next line says local tax levy, the bank cap of $80,128,833 So it says it right there. There is no new information that has been given. The board resolution is on board docs. It was emailed to the board members today, and I did it for clarity purposes. And it states it in my email that it says the local tax levy is $625,304 608 $688 which includes a bank cap of 80,000,000.
It clearly states that there is nothing that has changed and there is no new information. Thank you. I'm on. Thank you. Through the chair. Now let's call Before we go, I just We're going go ahead. Before we go, I just have one question. So I I just wanna get clarification from the attorney. Due to my severe ADHD and, autism, I sometimes struggle to process things in real time. So if I went to my three by three and later had questions because it took me a while to process,
would I still be able to ask questions later on or would we have confined that only to the three by three? Of course. You can always ask questions later. Call the vote, please. Trustee Ioffe. Yes. Trustee Rosabella? No. Trustee Richardson? No. Trustee Mohammed? Yes. Trustee Blunt? Yes. Trustee Patel? Yes. Trustee Schneider? Nay. Vice president Morris? Yes. President Velasquez? Yes. Motion passed. Okay. Thank you. Now is the other piece. Okay. Let me read what I
Okay. To the chair? Yes. Oh, it's me. I just wanted to, give a little advisory that, in the past, I've taken Marie Cruz to, court, and the findings were to for her to be cordial toward me during meetings. Mhmm. So her replying yes while I'm responding would not be cordial. Thank you. Take that. You have a restraining order against her? It was a, there was a, No contact order? Yeah. Well, not a no contact. It was a mutual agreement that when she's in the my presence and I'm in her presence,
that we will be called just for each other. Okay. Now on November 2025, the board of trustees requested a review of the HR department. Upon completion of the same, the trustees were provided the findings at the last, at last month's executive, session. At this point, this will be presented to the public, and, I'm gonna have mister Rivera introduce the person that's coming in to present us the
findings of HR. Thank you, board president. As she indicated in November, there was a resolution, an approval passed to, provide the a summary of the findings of the a review of the HR department. Liz, Dash, Elizabeth Dash is going to present the review, and go through, you know, the all of the information, very high level general without disclosing any names or, any personnel issues, but, a review of the HR department and her findings. Thank you. Thank you for the introduction. That is very loud. My name is Elizabeth Dash.
I'm an attorney with Antonelli Cantora Verra. And in November, I was tasked, along with other members of my team to conduct a thorough investigation to the human resources department and, as well as the affirmative action team. These findings were presented at the last board meeting. And today, I am here to present a brief overview. The first thing I wanna present is through the legal standards that we worked on. The very first legal standard that we considered was that of a hostile work environment. For an actionable claim under the New Jersey law against discrimination, there needs to be several things that are met.
The first thing is that the conduct complainant wasn't welcome. The second is that it occurred because the plaintiff's inclusion in a protected class. And the third is that a reasonable person in the same protected class would consider it sufficiently severe or pervasive. Protected classes under the, law against discrimination are race, creed, color, national origin, ancestry, age, sex, gender identity or expression, and others. The next legal standard that we considered when conducting this investigation was the standard of retaliation. CIPA prohibits an employer from taking any retaliatory action against an employee for protected whistleblower
conduct. We wanted to ensure that when we looked into the human resources department, we were also looking for both, hostile work environment and harassment, but also any type of retaliation that might be present. The next standard that we looked up had to do with the affirmative action team. Specifically, the New Jersey statutes under the affirmative action officer and what the affirmative action officer needs and are required to do by law. Next, I wanna talk a little bit about the scope of the investigation. This investigation was extremely thorough, both through a document standpoint and through an interview standpoint.
We reviewed several different forms of documentation including the HR depend department standard operating procedures, the review of multiple different employees' personnel files, employment records, and internal communications pertaining to complainants, review of prior and pending litigation documents from the district, and review of the affirmative action team procedures and certifications. As well as a thorough document review, we also did a review of many different interviews. We conducted a total of 27 interviews. Several interviews with were with various administrative staff. We interviewed each and every member of the human resources department.
And we interviewed all key members of the affirmative action team that were listed on the Jersey City public schools website. First, I wanna talk about the review of the HR department standard operating procedures. The first thing we noticed is that the Jersey City Public Schools employee handbook is outdated. While there is a new version that is being released. We also, reviewed the HR department handbook, the new hire packet, and the Jersey City board of ed administrative regulations. Our firm provided the following recommendations because of this review. One, there needs to be an update to the policies and procedures to ensure that everything is current.
This needs to be done to ensure reliability and transparency. Two, all new hires need to be provided policies and to receive refresher training as needed. We believe that there needs to be refresher training, given more often. The next thing I wanna discuss is the administrative personnel interviews. All administrators reported positive changes in the HR department after Edwin Rivera became the current director. One administrator noted multiple efforts to stabilize the HR department, including the implementation of a remote work policy in February March 2021. I would like to note that there's a very big change and a very big
difference, and we did conduct multiple interviews, asking questions pre 2022 and post 2022. Next, I want to talk about the HR department interviews. Again, we interviewed every single member of the HR department. Every single member of the HR department was asked about their impressions of the current director. Nearly every member of the department expressed positive impressions of the current director. Long standing members who were served under different directors and different policies highlighted the positive changes the current director had made to the work culture. Newer staff members also reported positive experiences describing the HR department as professional and courteous.
All members of the HR department testified that they never witnessed the current director engage in uncouth or unlawful conduct. All members of the HR department testified that the current director had never engaged in retaliatory or discriminatory conduct. Every member of the HR department was asked whether anything needed was to be done or if any further investigating needed to be done. No one said that it was required. And I want to clarify that every interview that we conducted was completely confidential. That's why they're you're not going to see employee names here. Our findings after we conducted this. After a thorough review of the HR department policies and procedures,
we found no evidence of discrimination or retaliation within the current HR department. Long term employees reported overall improvements in the department under the current director. All testimony indicates that the current director has not engaged in any unlawful discriminatory or retaliatory conduct. We also did a thorough investigation into the current affirmative action team. The investigation examined the current affirmative action officer, the publicly listed members of the AA team, and how ongoing affirmative investigations are conducted. It also reviewed training materials provided to team members, including slides and the professional certifications held by the team members.
There we go. The investigation found that the Jersey City public schools adheres to the statutory standards of the affirmative action officer. The affirmative action officer coordinated professional development training for all personnel and provided documentation demonstrating the different training that all personnel must go through. Annual full day training is provided by an outside vendor with schools being able to send two representatives each and with retraining occurring every three years. The investigation identified many opportunities to improve communication under our recommendations. The investigation also recommended influencing a standardized template from affirmative action investigations.
The district should provide additional training for all public facing team members. And finally, we recommend that a standardized policy should be established for reassigning complainants. Thank you. Thank you very much. Any questions? Okay. We did go over this in our closed session. So thank you so much, Ms. Dash and thank you for all the work you did. Before we go on to public comments, I'd like we'd like to hear from our student representative, miss Gwyneth Friedman. Good evening, everyone. So I'm just gonna start off by sharing a quick update as to what I've
been working on over the last month. So over these past several weeks, I've worked with miss Campo Williams who runs the citywide student council as well as my advisor at McNair, mister Gibson, to distribute a more comprehensive student input form through the city wide student council representatives across middle and high schools district wide. While the form is still active through the thirty first, we've received over 700 responses, including input from every school surveyed, giving us a more diverse snapshot of student experiences and priorities.
To understand what students wanted to see, I separated the form into sections including general concerns, a targeted focus, and the final thoughts. When asked about improvements, 60.2% of students identified facility cleanliness, particularly restrooms, as their top concern, noting inconsistent maintenance and restocking. Students also expressed a strong interest in more district wide events, such as spirit weeks and dress down days to build community across schools. Additionally, many students highlighted the need for stronger academic support, especially in AP preparation and college readiness.
In terms of challenges, seventy one percent of students reported significant academic pressure, including heavy workloads and limited exposure to the college application process until late in their high school careers. 65% cited infrastructure. Concerns such as outdated facilities and temperature issues, while 63% pointed to inconsistent communication, unclear expectations, and a lack of student voice. I can also share a full copy of these responses with the board once I finished collecting data through the thirty first. To address these concerns,
I firstly believe that the oversight and accountability for facility maintenance to ensure cleaner learning environments must be expanded upon. While this does often fall on the school and the school's administration itself, it was a common theme throughout all the responses that soap, paper towels, and specifically women's hygiene products are not actually being restocked within schools. Second, on the theme of academic stress, expanding access to academic resources including study supports and earlier college readiness programming such as workshops for underclassmen can help prepare students over time.
And as a student myself, I believe programs put on by the district such as AP Saturday have increased my own preparedness for my exam significantly. Based on the concerns students are outlining, I was thinking it might be beneficial to implement an SAT class as part of the AP Saturday framework in future years. Particularly for the March, May, and June SATs that run across the same time frame as AP Saturday. And that as you heard in today's speeches, many current high school juniors are taking, myself included. And many students reportedly feel an unpreparedness for these exams due to a lack of
resources that ultimately aren't hidden behind a paywall. Third, I plan to bring more attention to the district student newsletter, which which I have right here, as well as the resources available on the website and the public nature of these meetings that could help foster an increased sense of transparency for students, allowing them to gain more insight on the decisions made by the board of education right here and the superintendent. I think one way to do this is by putting this information in a format that's more accessible to students who may not take the time to source through these
materials in their entirety. And that's something I plan to work on sending out at the conclusion of every upcoming board meeting throughout my tenure. Finally, following the revenue analysis presented at the last meeting. I wanted to better understand the funding challenges facing our district from a student perspective. For the nearly 30,000 students of the Jersey City public schools, school funding is more than abstract policy discussion that we have at these meetings. It's something that we encounter every morning, Monday through Friday, one hundred eighty days out of the year.
And while it's often easy for students to be able to identify and speak on all the problems that we're facing in our schools. I recognize that these issues are closely tied to broader financial constraints at the state level with the word state budget being thrown around at this meeting alone several times already. So to explore this further, I met with try Trustee Iofe after the last meeting. And she shared many resources including comparative school funding data from the previous year, the board's budget overview, the, JCPS annual report, and her own writing on the issue.
And through this research, I gained a clear understanding of the discrepancies between the funding that Jersey City public schools receives from the state and the overestimation of our local fair share, and how these gaps directly impact conditions in our schools, particularly in areas like infrastructure, resources, and the overall student experience that I've seen in these surveys. So with trustee I hope support, I also wrote and shared a student perspective on these funding challenges, highlighting how they're felt within our classrooms and our communities. I'm hopeful that this perspective can continue to be shared not only amongst the board,
but also with local and state leaders. And I know that, assembly woman Brandon who's here today, she had a town hall on this issue earlier this week. I just like to bring greater attention to an issue that as doctor Fernandez put it earlier, makes us the second biggest loser in terms of state funding. But we must pay attention to the fact that more importantly, we're the third largest district in the state of New Jersey. And as we heard from today's speakers alone, we have immensely talented students in this district who deserve better. Thank you. And you are testament to that.
Thank you so much. You know, every month as we hear you, you you look at us, we're all smiling. You make us so proud. And and, you know, we are so happy that you found a mentor And I'm sure that together, we will we will, be able to address the issues in Trenton and beyond. Thank you so, so much. Thank you. Fabulous you. Fabulous woman. Through through the chair, just one comment to Gwyneth. Yes. Thank you for your presentation.
Really appreciate the survey results, and really do please share with the board what, all your final findings are. Actually, if you could send the your copies of your comments, that would be helpful too. Thank you. Through the chair. Before you share it with the board, please make sure that it's shared with the superintendent, and she will send it to the board. Thank you. I just wanna say really quickly, Gwen has been is extremely accomplished in her own right. There is not much that I can share that she hasn't already perceived and absorbed and processed and, you know, put to words. And I think that this year,
we have a really good chance of having a strong student advocacy with a full understanding of, you know, of the issue that our district is facing, because really their stories are the most important, testimony much more so than our analysis and our experiences. And, you know, we're elected officials. We're here for three years, you know, minimum, sometimes more, sometimes less. Less. But the bottom line is we come and go. These kids are here from three years old until 18, and they feel all of these issues every single day,
as Gwen said, from morning to to to late afternoon. So I hope that, you know, this is just the beginning, for the public's benefit. This is a preliminary budget that's being submitted to the county. And I also want to note that, you know, we, us here in prior boards, I've been here for this is my fifth year on this board. I voted no on budgets. I voted yes on budgets. Each time comes with a certain thought process and understanding, and it's okay. You know, and as our, as our trustee Shaw used to say, vote it up or vote it down. Like sometimes the choice is ours at the end of the day.
And and I think we all understand that. But this time, we also, I think, have a better understanding of what we can do, advocacy wise because several parents have mentioned, you know, working with the city. We haven't worked for those who've been following our meetings. I think so much commentary has been dedicated on, on all the, unsuccessful attempts to work with prior administration, which we hope is changing now. In fact, it is already changing just the amount of meetings that the superintendent and the board leadership has held with the new city administration assembly,
state senate. This we've never done this before because no one's really, accepted us at the table, so to speak. Planning boards, what have you, city infrastructure departments would on every single issue and and especially funding. So this time, the preliminary budgets are being submitted throughout the state. We have two months, or so before the state budget is finalized. There are two committees on a state level, assembly and senate, and they are now receiving testimonies from the communities, from everyone,
not just the school districts. And we fully intend, we engage the parent ambassadors for our district on this on this initiative to submit as many testimonies as possible to these committees, including our students, to really put our make our voices heard. Other districts have done it for years. And so this is our goal from now until the next budget hearing. We have a few weeks, and we intend to work very hard during these few weeks so that something will, you know, so that we will be heard this time around.
Thank you. Thank you. And and I I I would be remiss if I, didn't, thank, Jim Nelson who for years and years and years continues to advocate for us. He comes not with problems but with solutions, and he continues to travel to Trenton and everywhere he can to ensure that, you know, the voices of all of us are heard. And, you know, we continue to also ask parents and the total community to assist us in this,
to advocate with us, to come to City Hall, to come to Trenton. We appreciate all of you coming to the district and giving us, your communication, your advice on how we should run the district, but we are a team. Join us, and let's do it together. Thank you. Madam chair. Yes. Oh, George. You called me the silent lion, and so I only speak when I think of something is a liar. Is a part just partly to speak about. First and foremost, we've been working very hard. Yes. We have. And the the public needs to know that.
You know, we were at a retreat and we went away from people, went down to William Patterson University, got private privacy and worked on this budget. We had presentations from other school districts about how they did that budget. We implemented something called well, not implemented. It's always been this. It's called a three by three. You could only have three people at a time Mhmm. To work on a budget. And people need to know what three by three by three means. That simply means that if you have more than three, it becomes a meeting. And so you do it this way,
so only three people. And I want and my three was Alpal Patel, no Naomi Vlasfield, and me. And we went up and down the budget with doctor Luce. I thought she she she well, you can't imagine the kind of questions that we asked her, and she answered them all. Doctor Fernandez, you would have been proud. And then we came back and met again. And again, we looked at that budget. We have been doing it up and down. And I have to tell you, you have stood the charge because I I asked a ton of questions.
But you and me were asked to ask a ton of questions, you know, and and she was able to stand tall and answer them. And then I just heard the auditor. He just said the same thing. Of course there are some issues that you found. I have not known a district, and I've been in a few in the in my career. I was a high school principal, and there were always challenges. But when you have a competent staff that addresses them, we should get behind them and and quit nitpicking because they're they're trying to get they're doing they're doing their job. Doctor Luce,
you withstood the pressure, and you, we're standing here today. I salute you. We we got a a good budget, and it's gonna have issues. Even when our presenter said to us, when you have 13, mishaps, how many have you corrected? She said eight. Jesus Christ, that's a good number. As you as you correct you already corrected 8%. So, I just wanted to and then, of course, social service, tenure chart. You know, there's certain things you have to address when you're dealing with it. And, doctor Fernandez, I think you and doctor Lewis is doing a good job.
It gives the right way. And I I appreciate what you're doing. Mhmm. Thank you. Thank you very much. And we all see the issues with our budget. We all have different concerns with regards to the budget. And some of us focus more on, the community stress and some focus on the district stress. We need to understand all of us or most of us here, okay, pay taxes. We also own homes and and others.
But in my case, I in as much as taxes may hurt, I am gonna focus on making sure that the district has a budget that can address the needs of our students. Those were the questions that we asked. Those are the questions that were answered, and that's one reason why I vote for the budget because I vote for the students. We are not raising taxes. We're raising students, children. Thank you. So, now, we will have, attorney, an hour and a half.
How do we work that out? Yes. I'm sorry. Yes, Doctor. Fernandez. If I may through the chair before we go into it. I want to once again would like to repeat some information to address the ongoing increase regarding the release of the second part of the district wide special education audit. We recognize that for many of you I guess your microphone. They couldn't hear you. Oh, okay. All right. I apologize. Once again, I would like to repeat some information to address the ongoing interest and inquiries regarding
the release of the second part of the district wide special education. We recognize that for many of you, this audit represents more than just a report. It's a roadmap towards ensuring your children receive the high quality, inclusive and compliant education they deserve. The Jersey City Public Schools remains committed to the principle of transparency. However, the release of the comprehensive audit involves special education sort services that requires the auditors
to maintain a careful balance between public accountability and the strict privacy protection and mandated by federal and state law. The second phase of the audit is currently in progress and not an attempt to withhold information. It involves services to non public schools. These are schools outside our jurisdiction. Doctor Fernandez. It's through the chair. Members of the public, you're not permitted to raise your signs as it's disruptive for the meeting.
So I'm gonna remind you to put your signs down. The people behind you cannot see, and that is the reason why we don't permit the signs. If you wanna stand in the back, you can. And I'm gonna remind our our security staff, please remind the public that individuals should be sitting down at the meeting, walking around constantly during the meeting unless you're gonna go to the restroom is not permitted. We ask people to sit down for safety reasons to then you can stand in the back, please. You can stand in the back, but you can't block other people from seeing by standing up in the middle of
the meeting. Remember, the the point is to not be disruptive so everyone can see and hear what's happening at the meeting. Thank you. I'm sorry. Continue that. Thank you. The second part involves services to non public schools. These are schools outside our jurisdiction, and collaboration is slow and complicated. These programs in non public schools are labeled chapter one hundred and ninety two and one hundred and ninety three, which deals with allowable expenses at non public schools. We followed up with the orders and the projection is that it will be ready
by June 2026. Under the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act, the auditors must ensure that no individual student can be identified through the data or specific cases included in the report. As this face evaluates specific staffing, we must adhere to New Jersey labor laws and privacy requirements regarding personnel action. Personnel confidentiality is very important. We understand the frustration that delays can cause.
Please be assured that the withholding of this document is not an attempt to obscure findings, but a necessary step to ensure this report is legally sound and constructive. Our goal is to move from oversight to action. Our mission continues to improve is to continue to improve the quality of life for students with disabilities by providing support that is not only compliant with the IDEA but
also rooted in the belief that every student has worth and something to offer. We thank you for your advocacy and your patience as we work to build a stronger, more equitable Jersey City Public School District. Thank you. Thank you, doctor Fernandez. We will move on. Chair? Before we begin the public comment, I I just have to say this because I was listening to mister Rivera, and I have to say respectfully, based on how you address the public, There's a difference between
frustration and hostility when it comes to these board meetings. There's a big difference. You have people who will come here who are frustrated. They are not hostile. They don't mean anybody any harm. And you're sure of that? Yeah. You're sure of that? I I I I'm pretty sure of that because I've been here, what, thirty nine years at these board meetings. So Yeah. I remember because I I've been here over forty. Yeah. Not not attending board meetings. Yes. Attending. In that little seat right there in the corner, or did you forget? And I just wanna say that
the more we push against the public is the more there's gonna be public scrutiny. Through the chair, I just wanna point out that I absolutely understand that there's a level of frustration that exists in at this meeting. And this may this occurs at all public meetings in New Jersey for public bodies. There's always someone that's frustrated that that's upset. My comments are not directed to try to stifle you. I'm telling you what the rules of the law provide. And we have a right to regulate meetings so that individuals aren't disruptive and someone
else can't see what's happening or can't hear because someone else is standing in front of them or doing something to be disruptive. We're not eliminating your ability to have your sign. Just stand in the back so people behind you can see. That's not trying to stifle anyone. That's what the law in New Jersey and The United States allows for. We're not stifling free speech. And the second part, I just had to challenge. I've been at a meeting in Jersey City before this board of ed where someone did intend to do harm and it had to be restrained. Mhmm. I've been at other public meetings where conduct is allowed,
people to walk around in the middle, stalk people as they talk, and threaten. They've thrown things at them, attempted to hurt them. Maybe no one in this room, I hope, but we can't take that chance with someone's safety, especially with what's going on in this country today. So I will always on the side of caution. I hope that no one means any ill will. But to keep everyone safe here and everyone safe in the audience, I'm just reminding them of what the rules allow for when you're having a public meeting. Okay. And madam president, it's amazing that trustee Richardson is bringing this up because for years,
he was an obstructionist in the audience. And even when he was on the board as well, which is why he was sank sank sanctioned several times with the, board of commissions. So it's it I you should recognize that. You should recognize disruption. Or was it? Yeah. Right. Okay. We're going to have the public speaking now, and we're gonna limit it due to the time. We're gonna limit it to one minute. Yes. We're going with one minute. If we continue, it'll be limited to thirty seconds. So let's go ahead. Okay. So I'm going to remind the public of our public comment rules.
If you get up and outburst, you will be asked to leave. Please be respectful. You're going to have your time, but the board chair has made a decision under zero one six seven. It's her authority to limit the public comment. I'm gonna ask I'm gonna remind everyone. I'm gonna ask I'm gonna give you one more warning. You continue to burst out, and we will have to take further actions. Okay. What do you want me to do? Do the preamble. Yes. Okay. So I'm gonna read the public comment statement. All speakers must adhere to the one minute speaking rule.
The clock shall not be stopped. Speakers will be called to the microphone to speak in the order that their request is received. All statements or comments shall be focused to the chair. It is the expectation of the board that comments will remain positive and focus around the best interest of students and the district as a whole. The board will not condone comments that can be perceived as harassing, insulting, threatening, or lacking in respect or civility. The chair reserves the right to, a, interrupt, warn, and or terminate a participant statement when the comment is too lengthy,
b, interrupt and or warn a participant when the statement or comment is abusive, obscene, or may be defamatory, c, request any person to leave the meeting when that person does not observe reasonable decorum and maybe the may present themselves as a danger to others in the building. D, request the assistance of law enforcement in the removal of a disorderly person when that person prevents or disrupts a meeting with an act that obstructs or interferes with the meeting, including threats by words, actions,
or objects. E, call a recess or an adjournment to another time when the lack of public deform de quorum interferes with the orderly conduct of a meeting and waive these rules when necessary for the protection of privacy or to maintain orderly operation of the board meeting. One individual speaks at a time, you'll be called by the board secretary, and you please respond to your name. Miss McKenzie, call, those that have not spoken. Okay. Trustee Iofe has informed me that one of the students Exactly. So, is Mahi Kandowal here?
Bless you. Okay, sir. Okay. Hello. My name is Maki. I am a student at McNair Academic High School and the vice president of McNair's Future Business Leaders of America or FBLA. Through our club, students gain experience in business, leadership, real world career skills. A few weeks ago at the state leadership conference where students from across New Jersey compete in business events, McNair had tremendous success. 23 of our members placed as top 10 finalists, and nine students qualified to compete at the national level this June in San Antonio,
Texas. However, one of our biggest challenges we continue to face is funding. The cost per student to attend the national leadership conference is about $1,680 when travel, hotel, and registration are included. We are also required to bring a teacher chaperone, which costs $2,480. This cost would have to be split among the students attending, making this trip even more expensive. We are requesting that the Board of Education support our members by helping fund the teacher chaperone so the full cost does not fall on the students. We would truly Email again. Email.
Would you I'm sorry. You're requesting that we assist you, your you and and your colleagues on this trip. Is that what you're requesting? Okay. Would you please email all of that information to doctor Fernandez and we will address it. Okay. Thank you. Thank you so much. You could if you have anything in writing now, you can give it to Debbie. What? If you have any any hard copies of anything, just email them. Okay. Thank you. So much. Thank you, hon. Emily Pico. Hi. My name is Emily Peko. I am here because special education in Jersey City Public Schools is extraordinarily dysfunctional,
and our children are still being failed. A school district is only as good as its special education program, and ours is failing its most vulnerable students. This district has resources to fix this. It has chosen not to. Parents began requesting this audit seven years ago, and now you're telling it's June? We are still waiting. Tonight, we are naming that choice and demanding accountability. You've limited our time here, but you cannot limit our presence. We are still speaking. Katie Brennan, I hope you will do something about this. The state needs to deal with us. Preeham Patel.
Pream Patel Patel. Pream Patel. Pream Patel. Lindsey Maliko, Jake Neski, Penelope Neske, Miranda Grogi Aru, Grogi Aru. I'm sorry for mispronouncing your name. My name is Miranda. I am with a group speaking as one for the children with disabilities in Jersey City public schools. Every parent behind us has a story. Different schools, different children, different years, but the same patterns. IEPs never read before the first day of school. Aids missing for months.
Placements changed with no notice. Services promised and never delivered. Goals marked met without evidence. These are not one off failures. When the same problems appear across different schools, different tiers, and different children, that is a system telling you who it is. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act is federal law. A free appropriate public education is a legal obligation. The ninety day evaluation timeline is a deadline. You've limited our time here, but you cannot limit our presence.
We are still speaking. Thank you. Next speaker. Janine why is my mic keep going out? Janine Blair. Janine Blair. This one's working. Has a fractured hand. You're speaking to your principal at Lincoln High School, which denies that he know anything what's going on after the CIT teachers let him know what's going on. We came in the parents' meeting. No parents showed up. We were told they couldn't reach out to the girl's mother because they just couldn't find. They sent community aids and everybody else to the school. You suspend my daughter and then tell me that I'm banned from coming back in
the building because I spoke my mind to the principal. And after that, didn't even talk to spoke to the police officers afterwards. As of right, I can come into that building, and I will come in when something's happening to my daughter. And you violated your own policy, your code of conduct, by telling me that I can't come in the building. You're supposed to have a meeting with the parents before any child is allowed back in the building. You told my daughter to come in back by herself. Thank you, miss Blair. Thank you, miss Blair. Can I have excuse me? Keep the volume on this mic, please. Ms. Mackenzie, next speaker, please. Just let me be very clear,
we are strictly enforcing our preamble, so I ask that you be respectful because it will be enforced. Ms. Mackenzie, read the next speaker, please. Jasmine Davis. Okay. Ricky Sun. Good evening. I'm a parent of a pre k student at PS sixteen. This year, our kindergartners will be packed into classes of 40. Our pre k toddlers continue be to be bused from home to Danforth. That is far away. I've heard some trustees say we're done for this year. The conversation is closed. But let me be clear, we're not done.
The parents of PS 16 are not done. We're far from done. The reason that there was such a strong and swift outcry regarding PS 16 proposal was because it was introduced in January and not even to the parents. As parents, we have questions and concerns about where and how your children will be educated and continuing the conversation along the way, builds trust and helps us not feeling blindsided. Tonight, I urge you to accelerate the search for a long term solution, build open communication and trust with the parents, put our children's safety and education first,
work with the city and the state, build school space in our neighborhood where our children belong. Thank you. Thank you. Andreas Wiehmann. Hello. I'm a PS16 parent representing a group of parents that is 700 people strong, and we're looking for a real solution to overcrowding in our zone. The deal the Department of Health has ordered to pause construction at Danford. As a result, you have accepted to pause the move to of Kate to Danford. This means we now have an opportunity to fully and unequivocally shift our focus to finding a solution within our zone. We've bought ourselves some time.
Now let's use it. We would like to understand how much the BOE is spending on Banford and bussing, what alternative options have been looked at, what acceptable range of spend is for alternative options, and we're still waiting for those details. Specifically, for the near term, we should focus on finding an opportunity to lease education space within the zone. We need to explore specific options such as 130 Bay Street. For the long term, we need to get serious about a new school building, and this needs to build be started today. Our concrete step, we ask for you to follow through on what you promised almost two months ago
still haven't actioned. The meeting between the the city, the BOE with parent representation Thank you. Next speaker. Lakisha Jenkins. Good evening. I'm here because the district continues to refuse to provide and track vacation leave for ten month employees. Civil service has confirmed that I am entitled to a prorated vacation leave and that the district is responsible for tracking it. The district's own audit also confirms that the vacation time is not being tracked at all. Despite this, the district maintains that I am not entitled to any vacation. I also want to address that the claim, recess and teacher's convention days count as vacation.
Those are scheduled days off. Vacation is an earned benefit that must be tracked and accounted for. At this point, this is not a misunderstanding. It is a continued refusal to comply with applicable law. I am respectfully requesting a meeting to resolve this matter, including a full accounting of vacation time owed to me. I have, the email I would like to present to the board member so that you guys can see. And thank you. Have a right good evening. Thank you. Musaba Lee. I think I saw him. Next. He's not here. Bilgin Gaddafi. Good evening.
I'm part of the group that representing over seven seven hundred parents, in the district. I'm also a PS 16 parent. These parents are dealing with real issues like overcrowding and technology use and education quality, and they're asking for concrete solutions. But there is also a trust issue. When a group of these size comes forward, the expectation is simple, to be heard first. Not managed, not minimized, heard. Reading policy is not an engagement. Engagement starts with listening. When parents are limited to bare minimum of time and feel dismissed rather than engaged,
it creates a perception, none of leadership, but of distance. Parents are not outsiders. Thank you. Next speaker. Shannon Gull. Shannon Gull. Not here next. Rosa Moreno. At this time, only one person at the mic, and that's the one who was called. Please have a seat. Hello? Okay. Kitty One second. Stop her time. Everyone else, wait till they sit down, please. Can I, can I stop? Hold on a second. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Restart her time. Thank you. Now begin. Thank you. Good evening, honorable member of the board of education and doctor Fernandez.
We stand before you represent a department that serve as a bridge between our local community and global state. Jersey City is one of the most diversity city in the nation, and the World Language Department will transform that diversity into a major academic advantage. First, we want to express our gratitude to doctor Fernandez, miss Roem, doctor Sabino, and mister Sanchez, and each member of this board of education. Your support has been in recognize that language acquisition is not luxury,
but a core component of a holistic education. This success is a team effort within each of our school administrator for the tireless work. Most importantly, we must have Thank you. Thank you. Diana Vargas. Good evening. My name is Diana Vargas. I am actually a custodian from PS twenty six school. I know that, they had two positions in my school, and they actually skipped me. They're not going by with a seniority, and they're just hiring people that they wanna hire, which that's what the principal told me.
I am a custodian. I do my job. I go to work on time, and I do my best. And they actually treating me and bullying me in my school and not appreciating anything that I am doing. I am a mother. I don't come to work to just be friends with anyone. I just come to work with a peaceful mind to do what I have to do, but then you get bullied and stating that I am getting I'm actually attacking people in my job when I don't do that. I'm actually a helpful person. I do what I gotta do, but they treat me like I'm I am nothing in this school.
And I don't think it's fair for you to come to work because people are miserable. I am not miserable. I am a happy person, and I come and I do my job. And they come and just treat me like anything, especially my principal. Thank you. And let me just hold miss McKenzie, hold on a second. If there are any any other employee, that is present here today, let me remind you that the superintendent did issue a memorandum instructing you that if you have to speak about personnel matters, it will not be done at a public meeting. You are to follow the proper protocol that has been instituted to you.
Again, our preamble says that you will not yell out, Please do not have me remove you. Again, any employee who is here to speak about personnel matters, please be advised that you were issued a memorandum stating that you will not come and speak about it at a public meeting. We will strictly enforce that. And I'm here because of two comments that Vice President Morris made the last time he met with parents. First, to say that the Board, it's not your job to communicate. Second, to say that the conversation ends now. On behalf of parents, we resoundly reject both of these statements. When I compare these meetings to what I see at City Council and engagement with
other folks, it's really night and day. Our public comments encouraged, not curtailed. We meet with thoughtful responses and dialogue and engagement and communication, none of which I see here. And shout out to Councilman Little and others who have come here tonight despite really not having to. As elected officials, it is your job to communicate. We want to be part of the conversation. If there are things happening behind the scenes, bring us in. And if you haven't started any work, it is long overdue. That conversation does not end here. Next speaker. Jo Golden. Good evening. I'm a parent at PS sixteen.
Regarding special ed, I've been following follow parents' tireless efforts to advocate for children with disabilities in the district. I want to add my voice in full support of those who spoke before me and will be speaking. It's time to release the remaining audit, commission a full programmatic review, conduct a national search for a qualified special education director, and ensure meaningful parent involvement. Regarding overcrowding at PS sixteen, at our last community meeting, parents were told that classrooms approaching 40 students is what you asked for. Let me be clear. It is not what we asked for.
We did not ask to be blamed for a failure of planning that has been decades in the making. We want to see a meeting scheduled with city leadership, the board of education, and parent representatives to work through a concrete list of solutions. This was promised to us nearly two months ago, and it still hasn't happened. Before millions of dollars are poured into the Danforth Building, let we want to see real steps towards planning for a long term solution in our neighborhood. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker. Sylvia Goldhart. My name is Sylvia Gular. I'm with the group speaking as one for the children with disabilities in Jersey City
public schools. Least restrictive environment is a civil rights protection, not an administrative inconvenience or convenience. We have caught this district misrepresenting least restrictive environment. We're not asking this district to go above and beyond. We're We're asking it to comply with decades of federal law. The fact that this feels like a radical demand in Jersey City tells you everything you need to know. The failures in this district are not evenly distributed. Some schools have 13 self contained classrooms, others have far less. Some schools have sensory rooms, music therapy, or art therapy,
but some don't have any of those resources. Some children are not allowed outside for recess because there's not one to monitor them. You've limited our time here, but you cannot limit our presence. We're still speaking. Thank you. Next speaker. Jessica Tao. Good evening. My name is Jessica Taub. I'm here with a group speaking as one for the children with disabilities in Jersey City Public Schools. The quality of a child's special education should not depend on which side of a school boundary they live on. That is an equity crisis, and it belongs to this board. The financial record is already public.
An independent firm found payments without documentation over billing and state aid errors. The district's own former business administrator warned in writing that the superintendent's financial judgment was a detriment to this district. Money that was mismanaged belonged to our children paid for by our taxes. This board authorized an audit in June 2023. We have seen part one. Tonight, we are demanding a firm date for part two before we leave this room. I heard the comments that it is not available, but we deserve some information, something, anything, whatever you can provide. We are also, as others mentioned, asking for a national search for a new director,
and we want a full programmatic audit with input from parents. You've limited our time here, but you cannot limit our presence. We are still speaking. Thank you. Next speaker? Anjali Prakash. My name is Angelie. I'm with the same group speaking as one for the children with disabilities in Jersey City. We want to acknowledge the teachers, aids, aids, therapists, and staff who go above and beyond, who buy our supplies out of their own pocket, who research new approaches on their own time. We see you, we thank you, and we recognize that you are being failed by the same system as our children.
Individual dedication cannot compensate for structural failures. The district turns its back on families and on its own employees when it refuses to address the system that is failing all of you. There is a culture in this district that treats parents of children with disabilities as adversaries. We have experienced condescension, deflection, and retaliation. This culture is a result of years of leadership that measured success by whether complaints went away rather than when children were served. Changing policy without changing culture will not change outcomes for our children.
The next leader of this department must understand this. You have limited our time, but we are still speaking. Lindsay Lang. Good evening. My name is Lindsey Lang, and I'm with the group speaking as one for the children with disabilities in Jersey City Public Schools. We are not here only to describe what is broken. We are here because we believe it can be fixed. And we want this board to do your jobs and do what's required to fix this urgently. This district needs a permanent special education director who was not shaped by the culture and habits of this department under Doctor. Cristian Nino. We demand someone recruited through a genuine national search with a demonstrated record of building
collaborative relationships with families, driving compliance, and closing equity gaps in comparable districts. Someone who arrives with a mandate from this board to do things differently and who knows that mandate is real because this board is willing to back it up. We strongly believe that this can only be achieved through an external hire. It's time to turn a new leaf in our special education department. Good special education leadership does not treat parents as problems to be managed. It treats families as partners who hold essential knowledge about their children, knowledge that no case manager gains from a file. It builds systems where IEPs are living documents and annual meetings are genuine con
Daniel Walker. Okay. My name is Danielle Walker, and I'm with the group speaking as one for children with different abilities in Jersey City public schools. We wanna talk about what happens on the first day of school because it is one of the clearest measures of whether this district respects our children. Every year, families spend the summer trying to confirm placements, prepare their children, and communicate with case managers who are told not to worry about it until September. And then every September, children arrive to find their aid is not there, their classroom is not what the IEP described,
and the new teacher has never read their file. And the supports that we were supposed to have in place for them are still weeks away from being figured out. Sometimes they don't even have a bus allocated to get to school for several days or know what training the bus aids have. We are asking that IEPs for the following school year be developed and finalized in the spring. We are asking that every staff member who will interact with a child with a different ability reads at that child's IEP before the first day of school, not after. And we're asking this board to show us a comprehensive accounting of training
Bridget De Souza. She got it. Good evening. My name is Bridget D'Souza. I am with a group speaking as one for the children with disabilities in Jersey City Public Schools. We are placing our demands on the record tonight, and we expect responses. Give us a date tonight for the release of the second part of the special education financial audit report. Commission a full programmatic audit that goes beyond finances to examine what services are actually being delivered, to which children, in which schools, and where the gaps are with parents, guardians,
and school staff interviewed as part of that process. Launch a national search for a permanent special education director immediately, and please include families in the search process. When the programmatic audit is complete, we expect to be at the table for the improvement planning process, not consulted after the fact. This is not an exhaustive list of everything that needs to change, but it is, we believe, where the board needs to start tonight. You've limited our time, but you cannot limit our presence. We are still speaking. Janoy Fry. She's not coming. Eve Weissman. My name is Eve Weissman.
I am with the group speaking as one for the children with disabilities in Jersey City Public Schools. We want to be clear about our experiences, expectations, and intentions. We are organized and we are informed. We read the local press and we attend and watch these meetings. We share information with each other. We support each other in IEP meetings, and we are building the kind of sustained community that does not dissipate after a single board meeting. If you have been waiting for this group to get tired and go away, we want to save you the wait. We have seen defensiveness on the part of this board and the administration. We have been told we should be grateful for crumbs,
and it has been insinuated that we don't have the right to be here or to be or to demand accountability and action. We have seen the status quo protected. But parents who could not be here tonight are watching with us waiting to see who chooses children, and we are organizing. What we want from this board is not a performance of concern or deflection. We have seen that and it is not acceptable. It is not enough. You have limited our time here, but you cannot limit our presence. We are Adrian Ganda. Good evening. My name is Adrian Ganda. I'm a JCPS alum. I'm also with the group speaking as one for the children with disabilities here in
Jersey City's public schools. Every parent and child has a story. Many will never be told because of the fear of retaliation. That is a reality in this district. The there are retaliation and discrimination cases at this moment pending against JCPS. Many stories will never be told because of the belief that nothing will change. Many will never be told because caregivers can't afford to come and leave their child behind or suffer from extreme anxiety and exhaustion or simply don't have the time or energy to tell their story, all because they are busy fighting for their children or feem feeling extremely hopeless.
But we hear their stories, and we know there are more untold. And now we're gonna share some of those stories. You've limited our time here, but you cannot limit our presence. We are still speaking. Darryl Lucas. Darryl Lucas. Hello? Is this thing on? My name is Darryl Lucas. I'm with the group speaking as one for the children with disabilities in Jersey City Public Schools. This parent's child is multiply disabled with sorry. With both high physical and emotional needs. Over the course of three years, the child went through five failed placements. The disruption was so severe that they did not receive report cards for both seventh
and eighth grade. Throughout this process, the family was not treated as equal members of the IEP team. Decisions were pushed on them without true collaboration. They were told what the placement would be and that they would and that they should be grateful that they have offered our child the best placement the district has to offer and to an autistic child. Eventually, they took matters into their own hands and found out found an out of district placement that actually fit their child's needs. Today, their child is thriving. They have seen two and a half years of stability and success in high school. But to get there,
they had to fight the district through due process and make a unilateral placement. Gabrielle Lucas. Vanessa Vega. Good evening. My name is Vanessa Vega. I'm a JCPS alum, and I'm gonna pick up where Daryl left off. This family But where they had to get to. They had to fight the district through due process and make a unilateral placement. They had made paying out of pocket and taking on financial risk just to do what was right for their child. Even then, reimbursement was delayed for months despite a signed settlement from the district. What's hard to understand is that the placements the district pushed at at and that
failed were one and a half to two times more expensive than the one that actually worked. From where they sat, it felt like the priority for the district was being right rather than getting it right. Instead of partnering with the family, they were met with resistance at every step. And this didn't just impact their child. It had real financial consequences. They were fate they were forced into due process with legal costs on both sides. It's hard not to wonder what can be done with finances in this regard. Here's another story behind closed doors. A perspective that sits at the intersection of what this system is supposed to be and what families are experiencing.
One parent has been on both sides as a parent and as a professional and Lois Christie. Good evening. My name is Lois Christie. I'm continuing the story from the last parent. So, these parents have worked in special education. They understand the structure, the requirements and what it looks like when a system is functioning properly. And they've also experienced this system as a parent. Not all the other experiences were horrible, but they attribute those positive efforts to individual educators and support staffers, not the due diligence from the governing department that oversees special education services.
For far too long, successful and appropriate outcomes were achieved based on how much a parent or guardian knew, how often they followed up and how persistent they were. The parent push seems to be the determining and dominating factor in whether the child receives appropriate support, which means that there can never be equity among students in special education. Jenny Contuzzi. Good evening. My name is Jenny Cantuzzi, and I am with the group speaking as one for the children with disabilities in Jersey City Public Schools.
I want to briefly illustrate what systemic failure looks like for a classified student. This parent's daughter, who is on the autism spectrum and has an IEP, has experienced repeated breakdowns in support and accountability across classrooms. In a core English class, she failed despite having clear documented accommodations. She was expected to be in to independently analyze complex material without the support required by her IEP, and there was little to no communication with her parent. As the parent stated in a formal complaint, an IEP is only meaningful if it is actually implemented.
When accommodations are not implemented, communication breaks down and accountability is avoided. The burden shifts entirely onto the student, a student whose disability is the very reason supports are required. You've limited our time here, but you cannot limit our presence. We are still speaking. Rachel Skye. My name is Rachel Sky. I'm a parent at PS sixteen. I am with the group speaking as one for the children with disabilities in Jersey City Public Schools. For many families, out of district placement has come to represent hope, and that is a failure of this district.
It is an escape hatch available only to families with resources to fight for it. For everyone else, their chill their children languish. And even for families who do secure placement, the story does not end here. Students commute two or more hours daily. The student the district hires the cheapest transportation providers with no accounting of staff training. Providers are switched midyear for children who need consistency. These children are the fortunate ones, but they are still paying a price no child should
Amy Sharrock. Hello. My name is Amy Sharrock. I'm here with the group speaking about special education and student life services. Why is this so important? Is the urgency is real. The results from the spring twenty twenty five New Jersey graduation proficiency assessment shows that only fourteen point two percent of special education students are graduation ready in ELA and only one point four in math. What are we doing? We need better. We are here to help.
We are not trying to work against you. We wanna work with you, but no one is reaching out. We are not having special education meetings. I'm happy to have a special education meeting with you. We're not here to fight. We're here to help with solutions. We don't Vanessa Vanessa Rodriguez. Shohini Badachara. Tara Stafford Okenzi. Good evening. My name is Tara Stafford Oconse, and I'm a parent of a child at PS thirty eight and one at PS thirty three. And I'm here with a group speaking as one for the children with disabilities in Jersey City Public Schools in full support of those who've spoken before me.
It is evident to me that the problems are real, the consequences are serious, and the solutions require leadership, accountability, and a willingness to confront what has not been working. These issues end up affecting all children and staff, especially the most vulnerable. I'm here to echo four demands, release the remaining audit, commission a full programmatic audit, conduct a national search for a qualified special education director, and engage us meaningfully in every step of what comes next. We want to collaborate. Our time at this podium is limited. Our commitment to our children is not. We have stood here tonight as one, and we expect this board to act with the urgency our children deserve.
Thank you. Chanel Gordon. Chanel Gordon. Phyllis Gordon. I'm Phyllis Gordon, a teacher and a lifetime member of the Jersey City NAACP. Good evening, doctor Fernandez, president miss Velasquez, vice president, and everyone else. We recognize the board members serve without compensation, attend long meetings, address complex community concerns, approve policies and budgets, and confront ongoing challenges. The list can go on and on and on. Simply put, we cannot thank you enough for your service.
Our shared focus must remain on what truly matters, and that's our children. And that's why we're all here. Okay. So I hope you're on the same page. Let us remember the words of reverend doctor Martin Luther King. We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools. Let's work together. I'm a teacher. Katie Forbes. Good evening. My name is Katie Forbes. I'm with a group speaking as one for the children with disabilities in Jersey City Public Schools. One parent's child started saying they hated themselves in kindergarten.
It took years to understand that it was school causing the harm. The child was eventually diagnosed with ADHD, dyslexia, dysgraphia, and sensory processing disorder. When the family sought an IEP, they were told their child was too smart, their grades were too high. They accepted a five zero four plan instead. Six years later, their child still begs to stay home on the verge of tears at least once a week. In seventh grade, the family tried again. The psychologist recommended an IEP. The CST denied an evaluation, and the cycle continues. You've limited our time here,
but you cannot limit our presence. We are still speaking. Andrea Andrea Descartes, please, before miss Descartes, speaks. The group that is here, again, we we appreciate you being here, and and we respect your time, And I know that, you respect each other's time. So when people speak and you do not agree with them, do not get into conversation. You are taking their time. They you are taking their time, and I'm not getting into conversation with you. So please make sure that we respect each other's time.
Thank you. Hello. My name is Andrea Depaz. I was a teacher twenty five years in New Jersey City District. And I'm just here because I was gonna say some things by I I'm throwing the paper out because this is what I wanna say. This is what I'm seeing. Use your time wisely. This is a parent involvement. I'm loving the parent involvement. You're supposed to be doing this. This is Jersey City. Keep on working at it. Strategize and make leadership decisions. That's up to you. I know Jersey City, you're gonna rock the world with the board of education to do what you need to do because everybody wants to be heard as them as well as you. Be heard. Board has to be here be heard.
Preamble says, you can't yell out, but the vice president yells out. Isn't that an imbalance? Parents change neighborhoods. Our school is only good as us. Do you want students yelling at your kids? If you don't, don't be yelling at the board of education. Let's kinda keep it even. Special education meetings. We heard this. Are they gonna have it? Did you care what the students got punished for only we have to talk one minute because of us messing up here. We need to get it together. Jersey City rocks. I'm from here. Don't let me down, Jersey City. We are number one. Lena Herring. Lena Herring. Cheryl Mays.
Is that Lina? Yes. Oh. Hello, sir. I am miss Herring. I am a union rep for Local 2262. So I'm here tonight because I'm asking you guys to table agenda 13.1 item number one under maintenance. The security rules are not being followed, and this is a direct violation of our contract. There have also been discussions regarding layoffs of local two two six two. While they while we are open for discussions, we are not open for salary cuts. Because I'm quite sure none of you guys are gonna have salary cuts.
So, no, we are not open for that, but we are open for discussions to save everyone's job. Until then, we don't need no layoffs. We need to come up with a good solution where everybody can have their job, that everybody can work. Because if you do do the sell I mean, the late offs, just know as of July 1 when schools are doing summer cleanup. I don't know who's cleaning these schools, but schools will remain the same when they leave in June and come back in September if there are not enough workers. Thank you. I'm on. Is it on now? Okay. Okay. First off, you can't have a policy that violates my First Amendment rights or my separate rights
as an employee. If I wanna speak about something that relates to my employment, I have every right to do that because not only am I employed, I'm a, taxpayer as well. But I have a question to ask. Since you have policies and since you have, preambles, is there a preamble or a policy that allows a board trustee to send a public, speaker, a text encouraging them to come to this mic and annoy another, trustee. Is that okay? Because wouldn't that create a hostile or a disorderly environment? So can someone please any of you board members,
can you please answer it? Anybody? Somebody? But, anyway, I wanna say this. Lorenzo, I want you to keep rocking your African attire in spite of the xenophobic remark that was made to not only you, but anybody that would dare come to The United States and rock their heritage piece. Elizabeth Curry. Testing. My name is Elizabeth Perry, and I am a current employee of this district. I am here to reiterate concerns I have raised that remain unresolved. After speaking at a board meeting in April 2023, I was placed under an investigation that was never concluded or explained.
Despite that, I was removed from my office and reassigned, impacting my role and professional standing. I requested board level review under policy zero one three three. The board did not act. There was no response or resolution. Instead, the policy was later rescinded. That raises serious concerns about oversight and accountability. These issues remain unresolved, and I continue to seek transparency. And I also wanna take a minute to say this, memos and, policies cannot sub, take the place of laws and statutes. So when you say somebody wrote a memo,
it doesn't mean anything if it's not based on laws, state codes, or statutes. Francie Francie Moser. Good evening. Thank my name is Francine Moser. I am representing the teachers in the world language, department district. Thank you for the opportunity. This is in continuation of the speech by my colleague. As, we thank each of our school administrators, we must highlight the transformative leadership of our supervisors, Teresita Eldridge. Under her guidance, we have moved from traditional instruction to a high performance and evident evidence model rooted
rooted in open communication, where every teacher is supported and every student is challenged. We are not, sorry. We stand before you as a united front to say, gracias. Thank you. The programs we celebrate tonight, the eighth grade AP courses, the stamp assessments, our participation in the NECPOL, and the syllable literacy are the engines of our success. Protecting our funding is not is not just a budgetary decision. It is a commitment to the identity of Jersey City. Mary Cordero. My name is Mary Cordero, and I am with this disabilities
group. Did anyone seated on this board ask themselves why so many parents are coming out to speak? Maybe if you listen to what they have to say instead of cutting their time to speak by a third, you wouldn't experience some hostility. You need to listen to the people, not violate their constitutional rights, freedom of speech. Things are not right at the board of ed. Let's change, what's not working to what needs to be working. Let's get back to the business that we're in is helping the children.
I don't know, but if you're sitting on these seats, you have to become you have to have thick skin or you need to get off this off the seat. People did not vote for you to be on these seats and then treat the public, even myself. Less on on, yesterday or the other day, you stated trespassing. Thank you. That is the last person that I have on the list. Thank you. Thank you to, thank you to members of the public for, coming to express yourselves. Now at this time, we'll give the opportunity to, the board members to be able to speak.
And at this time, I'm gonna ask if trustee Richardson has anything he would like to say. Do the chair, procedurally, are we supposed to let the superintendent respond first to public comment? I just said that we're gonna have you have something to say. Is there something that you would like to say? I would like to thank all the speakers. Appreciate all your comments. Many so valid. And, I know me personally, I'm committed to doing well and doing better. And I hope that I meet your expectations. Trustee Mohammed? Yes, I do. So social education, of which I'm the chair of that committee,
I just want, the board to the board recognizes that I I do hear the parents. And I just recently sent my board goals into, president Velasquez concerning, special education and the inclusion of children who are enrolled in a special in a special education program, whether it be a disability or learning, cognitive ability, where they're included in everything, from sports, cheerleading, and and to create an inclusive environment where students' esteem can be, boosted as well.
Also, I requested where the, so I'm just gonna there is a parent's special education workshop for parents specifically. On the district website, there's a special education hub specifically for parents, to get information, that and supports. I would look through the the through the the criteria on the website, and there's a lot of things where from pre k to twelfth grade, there you can do your child who, is autistic or has a physical disability to help them be on point with the,
curriculum and what's going on in the school. I also wanted to I heard about the I I was hearing about the IEPs not being read prior to the first day of school, and I think that's an issue where not just in this issue, because it's just across the board where the IEPs are not being focused on. Some people don't even know that some students have an IEP. And I think that we if we can go over policy or create policy where that is going to be a priority for the teacher to
actually sit down sometime before they start the day, the other year, and, familiarize ourselves with which students' names are gonna have an IEP, what's on the IEP, or even their five zero four plan. Also, that's the same thing. Yeah. So a lot being said. And, the so just the workshop is, again, is on April 22, and that's gonna be on, sensory interrogation. Also, there is information about the process of the special education, process, how a child is recognized on into how they are placed.
Anything else? Oh, we also during the committee meeting, the committee also asked that students' performances or student activities be more, publicized to the board so that we can be aware and support and, you know, observe the children that are in the special education program. I just wanna say that this is, like, my my ground right here. I have a daughter with special needs that's in a wheelchair, cerebral palsy. And I've experienced the things that these parents are talking because about they were under
she was under the administration, the prior administration, and it was very frustrating to, know what she needed and be met with pushback. So I I I can relate to that. And I'm telling you what I'm experiencing is seeing through director Galaise, and this is not to, you know, push Anne for your own heart, but, I see a big improvement. And I see, that there is parents are being listened to. It's just a process. And and, again, a lot of parents can't make it to the meetings. It's time. It's very stressful. Like, there's there's
when your child when you have a child with a special need, you have expectations for your children. Yes. And when their body is telling you this is not gonna happen, there's a there's something that's not gonna click with you Yeah. Automatically as a parent. And it it just it's really heart wrenching right now to see them go through this. But at the same time, I'm here to support them on every level that I possibly can and support the district as we move forward. And I know doctor Fernandez, we sat in conferences where we spoke about inclusion,
for special education. So it is moving. It's just And we appreciate we appreciate that, trustee Mohammed. And we are all in support of that. And we thank you for your testimony and also your your, words. Trustee, Patel? I just wanna say the same thing that, you know, first of all, I appreciate all the parents here and the community members for public speaking. Oh. And also, I'm also in the special education committee. Opop and I and the board president, we take your concerns and suggestions and everything seriously.
So do not feel that, we are ignoring your request or comments or anything because we are here to to support the children. So I just wanna say, thank you for coming, and we are going to move forward as improving this special education. Through the chair, if I could just mention that, trustee Patel and myself, we were at the, the title one meeting. And and, actually, the presentation was on special education, and they had handouts there. I I actually kept a few of the copies. So if anybody wants to take any of them home,
I have three. And I also took one copy and scanned it. If you want a email, I will scan you all of those documents as well so you can have the information that was shared at the, the the meeting that took place at the Title 1 for Title 1. Okay. Is that I'm oh, you were going down the list? Okay. I'm sorry, Matt. Go ahead. No. I just thank you again to everyone who came out and spoke. I hear you. We gotta do better. Thank you. George? Indeed. We wanna thank you. We live in a country where you're allowed to speak. You're allowed to talk.
You're allowed to voice your opinion, and we appreciate you doing that. And the great people like the reverend doctor King and Jesse Jackson stood we stand on their shoulders so that you are able to come to meetings and board and make your comments. Thank you. It's here. Natalia. Thank you. First of all, thank you, Trustee Mohammed, for your insightful comments because few of us know, but since Trustee Mohammed joined the board, she became not just a vocal advocate for the special needs parents and children,
but also very deep. You know what I mean? Like, there are people who talk, and then there are people who feel. And so I I know that about you and I appreciate it. So but to your exact point, with regard to the policy, I'm looking at some of our policies now relating to the IEP. And if there is room for anything to be added that's not a practice but can be a policy, because I imagine some of these issues may be practice related more so than policy. But if always with with me and the policy committee, if there's room, we'll we'll put something in there.
Thank you for that recommendation. She had some very, very, key issues. I wrote it down. Everything she said. Okay. But I'm talking about with and her goals that she submitted, So we wanna visit those and and and address it maybe even in policy, not just in our goals, but in policy as well. So as soon as, I receive from everybody else and we have compiled them, We will sit down. We will go through the goals, but, definitely, she had a list of excellent, ideas with regards to special education.
Thank you. Yes. I too just wanna thank the parents for coming out. I know you guys have been here for four hours, and you have stayed, and you have listened, and we truly appreciate it. I also wanna thank, some of the city council members that I see that have also stayed. As well as as the educators that have come and stayed as well to share with us because they very much understand what's happening in the district as well. So I I am appreciative of the time that you guys have spent to come out. I don't want you to believe that it has fallen on deaf ears.
We hear you. I'm the PS sixteen parents, I'm grateful to have been able to sit with you guys through the city council meeting. So we hear you and hope to be able to work alongside you. So thank you guys for staying. Doctor Fernandez. Thank you, president Velasquez. At this time, I'd like, miss Galaise to provide an update on what the department is working on. Before that, can I just say a word? I I'm sorry, miss. I want to thank the special ed, parents that are here today.
I hear you. We hear you. I don't know, and I think you might answer this, when you when you speak about the meetings, about, do you have monthly or every other month meetings? What meetings do we have with the parents of special ed, citywide? I wanna know. I wanna thank, trustee Afaf. She's been a champion for special ed issues since day one. And it's through her that we have, become more knowledgeable as board members with about the issues,
about all issues. I also have, and I would like you to answer this as well. Do we have bilingual teams in the special ed department any longer? Okay? Thank you. Again, we hear you. We're here for you. We want to work with you. Thank you. Okay. Haitian creed. Great. So we do have bilingual teams throughout the district. Mhmm. And if needed, we can also get translators. So there's no issue with, being able to communicate with the parents.
I do wanna say that, one of the goals I have this year coming into this position is that all parents of students with disabilities would know their child's placement for September by the end of this school year, and we have already been working on that. I know that that didn't exist in the past. And I always understood that to be an issue, so I have made that one of my top priorities. I've also have a goal of transparency and I have implemented a special education parent workshop series.
We've had three workshop series so far. Another one coming up in April. I've offered to meet with parents, many in this room. I've offered to meet anywhere, anytime, a coffee shop, central office, a school. I was able to meet with the group. Some some of them are here at thirty seven School. I think it was a very productive meeting. I'm open to meet again. I'm open to meet with everyone that has questions where we could sit down at a roundtable, and I can answer those questions. Also,
in terms of IEPs, it is the procedure that, I put into place. It's in writing with child study teams. They receive their, case management list before the school year starts, and they provide their the teachers of those students with the IEP goals that they are to read before the students start school. Did I miss anything else, everyone? I I think that's it. And, you just said that if you don't have a team, you have translators. And I'm just going to, a friendly warning with regards to translators.
Unless they are people that are actually bilingual and proficient in both the languages that they're working in. And unless they have the, the preparation the professional preparation within the area, they may not be translating the correct, the correct articulation, the correct words necessary to okay? And and medical lingo and all of that. So, when we do get trans and I know you're doing your very best. I understand and I respect it and I appreciate the work that you are doing,
this board does. However, make sure that we do have people that are prepared. Just because we speak two languages, we don't really speak two languages. Some of us have limitations. Okay? Have certified translators, and we have an agency to get certified translators, not just someone who speaks the language. Thank you. And I before before I give it back to or before we leave, I just wanted to, shout out. I think I saw her here. Vanessa Vega. Her father sat at this table for many years, the daughter of Mariano Vega and Sonia Saya,
and he was the president of, this board for many years. And I saw him go through a lot of changes as well. Thank you, Vanessa, for being here and supporting our our community. Thank you, Chair. One more thing. I'm sorry. The World Language Program, you guys came. I saw you guys too. Thank you for those that spoke on the budget as well. Thank you, everyone. Okay. I think we are ready to thank you. We're ready to motion to go to closed session. Motion by vice president, second by,
trustee Richardson. You voted. Pursuant to the open public meetings act NJSA 10 colon four dash 12. The Jersey City Board of Education will now be going into closed session for the purpose of discussing matters where confidentiality is essential. The matters discussed in this closed session can be made public at the time that the need for confidentiality no longer exists. It is now 09:50. Yeah. I think not even an hour. We'll we'll call it an hour, but we'll take less because I don't think we have,
much to discuss, and we also don't have legal here today. So thank you. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Are we are we close? Yes. We're close. Thank you. Good evening. We will reconvene to conclude our meeting. Okay. Miss McKenzie. Please, roll call. Trustee Blunt. I'm here. Trustee Iofe. Here. Trustee Mohammed. Present. Trustee Patel. Present. Trustee Rosabella. Here. Trustee Richardson. Present. Trustee Schneider. Present. Vice President Morris. Here. President Velasquez.
Here. We have a forum. Thank you. Station. Let's get Okay. Now let's go down the voting items. And I'm sorry. Number eight. Oh, I'm sorry. The adoption of minutes. 8.01, 8.02. Second. Motion second, conversation. No discussion? Trustee Mohammed? Yes. Yes. Trustee Iofe? Yes. Trustee Rosabella. No. Trustee Blunt. Yes. Trustee Patel. Yes. Trustee Schneider. Yes. Trustee Richardson. Yes.
Vice president Morris. Yes. President Velasquez? Yes. Motion passed. Thank you. Education, curriculum, and instruction, 9.01 to 9.29. Motion. Second. Discussion? Yes. To share? Yes. I know in committee, we have a, discussion about nine point two five. I was not at the caucus, and I wanted to know if there was any further discussion concerning the matter. I, I understand that you were you were concerned about the students leaving,
for entire day during even though there's testing hour, about to occur. Trustee Afaf. I did express my concerns with that regard and, because I felt or I still feel, okay, that that type of field trip does not really, in in my opinion, give the students, a solid experience. It's good for civic. It's not good for instruction. Okay. Okay? So and I thought that maybe in as much as this is a good thing to do, it could be done in non instructional time,
like a day that the schools are off or on a Saturday. And I would even go and help them because I believe in doing your civic duty. I just don't believe in students taking a whole day from school to do this particular so that was the discussion. We all discussed it. Everybody expressed their opinion, and today, we're here to vote on it. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Madam president? Yes, sir. I have a a question in regards to 9.24.
It's also for p s 41, but it's in partnership with Zion Cares. Are they giving food out? I don't we you know what? We did not, discuss that. Doc I'm not doctor. Miss, Resabella, do you have any information with that regard? I don't recall the discussion that or maybe none at all took place in curriculum. Right? That's a good question. I thought that it was to use the parking lot, but that that might have been for the one above it. Yeah. But I think Zion Cares is also Zion Baptist Church.
Okay. And then I think they give are they are they giving food out? I okay. Yeah. Then I think I have a I think I have a, that somebody sent me a It's a a flyer. And I think what's gonna happen is that in a on next Saturday or Saturday after that, whatever, I have the flyer where, Zion's care is going to be at the parking lot, giving away food. So And Let me let me just ask this question. So do we know where this food is coming from? Do we know if it's because if they're getting it from a pantry,
sometimes the food is expired. They're giving it out on our property. If somebody gets sick from that food, then who's liable for it? I just don't think that this is a good idea. I think it I I'm sorry. I think it already occurred, based on the flow. No. I don't think so. It says February date February 20 unless that's just the date that they requested Uh-huh. The from misresignal. But I just I wanna know is whoever put this on the agenda, did they check and see where the food was coming from? No. That that's And who is the recipient of the food? And not only that, because we're under heavy regulations and we have to go through a process on what
we give our kids and nutrition and all that other stuff, does this also fall under that as well? Because if they really wanted to have this, they could have this at their location. Well, hold on. Do we know if this you know what? These are valid questions. Can we reach out to miss Watkins Williams and see I don't think that we can reach out to her at this time. She is No. No. No. Not right now. But I mean, like we could table it. And if it's taking place on a weekend in that parking lot, do are we held to those same It's a Saturday. Somebody could fall on a Sunday and we still get sued. So it it's still relevant.
It's a food pitch. It doesn't matter. If somebody gets sick if if if there's something that has expired and somebody gets sick, we are we are voting to allow them to use the property. So we're in we're complicit in whatever happens. So we're in agreement with whatever happens. So I think we need to pull it and or table it until we can get more if we table it, you know care. You have a you have a motion and a second. This is discussion. A motion to table takes precedent over the motion and second. Yeah. You wanna make that motion,
you get a second on the tabling, then you'll vote on you have a discussion and then vote on whether you're gonna pull this off or any other Okay. Agenda items. Say that again. Clarify that. You need to move for to table if you want to table this off. If we table it, actually, it it won't take place because we won't be able to, speak on it or vote on it until, late in April. And this is to be to take place, I believe, is April 4. Okay. Well, they shouldn't have thought about that before they put it on agenda without information. Yes. Through the chair? Yes. I just wanna be mindful that we are helping those with food insecurity.
So by tabling it, we're pushing off for a month for these people to have access to it says nutritious food box and fresh produce. So, I mean, otherwise, the food goes bad. I'm not saying that your concerns I'm sorry to interrupt. I'm not saying that your concerns are not valid. That is definitely questions that that should have been brought up. But, I mean, it's fresh produce, and these are people We don't know. It says fresh produce. But Families that What you need to realize is is that with these churches and these nonprofit organizations, they go to a pantry every month.
And they gather all of this food up, and they bring it back. And just because it says fresh on air, it'll be fresh when we get to the bottom of it and find out if it's actually fresh. Because even though these are people who are full insecure, would you like for them to be full secure and sick? Just pull it. It needs to be pulled until we get more information. Pull it back. Well, actually, if it's pulled, we're not gonna see it again because as I said, it's going to, it's it's gonna be too late. So Through the chair? Is it possible that we just you know, if if the majority decides to, you know,
let this pass, that someone in the administration would just have a conversation with the organizers and then, you know, just provide some assurances about, you know, the freshness of the food and things like that? I I don't know that anybody in the organization is gonna go and check out the food. I mean, the administration. I'm just saying just to reach out to whoever whoever's representing the church. Okay. So, madam president, what he's proposing is somebody from the administration have a conversation. Hey. Is this expired? No. It's not. But we don't have any proof of that.
So at the end of the day, we need this is a institution where we are responsible for what happens to people. So I think we need proof that this is actually legitimate, where they got the food from, where the food is being how how we're everything has to to be on the up and up. Otherwise, if somebody gets sick, we're responsible for it. Through through the chair. Okay. Okay. It since it's a Kimura Vice president, we're going to modify our motion. Okay. Haramon, how do we go about that? Because I I believe we're gonna just pull it To the chair?
The administration. The administration is gonna pull this back? As I'm reading this, this is a partnership. They may have a scheduled event, but it could happen at a later well, I To the chair. I don't It can happen anytime. To the chair. What y'all read? Okay. Yes. Where where have I got their phones? That's what it says. Are you done? Yes. I Don't look at your phone around Lorenzo. Information and how often, when is this? Because we don't wanna have We don't wanna have the same we don't wanna have the same issues we had two years ago when an organization took over our school facility.
Hello. So And we should also But if they're using the parking lot, don't think we, don't go to the permission? Yes. Yes. Let's let go. Let's table this until there's more information. Do the chairs. Doctor Fernandez, if we table it, it'll make no sense to bring it back next month because it'll be done or it'll be over with unless they want to present it to us again for the following month. Then we have an opportunity to dialogue with, the director. No. Okay. Madam Chair. Yes. What proof would you need to verify that the food is okay? I mean, what can they do?
What can who do? Otherwise, how are they gonna verify and say, oh, yeah. My food is good. So a a written agreement between the entity and the district that says exactly what you need for the the proof that the food is good with the hold harmless, you know, a liability waiver. So, here's what I recommend that someone motion to table this. It can come back at the next meeting. And if it's already transpired, you know, or you can vote to ratify. But I don't think any action should be taken until there's some commitment from the entity that they're gonna serve the proper food.
I don't know what that could be a letter agreement or just a correspondence confirming. So, we have to then resend the motion that we had already. Just move the table now, the specific item. Move to motion. Do you already have a motion for But under Robert's rules, you can move to table that takes precedent of the prior motion. Okay. You table this and then you vote So we don't have to resend if the item's not not not not as far. Motion to table? Oh, I'm sorry. If I I just wanted to say, they're having a pantry event tomorrow. So that might be the bus might be a part of that pantry Well event
tomorrow. They're gonna have to cancel Because madam madam president? Yes. Listen. This go this is a valuable lesson to the administration that this is the reason why we are oversight. Because before you plan anything, before you schedule anything, before you make anything mandated in the community, it has to be approved by the board. And this is a prime example as to why we have we constantly move in this direction. If they have something coming, they're gonna have to cancel it or they can go to their church and serve it because at the end of the day,
we don't know what the significance of this food is. I know for a fact that when when they go and get this food from the pantry, some of that those items are expired and out of date. Mhmm. And we can't subject the community to this on on behalf of a partnership with the board of education. Why not just have it at the church? Okay. So, motion to table. No. I did not motion. I'm asked I'm I'm calling a motion to table. Motion to table 9.24 pending further information on the logistics of the organ organization,
where the food is being obtained from, and other valuable information that's needed on behalf of the district in order for this to be, conducted on the property of PS Number 41. Second? Second? Second. Okay. We've had discussion, but will we discuss again? Let's take a vote. Trustee Patel. Yes. Trustee Richardson. Yes. Trustee Rosabella. No. Trustee. Trustee Ioffe. Epstein. Trustee Mohammed. Oh, no. I'm sorry. No. No. I thought it was I thought we I thought we had passed that because we I didn't hear a second.
No. It was motion to table. We're in a low. I didn't hear the second. Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't hear. I didn't hear. So, my vote is no. I'm sorry. No to tabling the motion. Okay. Trustee Mohammed. No. No. It's your vote. Go ahead. Yeah. When people get sick. Trustee Schneider? No. Vice president Morris? Yes. President Velasquez? Yes. Okay. I have four yes, four no, and one abstain. It fails. It what? It fails. Right? It fails. 44. That's 44. That fails. Yes. Mhmm. So it doesn't So now you have the pending nines that's still in its entirety.
Right. 9.2. Through the chair. We're going to Yes. I have a question on the nines. So and the reason I abstain is because I like to operate on more information. And I get everything that you're saying, including the precedent and everything else, but this is a bit sudden. And we didn't go into these items at caucus. So Well, because we we couldn't. No. But I hear you. Like, I hear all your arguments, and I'm not countering them. But then we also have 9.23, which is another food pantry. Well, it's a food truck delivering to PS Number 15.
And so with the premise of what was just discussed regarding nine point two four, you see what I'm saying? It's like then where do we begin and where do we end? Madam president, I understand that. And and trustee Iofe, the reason why I brought the brought this up in by abstaining, you said you wanted to give more information. By abstaining means that it felt so it was gonna happen. I abstained because I didn't feel comfortable tabling 924 because even though I heard no. None. We we initially the discussion was to table 9.24,
which I abstained on, and then people voted yes and and no half and half. Right? And the arguments to table 9.24 were safety of the food. That was the premise. Right? So then are we going to have the same exact discussion about 9.23 with the same exact concerns? We should. That's so this is my question because then I feel the same way. Like, we have not approached like, I now I can't remember in prior agendas if we had the same scrutiny for each food pantry related situation.
Mhmm. So are we setting a new precedent? I'm not talking about the big issue that happened two years ago. Understand all that, and I understand the dangers and the precedents. But right now, so what are we doing? Are we is the goal here to just not We do another motion. I think, we're gonna need another motion if that's what you're saying. And I really think that the discussion on on two four has been closed and voted for. However, I don't understand, Natalia. I'm asking about two 9.23. So I So here's another food pantry. Then is everybody comfortable with this particular food donation?
No. Then perhaps we should also Motion on that one and and vote. But through the chair, just the the 9.23, they're also giving out socks, toothpaste, toothbrushes, and other essential personal care supplies. So those are they're not edible, and they're shelf stable. Are they giving out food? Yeah. Okay. Well, the first one started with food, but they're giving out other things besides food that people need in the community. And it's on a Saturday. But Tia, I'm not saying that it's bad. I I did not say this is for a balance.
I'm just saying from an institutional aspect, we need to make sure because I know for a fact I know for a fact, even when we had the other, organization operating out of Lincoln, There were there was bad food there too. I am I am not disagreeing with your point. But these people, one, they're not an organization asking to come into the school for an extended period of time to operate, and then this is just a Saturday that's providing stuff to the community of people that are in need. Can I make a suggestion here?
So, I I I hear that there are two, resolutions, two-three and two-four, that involve distributing food. Then there's a concern about the whether it's expired. What if we amended the resolutions for 02/03 and two four to ensure that the district would verify and require proof that they would not be distributing any expired food? I could deal with that. Then how will we go through that? The district will verify,
say, you have to confirm in writing that there's no expired food that will be delivered. Who's gonna go and and and check out the food, Hamon? But that's in every case when you get donated food. At least you have something in writing where they're confirming we're not gonna do it. Donated. I don't know what the process is around getting food from donations, but unless you just don't wanna accept any donated food ever, because you would never know that No. I think going forward, Ramon, I think going forward, we should be, more diligent with that regard. But By the Wayne,
everyone. Go ahead. Do the chair. Go ahead. Yes. I gotta say this. Go ahead. We had wasn't very, very long ago. An employee of this district come and talk about expired food in the district, in the refrigerator. Remember, it was frozen to the floor? For that very reason, we don't wanna do this. I know. But what you're saying is what I'm making is our point. What I'm saying is this, because, I mean, it's it's internal as well as external, right, as far as the issue. But we have to take some time. Saying is, what are we doing in terms of policy? What are we doing in terms of policy to say,
hey. These are the requirements. Like, if somebody wanna come in, just give them this stuff in writing. Make sure it's not expired. This, that, the other. It's very simple. I think for in in the future, I think we need to work on that. But I I have a concern about right now. Yeah. So But but we still have the option to try to communicate. You can cancel it because So how are we gonna give them whatever they want? How are we gonna do that? Let's let's let's be I don't think it's up to us to go out there. Guys, let's be respectful to each other,
please. If the administration decides it wants to communicate. Right? Did you wanna communicate, doctor Fernandez? Two You were going out there and checking out The people. But now we got another one. That's it. Alright. So let's If you're not accepting the idea of modifying, you can table both items, you can vote them in as they are, or you you you can move forward. May I should I take a motion to I will take a motion to, pull this item as well. So you're gonna pull both items now? Right. But now you're doing two. Both at once.
Yeah. Because Matt wants to get through. We're do I get a motion to pull this item as well? If not, we're moving on. I'm sorry? I'm sure these organizations can reschedule for another day, and we can direct, you know, neighbors to go to these sites, until we have verification in writing from these entities that, you know, they need the, government guidelines. So the administration is gonna pull it? No. I'm asking. Doctor Fernandez.
So are you willing I will pull both of them. Thank you. 923 and 24. So it's off the agenda altogether. Thank you. Mary, we need a new motion and second for the nines with twenty three and twenty four not on not included. Okay. So we still have a motion and second for the, the rest of the nines. Motion. I think we already had a motion. Oh, included 23. Include okay. So motion on the nines except for twenty three and twenty four.
Second. Okay. Motion on nine, except for twenty three and twenty four. Got it. Trustee Ayophi. Yes or no? Trustee Richardson. Yes or no? Trustee, Isabella. Yes. Trustee, Mohammed. I'm going to abstain on, well, vote no for nine point two five for for them to come back with a different date. And, yes to everything else. We're gonna pull that Yeah. Trustee Patel. Yeah. For a nine point two five, it's a no. And to all the nines, yes. Trustee Blunt. Yes on everything except 925.
No. Trustee Schneider. Yes on all. Yes and all except for 9.25. President Velasquez. No and 9.25, yes and the rest. 9.25 does not pass. All the rest test. Okay. Motion for, the 10 special education, 10.01 to 10.05. Motion. Second. Discussion? None? Take the vote, please. Call the vote. I'm sorry. Trustee Patel? Yes. Trustee Mohammed? Yes. Trustee Rosabella? No to 10 o one,
and then yes to the rest. Trustee Ioffe? Yes. Trustee Blunt? Yes on all. Trustee Schneider? No on 10 o one. Yes on the rest. Trustee Richardson? 10 o one, I abstain. And 10 o two through 10 o five, yes. Vice president Morris. Yes on all. Yes on all. Motion passed. Finance 11. 11.01 to 11.17. Motion. Motion. Second. Second. Okay. Discussion? Call the vote, please. Trustee Mohammed?
Yes. Trustee Patel? Yes. Trustee Schneider. Yes. Yes on eleven point 0 one through eleven point fifteen. No on eleven point sixteen. Yes on eleven point seventeen. Trustee Blunt? Yes on all. Trustee Resabella? Yes on eleven point o one and eleven point o two and eleven point o 3. No on 11.04. And then yes on 11.05 through eleven point one five. No on 11.16. And yes on 11.17. I should say yes for eleven point five through point.
Yes. 55. 5 through fifteen. Yes. Trustee Ioffe? Yes or no? Trustee Richardson? Yes on 11.1 and 11.02. I'm gonna have stand on 11.03 and 11.04. 11.05 through 11.17. Yes. Vice President Morris. Yes on all. President Velasquez. Yes on all. Motion passed. 12 facilities. 12 o one to twelve point o four. Motion. Motion. Second. Second. Second by George.
Motion by Matt. Discussion? Yes. Yes. Through the chair. For let for twelve point o four, I think what I'm seeing is a change of scope, and that's why we have that new increase of 23,000. We're adding the new toilet to what we didn't have before. So that that is correct. There were once they went through the building, there were rooms that weren't in the original plans that they realized that they needed toilets in there. So we need to make sure that they are there. Yes. Okay. Call the vote. Trustee Rosabella. Yes to all.
Okay. Trustee Richardson. Yes, sir. Trustee Mohammed. Yes. Trustee Blunt. Yes, sir. Trustee Ioffe. Yes. On all. Trustee Patel? Yes. To all. Trustee Schneider? Yes. To all. Vice president Morris? Yes. President Velasquez? Yes. Motion. Thank you. 13 personnel, 13.01 to 13.14. Motion? Motion. Second. Discussion? None. Mister President. Call the vote, please. Trustee Patel? Yes. Trustee Richardson?
Personnel? Yes. Trustee Rezabella? I'm gonna say yes to all, and then I'm just gonna abstain on 13 o six. 13. You said yes to all. Yes to all except abstaining on thirteen point o six. Okay. Trustee Blunt. Yes to all. Trustee Iofit. Legal? Yes. To all. Trustee Mohammed. Yes. To all. Trustee Schneider. Nothing illegal. Yes. To everything except for 13.11, number one under the maintenance department. I will abstain on that. Okay. Vice president Morris? Yes.
President Velasquez? Yes to all. Motion passed. Okay. We don't have legal items, neither do we have policy today because nothing was read. So fourteen and fifteen we're going to skip over. I'm sorry. Just on the fifteenth. I wasn't here on Tuesday, but there are those first reads happened then? No, mister Rivera. Through the chair. Yeah. There was so we just we had the policy, mentioned in the committee meeting, which I don't think you were there either during the policy discussion. And at the time of the committee meeting,
the changes were not yet presented. So the text was provided in the book, but then by the time we had our caucus, it was unclear what exactly was the change. So mister Pritchenik was going to provide us with a separate document identifying the exact changes to the policy tonight. But since there's no document we never did the first reading because there were, you know, there was no clarity. I said no voting on the fifteenth. I'm sorry. Thank you. Mister Persnick sent an email. We're gonna revise it completely and start for the next month.
Exactly. Yes. Okay. 16, 16 o one to six and 16 o two. Motion. Discussion? Call the vote, please. Trustee Rosabella? Yes to both. Trustee Ayoafi? Yes. Trustee Richardson? Yes. Abstain on myself. Trustee Mohammed? Yes. Trustee Patel? Yes. Trustee Blunt? Yes. Trustee Schneider? Yes. Vice President Morris? President Velasquez? Yes. And I abstain on myself. Motion passed. I'm sorry? No. Yeah. We should have done that. Okay.
Before I ask for a a motion to adjourn, do we have any other yes, trustee Maurer. I would just like to, say for public transparency. Yes. 10.01 was to approve the acceptance of the semi correction action plan. The failure to achieve the revenue benchmark in fiscal year twenty five is attributable to a variance between budgeted and actual reimbursement rates. The fiscal year twenty five budget was developed using the former interim rate during its
recalibration year for establishing cost based tiered reimbursement, which means that no district in New Jersey Mhmm. Met their benchmark rate for the semi reimbursements. Right. However, there was a readjustment, and that agenda item was to approve the new formula that the state put in place, which raises the reimbursement rate. Thank you for the clarification. Do the issues in special education budget. Thank you. Do the chair. Thank you for that clarification. And, excuse me. Yes, trustee Rosabella.
I actually appreciate you bringing that up. When I opened up the corrective action plan, it has the semi action plan components, then it has the district activities for compliance. But then when it comes to person responsible, projected timelines, documentation of completionimplementation and date completed. All columns say not applicable. So another thing is the last four columns underneath district of Jersey City are nearly illegible. You have to zoom in, but it says implemented procedures continue to be followed. So I didn't think that I had enough information when there was four columns on
the action plan that all say not applicable on it. That's where there's a report, and it would my report is actually very detailed in explaining that. The attached correction plan And does not is It passed. Right? Did it pass? Excuse me? It passed? Duly noted, both of you. So we can we it it did pass. Yes. It did pass. But but again But again Duly noted, and thank you for your clarification. I appreciate it. Now I'm gonna take motion to adjourn. Motion. Second. All in favor? Aye.
None?