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Video-1: youtube.com/watch?v=PTuu24y4P-k

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Good to see you. >> You as well, Dr. Mortman. >> Bishop Kasmarski. Good. Glad to see you. Um all right, this meeting of the Mahwah Board of Education is open to members of the public to be physically present. Members of the public that attend will be asked to follow the same procedures

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as all other visitors to our schools. Those procedures can be found on the agenda page of our website. Additionally, the board meeting will be live streamed for viewing purposes only. Anyone wishing to view the meeting may do so via Zoom. The webinar ID for this meeting is 823-996-539-52

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and the required password is 564-644. I call this meeting to order. Roll call, please, Ms. Yamamoto. >> Mr. De Silva. Mr. Kasmarski. >> Here. >> Mr. Kaplan. >> Here. >> Mr. Gallo. >> Here. >> [snorts]

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>> Ms. D'Amico. >> Here. >> Mr. Houston. >> Here. >> Mr. Hughes. Ms. Jean-Rousseau, Dr. Mortman. >> Here. >> Adequate notice of the agenda for this meeting has been provided to the Ridgewood News and the Record specifying

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that the Mahwah Board of Education will meet on July 8th, 2026 in the administrative offices, 60 Ridge Road, Mahwah, New Jersey. A copy was filed with the Township Clerk. Uh salute to the flag. Mr. Kasmarski, if you would lead us today.

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>> I pledge allegiance >> to the flag >> of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Is that it? >> No.

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Oh, yes. >> All right, we do [clears throat] not require an executive session in the beginning, so let's go on to agenda questions. Please limit your questions at this time to resolutions and your new business on this agenda. As a matter of fairness, you're asked to limit your questions to no more than one and your

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remarks to no longer than 3 minutes. You are here representing a group, please identify yourself, the group, and your position in the group. If you're here as an individual, please give us your name and address. Please specify the resolution you're referring to in your question. I need a motion to open the meeting to

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the public. Mr. Coplin, second by Mr. Gallo. We are open to the public. Someone is trying Oh, Rex is trying to get in. Uh all right, seeing no one come forth at this time, motion to close the meeting to the public.

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Mr. Kiszmarsky and second by Mr. Coplin. All right, we do not have a Mollis student representative report uh through the summer and superintendent's report, Dr. Toro. Okay. Um assistant superintendent's report, Dr. Fair.

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>> What should I do? >> Okay. >> It's uh completely brief. You'll see uh agenda item 19A, we have a last-minute retirement, Miss Miss Amato. You'll also see um we're able to hire for that

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position. Uh it's listed as an asterisk, so we made uh a job offer yesterday. The candidate uh accepted and you you'll see the resume at your places. So, to honor uh Miss Amato, she's been in

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the district for 24 years as a high school English teacher. Uh throughout her career, Miss Amato inspired generations of students through her passion for literature, uh writing, and learning. She taught a wide range of English courses across multiple grade levels, including uh college prep

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English, honors English, creative writing, and AP literature and composition. In addition to her classroom responsibilities, Miss Amato who served as the advisor to quality of the school's literary literary magazine, where she encouraged students to develop and share their creative voices.

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So, of course, Ms. Amato, although she submitted her letter of retirement later in the cycle, we were able to recognize her, honor her with all of her other retirees, but we want to take this opportunity to express

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our sincere gratitude for her work in the district, and we wish her the best in her retirement. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Um all right. Um our secretary, Ms. Carmack, do you have >> [snorts] >> a report for us?

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>> Uh yes, I do. Uh the business office has been wrapping up the 2025-2026 fiscal year, so we're working through closing encumbered purchase orders, preparing for our payroll rollover, and making sure everything is accurate as we prepare for our annual audit. Um I

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wanted to also talk about the referendum projects. We're continuing to move forward. Lam Associates has completed field measurements and design work for the roofing projects, and we anticipate to bring the contracts to the board for approval at our July 22nd meeting.

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Work's also underway on building five, the 18- to 21-year-old program, with Lam finalizing all of the measurements and project designs. Um in addition, we are moving forward with plans to replace fiber wood doors at Ram Ridge Middle School and complete the Ram Ridge bleacher seat replacement

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project as part of referendum work this summer. So, we are excited to see these projects continue to progress through the summer. On June 23rd, um the district also successfully held its bond sale for the referendum, so we received four competitive bids,

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and Robert W. Baird & Co. Incorporated submitted the lowest true interest cost at 3.788428%, It was awarded the bonds. The bond closing is scheduled for July 15th, at which that time the district will receive the bond proceeds to begin funding the referendum referendum

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projects. So, the business office will continue focusing on year end closeout, audit preparation, and supporting the next phase of the referendum projects for the summer. >> Thank you Sarah Mucha. A lot happening in the business office. Um all right, president's report uh just

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briefly uh that we've had our official Mahwah High School graduation. So, I just wanted to congratulate again the class of 2026. Um seemed like a very impressive group that evening. The speakers um I don't know you felt a real sense that

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this was a class um that was quite bonded together. And they were they seemed like just a really nice group of kids. Um and again um to all our retirees and particularly to Mr. Pasquale, we wish all of them well and we will miss them um

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but happy retirement. So, uh that's all I have. Board committee reports this morning. I think I've been saying evening, but it's actually the morning. Uh no, we're good. Okay. Board member remarks? Okay. So, let's go on to old business.

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We have 17A, B, C, D, E, and F. Uh so, these are a couple of different meetings, the 20th, the 10th, and the 22nd. Um all right, I need a motion on the

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floor for 17A through F. Mr. Gallo, second by Mr. Chaplin. Mr. Moto. >> Mr. De Salvo. >> Abstain. >> Mr. Kaczmarsky. >> Yes. >> Mr. Gallo. >> Yes. >> Ms. D'Aveniero?

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>> Yes. >> Mr. Houston? >> Yes. >> Mr. Coplan? >> Yes. >> Dr. Murthy? >> Yes. >> Um okay. And now we have 18 new business, 18A through Q. I need a motion

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on the floor. Mr. Kismarski, seconded by Mr. Coplan. 18A through Q. Miss Yeremouchouk, roll call, please. >> Mr. DiSilvestro? >> Yes. >> Mr. Kismarski? >> Yes. >> Mr. Gallo? >> Yes. >> Ms. D'Aveniero?

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>> Yes. >> Mr. Houston? >> Yes. >> Mr. Coplan? [cough and clears throat] >> Yes. >> Dr. Murthy? >> Yes. >> Uh now, as it's customary, let's take 19A, our retirement. Uh Miss Yeremouchouk, so let's take that

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separately. Motion on the floor. Um Mr. Kismarski, seconded by Mr. Gallo. >> Roll call, please. Miss Yeremouchouk. >> Mr. DiSilvestro? >> Yes. Okay, congratulations and a big thank you for 24 years. >> Mr. Kismarski?

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>> Yes. >> Mr. Gallo? >> Yes. >> Ms. D'Aveniero? >> Yes. >> Mr. Houston? >> Yes. >> Mr. Coplan? >> Yes. >> Dr. Murthy? >> Yes. And all the best to her and thank you for her service to this district.

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>> Um all right. Now, we'll take 19B. I think it's L L L we have. Um so, 19B to LLL, I need a motion on the floor. Mr. Coplan, seconded by Mr. Kismarski. Roll call, please. Miss Yeremouchouk.

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>> Mr. DiSilvestro? >> Yes. Thank you to all of our volunteers. >> Mr. Kismarski? >> Yes. >> Mr. Gallo? >> Yes. And I just want to uh thank uh express my gratitude to Dennis and his team for filling all these spots. This

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was obviously a amount of work. So when you hear about teacher shortages and all the other problems people have, somehow our human resources can get the work done. This is one of the small work. There's also an 18 that we're also quite busy. Skip and

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threat assessment and all the other stuff. So a lot of work went into this. >> Thank you. Yes. >> Ms. D'Aveniero. Beth. Mr. Houston. >> Yes. >> Mr. Kaplan. >> Yes. >> Dr. Worthy. >> Yes.

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>> All right. Public questions or comment. Public participation at board meetings is in accordance with bylaw 0167. At this time, members of the public may ask questions or make a comment on educational issues or school matters of community interest. As a matter of fairness, you're asked to limit your

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questions to no more than one and your remarks to no longer than 3 minutes. If you're here representing a group, please identify yourself, the group, and your position in the group. If you're here as an individual, please give us your name and address. All right. I need a motion to open this

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meeting to the public. Mr. De Silva and seconded by Mr. Kaplan. All right. We are officially open to the public. Uh seeing no one come forward at this time, motion to close the meeting to the public. Mr. Kismarski, seconded by Mr.

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Kaplan. All right. I need a motion to recess to executive session and then we will adjourn from there. Mr. Kismarski and seconded by Mr. Kaplan. Thank you very much. Everyone have a good day.