All right, it's 7 pm on June 2nd, 2025. We're going to begin this regular meeting of the Rutherford Board of Education. Going to ask everyone who can to please stand, face the flag for the pledge of allegiance. Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, liberty, justice for all. Last Mr. Mr. Witford, please take role. Mr. Begoian, present. Mrs. Cole, here.
Mr. Kiy, present. Mr. Healey, here. Mrs. Jones, present. Mr. Mone, here. Dr. Rine, here. Mr. Spayberry here. Dr. Ali here. Missio here. Do you have a call? All right. The New Jersey Open Public
Meetings Act was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meeting of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon. In accordance with the provisions of this act, the Rutherford Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having
the date, time, and place posted on the bulletin board outside the Burough Clerk's office, mailed to the Herald, South Bergenite, and the Record newspapers, and filed with the Burough Clerk. Hard copies of the agenda are available in the meeting room and the agenda is posted electronically on Friday before the meeting date on the
district's website at www.retherfordschools.org. Subsequent to the meeting, a video of the meeting will be uploaded to the district's website www.brefordschools.org. The video link can be found by opening the board of education link and clicking on public meetings and then videos. So board
members, in your packets, there were regular meeting minutes and executive session minutes for May 12th, 2025. There any questions and comments about those, either of those? Seeing none, I'll ask Mr. Whitford to please enter those. Uh, and
now I will turn it over for the report of the student representative. Good evening. Final exams are coming up next week. As the end of the school year is quickly approaching and although it's a great year, students are definitely ready for summer. Spring sports are
coming to an end. Many of our teams have completed have competed in state tournaments and the varsity dinner is coming up next Monday, June 9th. Last week, the student council took the annual trip to Six Flags for a leadership event with other student councils in the in New Jersey. We were
presented with an award for the fundraising we've completed throughout the year, and that contributes to the donation made to this year's state charity. Student council elections have also been taking place to determine the officers and representatives for next school year. In addition to the senior
awards, the senior prom was this past Friday. The seniors had a great night celebrating and it was a nice start to their last couple of weeks of high school. And additionally, the second annual senior field day is taking place after finals. This event was a big hit last year, allowing seniors to participate in a little friendly
competition before graduation. From the other schools, all the field days were successful. The elementary students had a lot of fun and the RHS heroes and cool kids volunteers helped make the events a success. Lincoln school is having their annual school concert on June 4th. They
have they also have their tar beach event, PTA end of the year party, plus the yearbook yearbook breakfast and clap out for the third graders. These events are always a lot of fun and very memorable for the students. Washington School shared that their art show was a big success as well as their rock and
roll themed spring concert which also featured some former Rutherford students. Peron's school musical Finding Nemo Jr. was this past weekend and was a success. Also, the third graders visited Peron for their fourth grade orientation. And lastly, Union School
eighth graders had the opportunity to visit Washington School and teach math lessons to the younger kids. Both groups of students had a lot of fun with the creative lessons which touched upon various topics like addition, subtraction, telling time and shapes. And that's all I have for tonight. Hope
you all have a great summer. Thank you. Thank you next year. Well, yes, I was going to announce that she ran for reelection and won. Sarah will be back next year. All right. Outstanding. Excellent. Uh, a lot going on. Any questions or
comments from board members? James, Mr. Sprayberry, thank you. And just to piggyback on that, you know, when you hear things like the eighth graders from Union School are going to Washington School to teach some math lessons. I mean, that's that's not only
a great thing for um the third graders, but it's a great thing for the eighth graders who get a chance to, you know, go a little deeper into another side of the desk talking about math. Uh there's been a lot of stuff like that going on this year and I and I do appreciate uh
the time you take to reach out to the other principles, you know, to get that information. Uh so, just want to say thank you. Thank you for being here. I know we we let you go uh at the end of when you speak at each meeting, but you still have to show up and you still have to be thoughtful
and uh do a little research and homework, not just about Rutherford High School, but all the schools. I think you're the first student representative, as Mr. Spayberry said, who's really given us a well-rounded perspective on what's going on in all the schools, and we really do appreciate it. So, thank you so much. Um and uh it sounds like we
look forward to seeing you in the fall. All right. Thank you. Thank you. You too. Have a good summer. Good luck with the end of the school year. All right, we're going to move on now to the report of the superintendent, Mr. Hurley. Thank you. Um Sarah mentioned
the senior awards. They were held uh Friday at Triion Field. It was um you know, a little dicey there for a while. We had a couple of rain drops, but then it cleared up. And it was nice that it wasn't super hot because it does get warm down there. But
$165,000 approximately of scholarships. Um the event just keeps growing and growing and growing. Um and you know, one of the things I I mentioned uh in a few remarks I made, the money is nice,
right? Um but the the number of of groups both local groups um regional groups um different individuals alumni former faculty and staff administrators who fund these scholarships every year
really gives the um the commitment of the community to the students and I think that's a really a great thing. Um and some of these you know scholarships have been going on for 40 plus years in terms of uh and families still I found
one one was from the class of 19 53 I think was still funny they must have a trust because they those folks would be like 90 years old right now you know and uh or more and um you know but again that that legacy of what it means to be part of the road community that you want
to give back and help you with. So, that was very nice. And then the problem was that night. Um, speaking of giving back and doing things for others, tonight the board is going to be asked to accept a uh a couple of donations, but the big one from the Rutherford Education Foundation of
$79,781. And uh the board uh assuming you're going to accept that donation tonight. uh tomorrow or the following day, the individual um grant winners will get a letter from the RAF detailing that the grant was selected and how it's funded. And then normally um in the
fall, we invite those winners here to to recognize them. So, uh thank again to the RAF members, I know we have some here um who are on the board uh for work you do throughout the year to raise the funds and and the distribution.
[Music] Um, one thing uh happened last year at Lincoln and Washington was a science fair uh that was done. Um, parents were invited in and the kids and it was a big hit and it really did demonstrate some
great um ingenuity on parts of the of the students. So, those are happening again. Lincoln's on the 12th of June and Washington's on the 13th. Um, I believe they're both in the afternoon, but I could be wrong about that. But if you're interested, just check the calendar on that. I think they're both at both at
two o'clock, but Lincoln might be in the morning. I'm not sure. Um June 20th is Union School's graduation 8th grade ceremony and uh June 23rd is the uh Rutherford High School graduation. I distributed to
everyone a ticket for the high school. Uh that ticket uh is good for uh the Trion Field and is also good for Union School should there be inclement weather. There's different tickets are only good for one venue or or the other. The um at if we are indoors
hopefully won't be there'll be some seats saved for board members. But at the field what we've done in the past on the track um area and if you're speaking or participating you should see Mr. Morano or Mr. Frasier at the high school, Mr. Schweitzer at Union to set
that up. Okay. The night of. I mean, they know who's speaking now, but the night of um if you're participating in the ceremony, you should be there for the high school no later than 6 or 10 to 6. Um because around 6:15, we get get
going. Okay. The newsletter, we have two newsletters coming out shortly. one is digital and it goes internal and then the one that goes out to the burrow that'll be coming out uh shortly. Uh Sarah also mentioned about exams. One
session days come at the end of the month for schools but the high school will have a few extra uh to accommodate the exam schedule and they'll be starting towards the end of next week. In the agenda embedded in the agenda is the um self assessment score. That's the
same score that I presented to the board back, I think it was November, and it's a uh a district-wide score of 75 out of 78 maximum points, which is a pretty good score. That's when we have to do a self-
assessment on programs that we do for faculty, staff, and for students. Nothing's changed in those numbers, but I need approval in the fall from the board to send it off to the state. Then they review it and then they send it back and they affirm it or they push back on something if they see a problem
and then we have to then approve the finalization and that's for not this past year for the previous year for 2324. Okay. Uh our next board meeting will be June 30th. At this time I don't see the need for any committees prior to that meeting. Something changes I'll let
you know. The district um school closes but the district is still open. So June 30th will be the first summer meeting, which means tonight, most likely, I say most likely because you never know who you bring out of the bullpen, is Mr.
Met's last uh the man behind the camera that no one ever sees. We should get you on camera one time tonight. Uh this will be uh Mr. Mets last night filming as he takes on his new role beginning July 1st and he'll be
breaking in a new um cameraman um for or woman camera person, excuse me, for um September. So again, thank you for um how many years now doing this? 15 15 years doing this.
And that's it. That's my report. All right. Thank you, Mr. Earlyie. Any questions or comments? from board members. All right, seeing none, we're going to move on to the report of the president. Uh, so I'm going to echo just
two things that Mr. Early said. First is a real thank you to the Rutherford Education Foundation, having served on that board for uh more years than I'm going to share here. Uh when I first joined the board, I think they were raising maybe $20,000 a year and it was
an in and out of $20,000 revenue and $20,000 worth of grants. Um the fact that they're they've gone from two or three events to a dozen events and fundraising obviously to support $80,000 worth of grants is super incredible. Um
I don't know how they do it. I I do. It's just very difficult and it's a lot. Um, so congratulations to Maggie McIll, the president of the RAF, the whole team there. Um, and uh, they also go through a really rigorous process to review all of the grants. I I uh, and they really
funded a lot of them. Um, and so uh, look forward to hearing more about those in the fall. Wanted to thank the board for uh, all nine of us completing uh, the superintendent evaluation, which we'll go over tonight uh, alone in executive session. And then with Mr.
early. Uh on the June 30th uh executive session meeting, uh Mr. talked about Union Middle School graduation and Rutherford High School. We've got four board members this year impacted with graduates in some way or
another, kids, grandkids. So, uh between Dr. Rine, Miss Jones, Miss Cole, Mr. Mone, uh there'll be a lot of share in the air this year. So, a lot of excitement around that. Um, I know that I I have trouble at this time of year making events. So, I'm excited to go to
two Rutherford events in one week. So, Balorat will be my first time being able to make the Bal Laorate. So, be there tomorrow night if anyone else is able to to join. And then, uh, this Thursday, I don't think I've ever actually missed the end of the year party. Uh, maybe one or two years, but uh, that's this
Thursday. Should be a good time. Miss Jones, I'm sure we'll, uh, you'll you'll be there. It's it's always always a lot of fun. And you'll endure back. It's a lovely ceremony. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. I was very upset. My couldn't go last year. Even when my son graduated, when my daughter graduated, had conflicts and
for some reason I don't have one this year. So, very exciting. Um, so Mr. Early mentioned that first summer board meetings June 30th. Just wanted to make sure you have them all on the calendar. So, it's three summer board meetings, June 30th, uh, July 21st, and August
18th. So, just please make sure that you have all those down. Uh, because we have to make sure to have a quorum over the summer. M wearing our board shirts. Yes. So that was a nice tradition we did uh during the summer wearing our board uh polos. So uh if we can do that
June 30th, July 21st and August 18th, you have to get you have to get 10 years. M or give give Mr. Wford, you old one and he'll order you one. If I could just piggyback on that, if
there's a meeting, you know, summertime, right, things happen or you're away, just let us know so that if there's a so we're sure we have a quum, that was that was why I was sharing the date. So if if there's an issue, let us know. Um, and finally, I'm going to uh mirror the
person who made this announcement um earlier on for a board member who couldn't make it. Uh on behalf of the New Jersey School Boards Association, we're excited to give this milestone award in gratitude of 10 years of dedication to the children of the
Rutherford district, Bergen County, and the state of New Jersey. Dr. Gregory Rine. [Applause] I won't tell you which board member put me up to that. Uh
uh that's it for the report of the president. Uh any questions? All right. hearing none. Then at 7:16 p.m. we're going to open the meeting to the public for anything related to the agenda this evening. All right. Uh seeing no comments, we're going to close the
meeting at 7:16 p.m. and we're going to move on to new business where there's action to be taken. We're going to start with personnel. Mrs. Cole, good evening. personnel did not meet this month and we have 13 motions to be put forward tonight at the recommendation of the
superintendent. Number one is to accept the retirement of Gloria San Pedro, Spanish teacher at the high school with regret effective March 2nd, 2026. Number two, three, and four is to accept resignations. Number five is to approve the following
employee contract effective July 1st, 2025 through June 30th, 2026. Mr. Matthew Witford, school business administrator, board secretary. Number six is to approve
um what is this? A video production and photography teacher at the high school. This is a replacement position. Number seven is to approve a middle school math teacher at Union School. This is a replacement position. Number eight is to approve an elementary teacher at
Washington School. This is also a replacement position. Number nine is to certify that quantitative merit criteria has been satisfied by the superintendent of schools for the 2024 25 school year to approve a payment of a merit
bonus goal. Number 10 is to approve the following staff to work during the 2025 extended school year as listed. Number 11 is to approve the following substitute teachers as listed. Number 12 is to approve the following substitute
teacher assistance as listed. And number 13 is to approve the following travel reimbursements as listed. All right. Thank you, Mrs. Gold. Um, I just wanted to make a quick comment because I think I've served on three REA
negotiations now and see that uh Mrs. uh Guliamati is going to be um resigning and she's moving on uh to an exciting new chapter. She sent me an email um to kind of share her appreciation of having been on the Brotherford district for as
long as she has and um just wanted to acknowledge that we've had some really successful um collaborative negotiations over the past few years. So just wanted to give her a shout out in that spirit and I I echo that. And also um Mr. San
Pedro. Um, you know, 30 years I believe in in the district as a Spanish teacher. The thing I I Gloria is one of the uh finest people you're ever going to meet and the fact that she has told us that she's retiring on March 2nd of next
year. Uh you all know when I talk about the challenge we have, right, trying to find world language teachers and she wanted to make sure that she gave us as much time as possible to find somebody. So we appreciate that. You know, contractually 60 days notice is all we
need and she's given us months and months and months. So almost almost a year's worth of notice. So we appreciate that. Any questions or comments from board members? All right. Hearing none. Mr. Gold, do you want to move those? I'd
like to move motions 1 through 13 under personnel. All right. We have a second. Uh Mr. Ki, any last questions or comments? Hearing none. Mr. Whitford, please say well. Mr. Beosian, yes. Mrs. Cole, yes.
Mr. Ky, yes. Mr. Healey, yes. Mrs. Jones, yes. Mr. Mone, yes. Dr. Rine, yes. Mr. Spayberry, yes. Dr. Lahi, yes. Motion carries. All right. Thank you. We'll move on now to curriculum and instruction. Mr. Jones, thank you. We
did not have a CNI meeting and tonight there are seven motions put forth by the superintendent. One, the Weatherford Education Foundation, which Mr. Holy Spok,,781, a total of 30 grants outstanding. two affirmative action
officers. They're uh the principles, vice principles, assistant principles and um Mr. Ryder uh three action team and again these are
our supervisors and principles. four uh comprehensive equity plan for the year uh 25 26 through 27 through 28. Five out of district
placements. Six field trips which now are 191 and seven home instruction for one student. All right. Thank you. Questions from board members or comments? just uh very briefly the comprehensive
equity plan which is here I did not bother to include it in the packet because it's a template from the state that asked the district to simply give a policy number that you have and um which strame then provides us all those
policies. So it's very and the date that it was was adopted and we have to do this every every two years and in the intervening year you have to do a statement of assurance. All right questions or comments from board
members hearing none. M Jones want to move this resolution. All right we have a second. Mr. Mone any last questions or comments? Hearing none. Mr. Whitford, please take role. Mr. McGoan, yes. Mrs. Cole, yes.
Mr. Kiy, yes. Mr. Healey, yes. Mrs. Jones, yes. Mr. Mison, yes. Dr. Rsine, yes. Mr. Spayberry, yes. Dr. Eli, yes. Motion carry. All right. Thank you. We'll move on now to finance. Mr. Bezosian. Good evening. Uh, we have not
had a finance committee meeting since our last full board meeting. Tonight on the agenda, we have eight motions to consider. Number one is the routine approval of bills. Number two is to accept with gratitude a donation of a 10 x15 pop-up tent and two coolers for the use of the RHS athletic department
valued at approximately $800 from several parents. Number three is to accept with gratitude a donation of science materials for the science class at Washington School from Bob Beile uh a retired science teacher. Number four has a correction in uh your addendum. Uh it
is to approve lease purchase agreement for the purchase of a 54 passenger school bus through first American equipment finance at a rate of 4.66% not to exceed $160,000. Number five is to accept the resignation of the board of education
treasurer and number six is to appoint a new treasurer Stacy Garvey as for as the board of education treasurer. Number seven is our annual food service agreement with the Carlstat East Rutherford Regional Board of Edge. And number eight is to establish the price of student lunches for the 2526 school
year. All right. Thank you. Any questions or comments? Are the student lunch prices staying the same for next year? Are they going up? uh they went up about I think 30 cents uh for what we're getting charged and then that same 30 cents is
getting passed on to the actual charge to we purchase them through uh Paltonian at East Rutherford or Carl East Rutherford Board of Ed and then they deliver them to our students. Got it.
Any other questions or comments? All right, hearing none. Mr. I'd like to move motions 1 through eight under finance. All right, we have a second. Mr. Healey, any last questions or comments? Hearing none. Mr. Whitford, please take
role. Miss Posian, yes. Mrs. Cole, yes. Mr. Ky, yes. Mr. Healey, yes. Mrs. Jones, yes. Mr. Mone, yes. Dr. Rine, yes. Mr. Spayberry, yes. Dr. Elotti, yes. Motion carry. All right. Thank you.
We'll move on now to policy. Mr. We did not have committee meetings since our last board meeting. All right, then we will move on to buildings and grounds, Mr. Sprayberry. No, no resolution. All right, that is love for you, man.
Um, all right, then we will move on to old business, Miss Jones. Well, I did a lot. I think this one um the high school had their art show which was wonderful one. It was terrific. It's
amazing the talent students have and that was the same night that I had we go to a PTA meeting where Carol who's been the president at Washington School is now moving over to Peer and she's a very good president.
Um that that same night also there was a honor. They were honoring the students that were on stage for me. It was just wonderful to see Charlotte. She's a wonderful little actress. Um and then we move up to
uh the B County meeting which was Thursday night. Mr. Roy was honored. He spoke very well as we expect him to very beautifully. Uh and also James Bgoian
was either for being a certificated certified what is it? Certified certified certified board leader. Um Mr. Healey is a master board leader
and I'm the old person so I'm a certified board leader. So we we got three of us that are getting up there. Um the um the the musical of what was Finding
Nemo and it was just wonderful. It was fourth, fifth, and sixth graders. It's amazing what those young children can do. They are so talented. And that's under the direction of Matt apparel who is amazing and uh uh Alia Jordan who is the music
teacher that does the choreography. But it was a wonderful presentation. Kids all liked it. It was audience. I went it was Friday night and I thought Saturday afternoon. So when I came up there it was 7 p.m. So I looked it up again tomorrow. So you know it it
it was well attended and well enjoyed by everybody. That's it. All right. Thank you, Mr. Healey. No, I attended the Lincoln School. Oh, I'm sorry. I just want to make a note
of which I think they treat pretty nice and guest at a was the executive director of state. His brother is my His brother's my eye doctor. Yes.
He's right in Rutherford. He's on Park Avenue. Yeah. So, yeah. So, I I got in with the chief honcho of the school board. Great. Thank you. Well, I went to the senior awards breakfast on Friday and uh couple highlights. Um when my daughter
graduated in 2021, um you know, being a performing artist, we wanted to kind of uh think about that. So, we kind of offer a small award. So, it's a nice thing that my daughter and I do each year. We go up and present. Um, but the thing that was most beautiful that I think brought
tears to my daughter and my eyes were how um, heartfelt and special and meaningful so many of the awards were for people who were delivering them. And for those who came, you know, I mean, there were people who were in tears giving out awards, in honor of people
who passed away uh you know, in honor of things that are so important uh to the lives of people in Rutherford and just how much money uh funnels through the town to give to these students. It's very heartfelt. Really makes you feel a strong sense of community. So, it was a
nice nice event. Any other old business? Uh, seeing none, legislative update. M. Jones. Yeah, this is an interesting one, but I don't check, but Assembly Bill
84763 requires development of educational fact sheet on water safety for public and non-public students. Requires the Department of Education to maintain a list of locations providing swimming lessons. We don't do that
anymore, but I don't know if they're gonna find out we have a pool. Um, this this bill moved fast. It was introduced last fall on uh September 19th and then
uh went to the assembly committee on May 8th this year, passed the assembly committee on May 22nd, which is only last week and supposedly on 529 they were going to do something else. But oh,
the vote was 78 to nothing on 529. So they want that's it. All right. Thank you. All right. At 7:31 p.m. we're going to open the meeting up to the public for
anything related to or not related to the agenda this evening. All right. Uh, seeing nothing, we are going to close the meeting at 7:31 p.m. And we do have a need for an executive session uh for two student
issues uh three student issues uh and a discussion of the CSA evaluation. Should be out for about 10 15 minutes. Need a motion to go into executive session. Uh we got uh Miss Cole, seconded by Mr. Ki.
All in favor? I. All right. Thank you.