All right. Good evening, board members. We are going to begin this regular meeting of the Rutherford Board of Education, November 10th, 2025. Uh going to ask everyone who can to please stand, face the flag for the Pledge of Allegiance.
I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for stands one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> I'll ask Mr. Whitford to please take role.
>> Mr. Posian, >> present. >> Mrs. Cole >> here. >> Mr. Ki, >> present. >> Mr. Healey, >> here. >> Mrs. Jones, >> present. >> Mr. Maison, >> here. >> Dr. Renee, >> here. >> Mr. Spayberry, >> present. >> Dr. Ali, >> here. You have a quorum.
>> The New Jersey >> Miss Iorio. >> Oh, >> here. >> Thank you. Now you have a quorum. >> 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
interests 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, in 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.rotherfordschools.org. The video link can be found by opening the board of education link and clicking on public meetings and then videos. Uh so board members, in your packets this evening, there are regular meeting and executive session meeting minutes to
approve from October 20th, 2025. Any questions or comments from board members? All right, hearing none, then I'll ask Mr. Whitford to please enter those. Uh, and we are now going to have our report of the student representative. Uh, Mrs.
Aorio, over to you. >> Good evening. Everyone is feeling recharged after a short week and ready to start off the new quarter. Unfortunately, the football team lost um Friday night um in the sectional semi-final after a very successful
season. Our other fall sports are also coming to an end and many athletes are getting ready for winter sports. Student council volunteers helped run the seventh and eighth grade open house giving guiding the students and parents around the building and answering questions. It was very well attended and
the middle school students seemed really excited to get to see the high school. Student council and pep club also helped raise money for breast cancer awareness by selling pink ribbons throughout the month of October. The future teachers of America club hosted a Halloween movie night for the elementary school
students. Both the high school volunteers and the kids had a great time. Members of Heroes and Cool Kids attended their first training today and will be visiting Perbond School next week to talk to the sixth graders about resilience. The fall play, The Importance of Being Earnest, is this
Friday and Saturday night at 7 p.m. The cast and crew have been working really hard to put on a great show. Um and then the National Honor Society will be competing in the annual spelling bee against Beckton in a couple of weeks. Um and from the other schools, Peron School
participated in week of respect with an assembly on digital citizenship and internet safety and they also had a pep rally to promote positive behavior. They also had the annual book fair and Halloween costume contest. And the service club will be sponsoring a
Thanksgiving food drive this month. Lincoln School celebrated Halloween with their first annual door decorating contest which selected three winning doors. The PTA also hosted their annual Halloween social. And Washington School participated in their second annual Walk
for Washington, which helps raise money for the PTA. The event celebrated unity, healthy habits, teamwork, and school spirit. And the students were very excited to have the bulldog mascot make an appearance. And that's all I have for tonight. Hope you have a great night. >> All right. Thank you, Miss Aayorio.
Questions from board members. As always, we appreciate your well-rounded report and reporting on all the schools and everything going on. Um, so just want to say thank you for that. I don't have any questions myself. Uh, seeing no other questions, you can feel free to stay for any portion of the
remainder of the evening, but know you may have commitments as well. Um, and want to thank you for all the time you put into your reports and for being at board meetings. So, thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> All right. I am now going to turn it over to the superintendent, Mr. Hurley,
for the report of the superintendent. >> Thank you, Dr. Lahy. Um, I wanted to also add congratulations to uh the um student athletes and also we had um I'm not sure if she mentioned this or not. Five members of the high school choir uh
make the county choir which is quite an honor and five students from our um band be selected for the college of New Jersey wind ensemble program. both a very highly competitive u throughout the state for the college of New Jersey and
throughout the county for Burke County. So want to congratulate those 10 students. Uh congratulations to Mr. Ki, Mr. Spayberry on uh coming back to the board for another three years and to Miss Gates for uh being elected as a new
board member and uh to Mr. Mone for his election to the burough council. So um cong and unfortunately leaving us but uh we wish him well. So congratulations to all on um on your selection. Um
we are on the agenda tonight a number of items I'll be speaking about. One of them is the uh uh calendar for the budget process that uh you'll be asked to approve and I I normally this is Mr. Whiff's u chance to speak. But I do want to mention that uh when we get to this
process, it's going to be as always a challenge. Uh this year in particular uh we were informed that our health benefit premium is going up 37%. Am I correct? And uh for one plan and 31% for another
plan. So those are massive increases. Um so um as we get into the process again we're going to do our best to do what we've always done which is uh have a maintenance budget and by a maintenance budget we're looking to maintain
everything we have right but it's going to be uh more of a challenge with those kind of increases and we'll get into that more but I want all of us to be thinking a little bit about that. Uh last be last meeting I mentioned our
survey that went out. I had sent you all a copy of u the summary of the results. Uh tomorrow I'll be posting those on the website for the community uh the same copy you all received and also be sharing it with uh faculty and staff. Um
some really quick um overview of what was sent to you. Uh but in terms of the survey, we we did get a a nice uh turnout about 524 members of the community um participated
in the survey and of those uh that's about 20 21% I believe 22% which is a a a good turnout. Okay. Generally speaking uh there was a lot of positive comments. Um to give you an idea of the breakdown,
uh we had 22% of our high school population parents, uh 21 from Pure Pont, 17 from Washington, 16 from Lincoln, 13 from Union, eight from the kindergarten center, which is understandable. Many of those parents are asked to fill out a survey about
their u thoughts about the district, and they've only been in the district for about a month. Um and 1% 1.3% about a district placement. uh communication um email seemed to be the most effective method for parents. I think that question may have been a little
misleading. I think that was more about major topics as opposed to a quick message about you know the hey congratulations to the band or but in terms of just messaging uh email. Um for the most part uh communication was seen as being uh
timely and effective. Uh there were some uh recurring mentions about consistency across the schools uh where different schools seem to have different uh methods or or um venues of communication.
Uh terms of academic support trust of the teachers was very high. Um the um support was rated as very strong. There were some concerns about differentiation and there were some concerns about screen time uh in younger grades as we
moved into um the digital age. You know, some folks feel like maybe we've moved too far with young kids. Um SEAL, social emotional learning was highly valued. Um there was a lot of interest in the parent academy sessions which is
positive because we don't get huge turnouts at them but remember they're all online as well. So the fact that people are showing high interest um there were in terms of our profile of the graduate many of the of the concepts that we're talking about were mentioned
in the survey critical thinking collaboration emotionally resilient adaptable things of that nature which do fit our foundational pieces. Um some actionable next steps we are looking at um various
things we're looking at enhancing our digital presence. We're going to take a look at the survey and also internal conversations we've had about looking at our website, looking at our social media platforms to get both more consistency and maybe more um uh usability, if
that's the right word, a little more user friendly. Um we're also going to take a conversation to look at uh if not districtwide but bands of grade level if we could get more consistency in the in the mode of of communication. So you
know the K to3 schools and the four to six and so on. Okay. Um special education we have had a very strong collaboration this year with CPAC which is the parent group and many of the things that were mentioned in the survey have already been addressed not
addressed in terms of putting things into action but addressed in terms of of to-do list for lack of a better word with the CPAC group. So, for example, uh things like workshops for parents to have better understanding of what co-eing is, better understanding of what
how to how to interpret an IEP. Um so, we'll be looking to continue that. Uh we also are going to take a look at some of the topics suggested by the parent academy. Uh we're also going to take a look at student data platforms. In fact,
we're uh taking a dive right now into uh how can we take all the data because we have tons and tons and tons and tons of data but get it into a platform that's going to be easier and more accessible not just to parents but also to the teachers because sometimes there's an
overload of data. You get so much of it um you know it's hard to navigate through it. So, um we are looking into um a a platform that many districts are using and we're going to have a couple of uh presentations and discussions
about that um with the administrative to see if we want to make that move uh to a different uh platform and you'll hear more about that. In fact, that will be um something briefly on the uh uh curriculum and instruction committee meeting that's coming up. And again,
we'll get we're going to always look to our technology. you know, we you know, we have a a goal and a program in in AI. Uh we'll take a look at that concern about uh screen time. Okay. You know, one of the things to keep in mind is um
part a good part of the survey were just bubbled, you know, agree, disagree, strongly agree, strongly disagree. And then there were um about half of the survey were open-ended questions. So in the open-ended questions the uh the company we're using again all this went
out to a third party the summary except for even the actual items were suggested by the third party and then we kind of filter them to meet our needs. Um you know one or two comments out of 2600 people but we didn't dismiss any
comment even if it came from one person. you know, we're putting it into discussion. Uh because it could just be something, you know, we could dismiss and say, well, it's one person out of 2,600, but it also could be one person who's speaking for others. So, we're, you know, we're taking a look at everything um that was in the survey,
but for the most part, I hope you read the summary. Um it was very positive and um I was also happy to see that many of the things that were suggestions or concerns had already been in the hopper to be addressed. So, um, we're happy
with that. And like I said, when we have committee meetings, some of this will also, uh, resurface. Speaking of committee meetings, um, curriculum instruction on the, um, 24th at 6:45 and followed by
personnel at 7:15, I'll get agendas to you and, um, invites to you ahead of that that meeting. Okay. At this time, um, the other committees don't need to meet. uh you will you do see the calendar I believe right tonight uh will be getting approved for finance and you
know if you're currently on the finance committee and you want to pencil those dates in I know come January 1 we often reshuffle uh committees slightly but um a lot of times finance remains because they have to hit the ground running pretty much uh right away but that's
that remains to be to be seen okay so that's it that's for my report uh tonight >> all right thank you Mr. Charlie, uh, just to confirm, committee B, November 24th, right? >> November 24th. >> Okay. >> Did I give the wrong date again? >> No. No. I just don't know if you gave the dates. >> Yeah, November 24th. Y
>> last week I gave the wrong date. That's >> uh questions or comments from board members. Uh, I I just want to really appreciate the fact that the district is sending surveys out to different constituents
and really leaning in and missley to not only talking about uh the positives that came out of the survey, but also the constructive feedback, things that the district can continue to work on. Um, and I think that's great for all of us to be aware of those things and and to
really have a pulse. Um, what surveys are still left to go out? Uh the next one that's going to go out is going to be a uh a similar kind of culture climate um survey to faculty uh staff and um we're going to do the entire
staff. There'll be a certificated staff survey and a non-ertificated staff survey. Uh then we we'll be doing a student survey uh similar culture climate type of thing. And then the others really are going to be dependent on um
either things that we find in these surveys that we want to go back out and say, you know, hey, how how do you how do you feel about this now? Or they could be more um uh earmarked. You know, for example, uh we have a new math program. So, u in second year we might
want to just do a survey focusing on that or we might want to do a survey focusing on um you know a language arts program or you know something that's more specific as opposed to more general that that remains to be seen. Mr. K. >> Yeah. One piece of feedback that I did
get was that it wasn't first off the survey. Everyone that I had spoken to me said the surveys were fantastic. But one thing that they struggled with was that if you have if multiple kids in different schools doesn't do very didn't do very good job of differentiating which school or which
kid you were talking about. >> We actually asked people to do I think we did in the instructions they'd have to go back and revisit uh if they would do multiple surveys. Okay. Uh I know it was a pain because it might be something very different, right? You might correct you might feel hey communication from this building's great and from the other
building not so great right >> I think that's the that was the >> well we could clear up instructions for that uh because the data the the raw data that gets given to us right uh was broken down we could break it down anyway we could break it down by school we could break it down um so u yeah
going forward if that situation we want we would want people to um indicate because you know they didn't allow you to put two answers and and then which answer would apply to which one. But um you know it's the first year uh that we're
we're um using this particular company and um you know they they've been very good at asking us for feedback on what's worked well and what hasn't worked well. So I'll also mention that to them that there's a way to design something where a person doesn't have to do this the
entire survey twice or three times in some cases, right? Um, sorry, one last question. The student survey that goes out, is that go to their emails? Is it announced in the schools that they have a chance to fill that out to give feedback?
>> Uh, right now we're we're that's going to be probably in January or late December. We haven't answered that question yet. Uh, I think one of the things that we we would probably do is use their email. uh
there the we're going to ask the advice of the again the people who do this professionally is it better to let them do it at school or let them do it at home and I think um I think that the where they're leaning is more to doing it at home so it's not taking away class
time but also they don't feel like anybody's you know looking over their shoulder type of thing and also we don't want a captive audience right if I do it in school and I say hey 20 people now we're going to take 10 do the survey. Well, you know, we're forcing someone to do a survey. We don't want to force
people to do a survey. Uh the survey is also going to be, you know, we we have board policy about student surveys and there's certain questions that you can't ask without parental uh permission. So there's none the surveys will not include any question like that. Okay? so
that there's more opportunity for a student to voice concern and those questions are more in terms of you know personal information or health or mental health information. >> All right, any other Miss Jones?
>> Uh Mr. Hurley, last week you represented the state of New Jersey at in Washington. Yes. As superintendent here. Can you tell us about it? Um it was it was a nice experience uh to be with the other you know the other winners who I
was with back in November um no March. Um it was interesting because we kind of remembered each other by state like someone someone said uh you're New Jersey you know that kind of thing was sort of like Miss America. Um the um the programs were good the information was
good. It's always I think uh very interesting to get outside of the area and hear from people. uh around the country uh commonality you know we all have the same issues sometimes to a greater or lesser extent um we also have the same positives uh it
there was it was also some very good speakers um uh the um the per the woman who was going to be the under secretary of uh to the department of education uh but then opted to be a an adviser to that to the secretary of education uh
she was a speaker um attorney that um represents the National Association of Superintendent in terms of educational practice. Uh and if something goes to the Supreme Court, she's the one that goes, she was a presenter. So, it was nice to hear from a lot of people like that. And also, you
know, we talk about profile the graduate. Um, one of the things that one of the speakers brought out was u kind of connected to profile uh where she said, you know, imagine that a graduate from your school is never going to take
another academic class of any kind. Okay? Not going to vocational school, tech school, just going to go out there and find their way. What is it? What skills, you know, do you think they need? and they talked about the things
that we test once a year on and I report to the board community about you know may not be those skills you know they talked about critical thinking creative thinking collaboration all that and you know those are really the components of what we're talking about in in profile so it was kind of interesting to hear that um message um and you know
resonating across the 50 states so it was very nice couldn't get into any buildings because of the shutdown uh you know in terms of sightseeing you know just a look at the outside of the buildings But I did tell you I was going to go there and end it, right? And now it's ending, right? I don't want to take credit for it, but I did. No, I'm
kidding. So, no, it was good. Thank you for asking. And Wednesday, I'm going to Trenton on that 18 to 21 uh here. We have a hearing in front of the uh state assembly. Uh seven of us are going to speak uh to the concern about counting those 18 to 21 students as graduates.
So, we'll see where that goes. >> All right. Any other questions or comments? All right. Then we will move on to the report of the president. So I will keep it brief. Uh I want to echo Mr. Hurley's
congratulations to Chris Ki and James Spayberry for uh serving another three years and all the time that you and everyone else volunteer. Congratulations to Christina Kates uh who's here this evening who's going to be joining the
board of education in January. Uh Mr. customer zone. Uh I'll I'll save my roast, I mean toast, uh for December 1st. Um but you you've been an invaluable member of the board and vice president for the last decade. Um so
just a preliminary thank you. Uh secondly, just a reminder in terms of community events, there are a lot of upcoming events that Mr. Hurley put in the memo that he sends us. Uh so there are some plays coming up at the high
school. There are concerts coming up in December. Uh RAF's casino night is uh next Friday, November 21st for those who can make it. And uh our final meeting of this calendar year is December 1st at 7
p.m. Uh lastly, lastly, uh Mr. Mr. Hilly shared with me um there is an NJSBA meeting that is taking place on Saturday, November 22nd. There is an inerson option uh for a face toface
meeting, but it's also virtual for those who are interested. It's 9 to 12:00 p.m. on Saturday the 22nd. I know we all have busy schedules, but for everyone who's able to, we can share information about how you can register for that. whether it you don't need to be the delegate or the alternate to be able to sign up and
go to the meeting. Uh so that is it for the president's report. Any questions? >> Uh Dr. Alotti, I can forward that information about the delegate assembly. >> Okay. >> So Mr. Hilly will forward that to us so we all have that. Um excellent. All
right. Um so we're going to move on now to uh the portion that says meeting open to the public. So typically we have two portions of where we open the meeting to the public. Uh first time is typically for comments uh related to the agenda this evening and then the second time
after um our new business is for any comments related to or not related to the agenda. However, I see we have a wonderful audience this evening and we have students here and I do recognize that students have homework and uh so want to be able to uh at this time open
up the meeting to the public for anything that's either related to or not related to the agenda. Um just to share with um folks in the audience. We don't often get an audience so this is very exciting and we welcome everyone who's here this evening. um just to share a
little bit about how the open meeting public comments works. So, we ask folks who have public comments they want to make to come up to the microphone um uh to state your name and your address uh or if you're not comfortable with your address, you can say your municipality.
Um, we ask folks to keep their comments to about three minutes or so, just so we have time to hear everyone's comments collectively that uh they want to share. And just so you know how our open uh public comments work, it's not typically a back and forth between the board or
the superintendent and those who have comments. It's an opportunity for all of us as board members to hear um the voices of the community, things that are important to the community. A lot of the work we do is in committees and we have six committees that function um outside
of here and we also have executive sessions after the board meeting as well where we have an opportunity to reflect on anything that's come up. Um so after all of comments are heard um I'll ask if there are any other comments and at that point either Mr. Hurley as
superintendent or myself we may or may not make any comments addressing things that have been stated this evening but just so you know we're always taking notes. Um we value feedback from the community and we will be following up always to comments that happen either in the committee level or at the executive
committee level uh or executive session level. So um with that I'm going to invite everyone who would like to to come up to the microphone just state your name and your address uh or municipality um and we'll begin that way. Welcome.
>> Good evening. My name is Max Hagya. Um, my address is 32 Carneier Avenue. Can >> you speak in the microphone? >> Sorry. >> Yeah, just uh you can flip the microphone up a little bit maybe. >> Perfect. >> Second. Um, good evening. My name is Mahexaga. My address is 32 Carneier
Avenue. I'm here today representing over 600 members of our community who have signed our petition for recognizing Dvali as a district holiday in Rutherford. Rutherford and Bergen County are proud of their diversity and we want our school calendar to reflect that.
According to the 2020 US Census for the Burough of Rutherford, 2,974 residents residents identified as Asian and of those 1,425 are identified as South Asian. While newer exact figures for South Asian
immigrants have not been updated, um South Asian immigrants have continued to grow. Real estate data, cultural organizations, and school enrollment trends all show steady growth in South Asian origin households over the past few years. This isn't just
about statistics. It is a visible, undeniable shift in our community's makeup. South Asian students make up a growing part of our school, our neighborhood, and our town events. Recognizing the volley as a district holiday is not about special treatment. It is about accurately representing the
community that exists here. >> Good evening, everyone. My name is My name is Austin Desai and my address is 61 Clark Avenue, Rutherford, New Jersey 07070. I am here to demonstrate that recognizing Dvali as a district holiday
is not only fair but also practical and is already being done across the country. In California, Assembly Bill 268 was signed on October 2nd, 2025, officially recognizing Dvali as a state holiday beginning in 2026. This allows
schools and public offices to close. Similarly, in Pennsylvania, the legislature passed a bipartisan bill, making the valley an official state holiday, the first state in the nation to do so. According to the 2020 census,
Pennsylvania had approximately 155,887 South Asians, while New Jersey had about 432,883 South Asians. In New Jersey alone, 29 school districts already recognized Dvali as a full day off, reflecting the
growing cultural presence of South Asian communities across the state. Even closer to home in New York, multiple school districts including East Meadow, Herics, and Soyet already give students the day off for Dvali based on community need. The day of Dvali is determined by
the lunar calendar, which means its date fluctuates every year, typically falling between late October and early November. Because of this, we respectfully request that when Dvali falls on a weekday, our district recognizes it as a day off on
the school calendar. These precedents prove that recognizing Dvali is entirely feasible. If states and districts across the US can take this step towards inclusion, Rutherford can do the same. This is not a radical request. It is a
logical, supported, and increasingly common step that aligns school policy with the reality of our community. Implementing a district day off would require minimal administrative changes, but it would send a clear message of inclusion and respect to every student
and family in Rutherford. Good. Good evening. My name is Sar Jatani. My address is 17 Meadow Road. And I want to emphasize why recognizing Dvali as a district holiday is not just meaningful for South Asian families, but for our
entire community. Dvali is a festival of light. It celebrates the victory of good over evil, knowledge over ignorance and love over hatred. It's celebrated by Hindus, Siks, James and Buddhists. It values align with the lessons we strive to uphold in our schools. kindness,
understanding, and unity. This year, when Dvali fell on Monday, October 20th, the RHS student body organized a schoolwide celebration where students decorated the cafeteria with traditional Indian decorations. They shared sweets and snacks. They painted Indian DAS and
about 100 students joined together to celebrate the festival of lights. The event went beyond celebration. It became the an educational experience where students learned about Dvali's values and traditions fostering curiosity,
understanding and respect. Recognizing Dvali is more about culture. It's more than about culture. It's about inclusion and respect. Dvali reminds us to live with wisdom, compassion, and unity. The same principles we aim to build in our
classrooms and community. Giving students the day off acknowledges their traditions, allows families to celebrate together, and allows students to learn from one another's cultures. We urged this council to approve this
request and have Rutherford lead by an example in honoring the values of our richness of our community. Recognizing Dvali would show that Rutherford schools value each and every student, every family, and the richness of our diverse
community. Thank you. >> Are there any other uh comments from anyone in the public who would like to speak? Hello. >> Yeah, I think I Good evening. I think I have to hold it. Thank you.
>> Perfect. >> Hello. Yeah. Good evening, members of the board of education, Mr. Hurley, and fellow community members. I'm going to take a little longer. I apologize in advance. My name is Mina Patel and I'm a Rutherford resident for
over 19 years. I'm very proud to be a part of this community. I'm also a mother to two beautiful girls. The younger one goes to Union School and older one is a senior and a cross-country athlete. As a parent, I have always admired how
our town and our schools value inclusion, respect, and togetherness. Diwali is a time to pass down stories from mythology, to share the meaning of light, conquering darkness, to teach kindness, humility, and gratitude.
It's not just a cultural celebration. It's a day that builds empathy and reinforces the same value our school instills every day. It's a time when our homes come alive with light, color, traditional food, prayer, and gratitude.
A time to gather with love and with all the family members and honor our traditions. Yet instead of being fully immersed in the spirit of Diwali, our children often find themselves torn between keeping up
with school work, test and homework assignments. We are not asking for an extra holiday. We are asking for enough space and time for our children to be fully present in both worlds, their education and their heritage.
Because I truly believe that a child's culture shapes their character. Teaching them math and science is important but teaching them their roots, values and traditions gives them identity. Rutherford is a beautiful
diverse community and this diversity is our strength. Recognizing Diwali as a district-wide day off is more than symbolic. It shows our children that their culture matters, their identity belongs and they are seen.
Thank you for your time and for listening not just to the voice of parents but to the hearts of our children who simply wish to celebrate their culture without compromise. Thank you. Hi, my name is Courtney Fo. I live in Rutherford only for about two years now.
I was not fully planning on saying this uh so early in my attending the board meetings. This is only my second one, but um I actually was very inspired and happy that my first grader came home with so many days of um curriculum about
Diwali. And it's interesting because it also really hurt because I'm Jewish and there was not one mention of Rashashana or Yong Kapor and um I'm definitely not looking for days off. I understand that there's not enough of a community here,
but it just would have been really wonderful to have it recognized as well, just mentioned. Um, and yeah, but it was wonderful and beautiful to also hear all about Dwali. So, just a mention that there are some Jewish people here and
our kids would love to feel like they're seen also. All right. Is there anyone from the audience who would also like to speak? >> Hey board members. Uh Mitsu Haga, 32 Carneier Avenue, Rutherford, New Jersey.
Uh I'm an alumni uh from RHS 2020. Shaking Dr. Hurley's hand here uh when we graduated during the difficult time of COVID. Um I just think, you know, now that the community's grown enough to really bring this issue up to the board, I think it's great that they're advocating for it. I think having a day
off for the district is great. Um not just an excuse day, you know, having sports off that way they're able to fully immerse into the culture and be present. Um yeah, just going to keep this short and simple. I think what the kids here are doing is a great idea and I really hope that you guys are able to
see this. Thank you. >> Hi, my name is Kenishha Vagasia and I live on 54 Wilson Avenue, Rutherford and I'm also an alumni of this district. So I just want to share how meaningful this devali um recognized as a district-wide holiday would be for me because when I
moved to this country I was just 14 years old and I was a freshman in this high school and then trying to pretend that Diwali didn't exist when all my friends were sending me cute photos of being light up Diwali and Diaz back home and when I'm back home we used to get 20 days off like the entire year. I'm not
asking for that many days. just asking for one day to be recognized as our holiday because it would mean a lot to us and to recognize as an official holiday would would really like include us and represent us with all our friends. And I also think that my younger cousins that are also growing up
here and they're going to be part of this community. They will definitely understand why we celebrate Deval and not just ask questions about like Diaz and stuff like that. They're going to see that we're also recognizing as a national holiday. That means it means something to everybody here. So, thank
you everyone. >> All right. Are there other comments from the public? >> Okay. >> Going once, going twice. All right. Um, so we're going to close the meeting at 7:39 PM to the public.
Um, >> well, uh, first I I I want to say that, um, I mentioned before about profile the graduate and, you know, communication and citizenship and critical thinking and to have students um, get up and speak in
front of a large crowd um, and to uh, articulate their positions so well. uh are are the exact skills that I was alluding to before. So, thank you for doing that. And um and um I think someone just mentioned about, you know,
advocacy and and um being able to to speak on things you feel passionate about. That's really an important skill uh to have. Um I also appreciate the um calendar that was given to me. Um especially when I see that next year is
on a Sunday so we don't have to make a decision right away. Um um and um but you know one of the things I do want to uh to say and this is not for anybody to read anything into this
but I think sometimes in terms of just understanding right uh part of what I you spoke about tonight was understanding concerns. I just want to make make you understand how the school calendar is put together. Okay. Um so
yes uh the uh the one of the women that spoke um about Diwali being celebrated and one of our students has spoke about it um and speaking about not getting that information about another holiday. Uh, I will address that because one of
the things we're trying to do across the district and I think we've been pretty successful with is recognize a variety of holidays and celebrations um that that our students take a part of. You're right, there's a large number of Jewish students in our population and um and uh
we also have you know students who celebrate Eid and uh Luna New Year and you know so many different holidays. Um and we try in terms of of diversity uh and in terms of of cultural growth we want to try to educate all of oursel and
all of us in different cultures and and different customs. Um one of the um speakers mentioned about students having to live in two worlds on a day that may be a celebration in their home and then school. Well, um just so again for um
edification, there are on the school on the calendar during school time and I realize some of these holidays are lesser of importance or more important uh but there are something like let me find the number bear with me. I'm going to um
hund I'm sorry 60 58 religious holidays okay on the calendar from September to June. Okay. And in addition to that, there are 10 federal or state holidays on that calendar. So in the months of school, there are 68 days that
something's being celebrated by somebody. So one of the things the state department of education did was they came up with about three different reasons that you could have an excused absence. And uh one of them is when you get called to a a court for some reason.
Uh one of them is you go on a college visit. uh and one of them is to celebrate a religious holiday. So that by excuse it doesn't mean you know somebody's writing you a note. It means it doesn't count as an absence. And what we tell our teachers
or I should say we ask our teachers but really we tell our teachers is they need to be aware of holidays and they should not be giving assignments to students that are due the day after or the day of a holiday. So you know we try our best to police that. Now, keep in mind, you
have 350 teachers. You know, there might be one who isn't thoughtful of that, but that's really what the law says. So, a student could take off for any holiday and not be penalized for that. But part of the the problem and the challenge in doing a a calendar is contractually we
have to have 188 days of school for our faculty and staff and 184 days for our students in a 10-month period. So, the way districts really judge, and again, I'm not asking you to read anything into this, right? I'm just
trying to explain, is the the the anticipation of what your absentee rate is going to be. If you have a high absentee rate of faculty and staff, you can't run school. You can't have classrooms without teachers. If you have a high absentee
rate of students, then you're not going to have a very productive day. So we look at that data. We actually run reports every year. How many students were out for religious holiday on Diwali
on Eid on how many faculty on Jewish holidays? How many faculty members took the day? Okay. And we have to factor that in because you cannot close every time there's a holiday. You'll never get those 188 days in. So again, I'm not
giving you an answer, right? I'm just giving you the challenge that we have to face. Okay. So, what we attempt to do and sometimes we succeed um and sometimes we don't. I'm being very honest, is to try to first of all
student or faculty member takes a day off. It's not a charge day. Well, it is for the faculty because they're getting paid. That's different. Okay? But it's not a charge day for the kids. And we ask our staff, don't give work that has to be done that night, or if you're going to give the rest of the class work
that night, you give that student a couple of days extra to get it done, right? Um, we also attempt to celebrate and acknowledge the holidays in the buildings as part of a culture. So the kids who are celebrating feel a part of
that culture, but more importantly for the other kids that they get to learn more about it. So, you know, I'm sure the board will, you know, have a discussion about what you brought up tonight. Like I said, we have a whole year now to have a discussion about that. Uh, but no, we will have a
discussion, but we have to factor in all the other groups and we have to factor in all those days and we have to factor in the reality of when students and I'll give you two very quick examples, okay? They're not they're secular days, right? Tomorrow is Veterans Day. It's a federal holiday, state holiday. We're open
because we don't have kids or teachers taken off for Veterans Day. Um some somebody might. Yeah. Um we also, you know, last week school was closed Thursday, Friday for the state teachers convention. Now, you don't have to there
is not a single day that you have to close. You can be open any day you want as long as you think you're going to get people showing up. The reason why schools close for the state teachers convention is because every teacher has the right to go to that convention. Now,
maybe some do, maybe some don't, maybe a lot don't, but they have the right to go. So, if we hold school and they all say, "Hey, I'm going to the convention." We don't have anybody to cover the classes, so we close. So, they're they're the election day, we don't close because it's election day. We close. We
for years we didn't close on election day, but now we got concerned with school safety. So, we don't want to have our kids in the building when the doors are wide open for anybody to come walking in. And if you read the paper and you saw last week, there were bomb
scares across the county, including here, that we had to have dogs come in and sniff the building. That's why we don't want kids in. But now, those are two more days that you have to take out of your calendar. So, it becomes a challenge. So I just
want you to understand that so you don't just think it's oh let's just not be off this day or that day. You have to look at the numbers. You have to look at the prediction of numbers and you have to look at how many days fit into the calendar. Okay. What I will do uh for the students who are here right um
whatever preliminary discussion happens with the board in the next tonight or the next week or so I'll come over to the high school. I'll set up a time to meet with you and I'll tell you what we're thinking and why we're thinking. So, you know, you get I'm not going to send you an email. I want to come and talk to you about it. Okay. So,
I'll do that. All right. So, I'll set that up. Okay. In 2027, I don't have to do it. No, I'll set that up in the next week or two. Okay. All right. Thank you, Mr. Rose. Uh, I just want to say first of all, I
want to express appreciation to the three students, the two parents, and the two alums who came up and spoke. Um, you know, I think all of us really appreciate the importance of having a voice, having agency, being an advocate for the things that you believe. So, being here this evening in unity, and
supporting one another is super important. It's also important for us as a board to hear the reflections of the community. Um, you know, I think Mr. Hurley shared some of the parameters and possibilities of of what it is the district's always trying to achieve. I I
do want to say that I I heard three or so through lines of things that came up this evening. Um you know, not just about the the day itself being off or not off, but I really heard about valuing um folks identity and like people feeling like they are really seen
and valued within the district. Uh I heard about this idea of of being fully present during Diwali and the importance of being with family and celebrating and dancing. not going to say I haven't been part of a Diwali celebration and dance before. Um and um and also just this
idea of making sure that all you know different holidays um you know more than one was brought up this evening are really acknowledged and celebrated and understood and to me that's the difference of that that is what cultural competency is is having a district where everyone really kind of understands
these things. So um I want to thank everyone for coming. It's something that we do take seriously. I also was going to suggest and really appreciate uh Mr. Hurley's approach that he's gonna continue to be transparent and you know speak with students so that everyone
understands the thinking how we're going about making decisions um which I think is important. I am going to ask as a board at the end of the meeting that we have an executive session um just as a board um so that we can um digest and just talk about all the comments that
were heard this evening. Um just so you everyone here knows that we are going to do that because we do take this seriously. So again I want to thank everyone for coming this evening. Um and uh please know that all of your your feedback is taken seriously. So thank
you. Um so uh we are uh we do have business uh kind of action to be taken with some business items coming up. So what we're going to do is we're going to have a minute transition. If everyone would like to stay for the remainder of the meeting and hear all the stuff we're
going to continue to do, you're welcome to do that. Um, if you have other things that um, you need to attend to this evening, again, just want to say thank you for coming. But we're going to have a minute pause in the meeting just as a transition in case uh, folks want to decide whether they want to stay or not.
Um, so thank you again. >> Thank you. >> All right. Uh so we are going to continue on with the meeting. Uh we're going to move on now to new business where there's action to be taken. Uh we'll start with personnel. Mrs. Cole, >> good evening. Personnel did not meet
this month. Uh we have 13 motions to be put uh put forward tonight. The recommendation of the superintendent and I'd like to move motions 1 through 13 under personnel. >> All right. Thank you. Uh do I have a second? All right. Mr. Kanti and
discussion questions or comments about personnel. All right, hearing none. Mr. Witford, please take role. >> Mr. Begoian, >> yes. >> Mrs. Cole, >> yes. >> Mr. Ki, >> 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. Miss Jones. Thank you. We did not have a CNI meeting and tonight there are five motions that have been put forth upon
the recommendation of the superintendent. I move resolutions one through five. >> All right. Uh do we have a second on that? Mr. Healey, questions and comments from board members. >> I just I want to make just one comment. Um item number four, every year I have
to send a statement of assurance that I just signed that we have a safety and security plan. For some reason this year they without telling us uh they said no you have to have a board resolution approving that you've sent the statement
of assurance. So there's not the plan is the same plan we've had and but I have to say yes we have one and so I did the board. >> Okay motion just so I don't want you to think there was a a revised plan. It's just the statements. Okay. >> Did you see me circle it? That's why you said something. I'm just kidding. Um all
right. Any other questions or comments from board members? Hearing none. Mr. Whitford, please take role. >> Mr. Beosian, >> yes. >> Mrs. Cole, >> yes. >> Mr. Ki, >> yes. >> Mr. Healey, >> yes. >> Mrs. Jones, >> I. >> Mr. Mone, >> yes. >> Dr. Rine,
>> yes. >> Mr. Spayberry, >> yes. >> Dr. Elotti, >> yes. >> Motions carry. >> All right. Thank you. We'll move on now to finance. Mr. Bezosian. >> Yes. We do not have a finance committee meeting since our last full board meeting. Tonight on the agenda, we have six motions to consider. I would like to
move motions one through six under finance. >> All right. Thank you. Do we have a second for those? Miss Cole. Uh questions, comments from board members. >> Nope. All right. Uh hearing none, then Mr. Whitford, please take role.
>> Mr. Poison, >> yes. >> Mrs. Cole, >> yes. >> Mr. Ky, >> yes. >> Mr. Healey, >> yes. >> Mrs. Jones, >> I. >> Mr. Mone, >> yes. >> Dr. Renee, >> yes. >> Mr. Spayberry, >> yes. >> Dr. Yes. >> Motions carried. >> All right. We're going to move on now to policy. Mr. Healey.
>> Yes. Uh we did not have a committee meeting since our last board meeting and uh there are no resolutions this evening. >> All right. Thank you. Then we will move on to buildings and grounds. Mr. Sprayberry. >> All right. Thank you. Do we have a second for that? Mr. Begoian.
comments, questions from the board. Uh, Miss Jones, >> I just hope that everybody noticed that the cottage has been painted. It is our deep royal blue >> with white trim and gray doors and it looks lovely. They did it last week uh
not not during the break, the week actually the Sunday before it was done and uh I drove by. I said, "Good job, guys. Delighted to see it. It looks a big improvement. It looks bigger to me, too. >> We We enlarged it. >> Yeah.
>> It's amazing what paint does. >> Anything to keep me happy. >> Oh, I love that. >> Yes. The um one comment on the uh resolution. Uh I want to thank the uh the burrow and also thank the board uh
for being willing to partner to get this done. uh tomorrow when it's uh going to be 32 degrees for the first time in my office, I'll actually have some heat. So, um I'm very happy that we were able to make that work. >> Yeah,
Mrs. is >> Yeah. >> Yeah. As long as no voice is coming out of that room. Really? >> Any other comments or questions? Uh hearing none. Mr. Whitford, please take role. Mr. Beosian, >> yes. >> Mrs. Cole,
>> yes. >> Mr. Ki, >> yes. >> Mr. Healey, >> yes. >> Mrs. Jones, >> hi. >> Mr. Mone, >> yes. >> Dr. Rine, >> yes. >> Mr. Spayberry, >> yes. >> Dr. Lahi, >> yes. >> Motion's carry. >> All right. Thank you. We'll move on now to old business. Is there any old
business from board members? >> Mrs. Jones. >> Uh, I have been enjoying the football games. It went to all the home games. Uh, and I didn't make the, uh, last one that they had in Newark. But I would just like to say that there were only
two seniors on the team this year and to have them achieve the amount of wins that they did with this this team. They were wonderful and they really wanted to win and they did. Um David Begoian uh our James Begoian's son played
offense and defense in his position as a linebacker. He was very instrumental in the broadcast. that they had. I didn't go to the game on uh Friday night, but I was told it was on YouTube and I watched it on YouTube, but I I was very pleased.
But the announcer gave a lot of tribute to not only to Steve Dunn, but he mentioned M. uh to David and he talked about some of the seniors and sophomore when Weber, but they gave Ratherford a nice job considering that they
unfortunately did not win, >> but it it was nice to hear. >> Yeah, we agree here. >> Anything else? Hearing no other old business, we'll move on to legislative update. Back over to you, Miss Jones.
>> Uh, yes. In light of what we heard last year, there is a resolution um, Senate Bill 4752 that has been brought forth by Robert W.
Singer from Mammoth County. The bill title requires school districts to allow homeschool students to participate in school sponsored extracurricular activities in the students resident district. Now you might remember that we
had a member of the community asking that his daughter be allowed and she was home school and he wanted her to be able to participate in one of our sports. So that would be interesting if that changes. what came up in that discussion
was the insurance problems and I don't know how they're going to get around it um with this but >> well like I said before there's always bills introduced and then some of them sit in the docket for years and years
and years and um and you know one of the things that um happens with bills that get introduced sometimes uh the homework's not being done to see what how would this actually happen and what would happen and
insurance is one thing all the all the issues that we raised when we had these discussions um would be would be factors that would make it I think unmanageable right now uh legislation changed as far as athletics is concerned
right that said if a district wants to have a policy and take this on they can right very few districts have done that some So, you know, I think to make this a universal statement for all districts, um I I I I don't see that happening, but
we'll see what happens. A lot of bills get introduced. >> All right. At 8:02 p.m., we're going to open the meeting to the public for anything related to or not related to the agenda. Hearing nothing, we're going to close
the meeting at 8:02 p.m. Uh we are going to have a brief executive session to >> Yeah, we'll call >> to discuss a student matter. Should be up for about five minutes. Need a motion to go into executive session. Mr. Spayberry, seconded by Dr. Rine. All in
favor? I. >> All right. Thank you.