okay i'd like to call to order the regular meeting of the Rifford Board of Education anyone who is able please stand for the pledge of allegiance 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 mr woodford M Miss Bgoian present Mrs cole Mr ki present Mr healey here Mrs jones
present Mr mone present Dr rim here Dr mr spayberry present Dr and missio here you have a quum thank you the open the New Jersey open public meetings act was enacted to ensure the
rights of the public have advanced notice of and to attend 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 and record newspapers and filed with the burough clerk hard copies of the agendas are available in the meeting room and the agendas been posted electronically on the Friday
before the meeting date on the district's website at www.rotherfordschools.org subsequent to the meeting a video of the meeting will be uh uploaded to the district's website video link can be found at the board of education link by clicking on public meetings i'd like to
make uh I'd like to ask are there any um additions corrections to the minutes from the regular meeting on Monday March 10th nope okay not hearing any other entered and I'd like to open it up to Sarah our
students representative for your report good evening quarter 4 started today this year is going by really fast and now that we're nearing the end there's lots of fun events to look forward to especially for the seniors the new quarter also marked the beginning of the new cell phone policy in our school
which is going well so far and is definitely helping everyone to be a little bit more engaged spring the spring sports season has officially started and has been going well so far we all had a great time participating in our spirit week which was concluded by our spring pep rally each class earned
points which they earned by dressing up each day according to their theme as well as by purchasing paper links to add to their class chain and participating in the pep rally events the seniors ended up winning with the most points but the juniors were right behind and overall it was a really fun and busy
week the French club hosted the French suare in the cafeteria on March 26th it was really well attended by students taking both world language classes Spanish and French as well as some parents the French club did a great job putting it together making it entertaining for everyone who in
attended the junior dinner dance was this past Friday the junior class had a really great night the unified club has been making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches which Mrs lancaster has been distributing at a homeless shelter in Patterson this is a great way to give
back in a hands-on way the Spanish Club and Spanish Honor Society have been contributing to the Pulsera Project by selling bracelets made by artists in Central America the profits go directly to the project helping to support these underprivileged communities it's a great
cause that the this club contributes to every year this Wednesday April 9th is the 41st annual popert at RHS student musicians will be performing for audience members and the tickets are $10 this event is always a fun and enjoyable time
and spring break is coming up as well which will definitely give everyone some time to relax before the last two months of the year that's all for tonight thank you that's great thank you i appreciate how comprehensive your report is as always yes any board members have any comments or superintendent
nope just as usual um shows the diversity of the activities our students are you know the PS photo sandwiches for the homeless shelter and the athletics and the artistic and and the academics so thank you for
Yeah thank you we appreciate that um you're welcome to stay for the rest of the meeting but if you have homework exams anything do what you got to do thank you thank you you can move on now to the report of superintendent thank you um I want to
mention uh thank the rea for the um annual March Madness fun day food drive at Perpont School is held there uh again a very successful event
for the community a very successful u fun food collection with the food pantry um and um it really was I think one of the most crowded years that I could Yeah uh and a lot of good activities so uh congratulations to them a lot of the a
lot of the faculty throughout the district uh give up their Saturday and give up time to prep for that and I think it's a great community event we had our QAC visit on April 2nd however it was only four fifths of the
visit uh one of the county monitors Zil so the operations review will be done at a later date uh all went well the all the uh feedback we got was very very positive but we won't get the final report uh until
probably late summer early fall i don't have a date yet for um the uh re doover of the operations that I should be getting that hopefully within the next week or so they're finishing up the county is finishing up
all of the CQAC scheduled QAC visits this week so probably they'll do some makeups in the next in the next week or two um a message went out today to parents and and community that uh the snow days
that we didn't use this year uh Friday May 23rd barring anything really unusual happening uh in the next couple of weeks that will be a day off for faculty staff and students as we'll extend the Memorial Day weekend with uh the one
snow day that we didn't use school performance report is up on the web it was released by the state earlier uh I'm sorry later last week the end of the week u like I said in the information I sent out to you all on the
board there's not a lot of new information in there it's uh information most of it derived from uh the state testing and some other information that we other reports we have to send in throughout the year to the state um but it's there for the district is there uh
for individual schools a couple of things of note in terms of districtwide we are um we exceeded the standard the state standard for math for growth in math uh we are just about at the cut off line for exceeding uh we've meeting the
standard for growth in language arts uh we um met the state standard and well exceeded the state meet um average in the uh performance on the state assessments our um at risk students which are based on chronically absent
students uh state average is just about 15% we're at about 4.5 so our uh chronic absenteeism is is not a problem in this district and our graduation um targets and goals are graduation rates are um in
the highest level in the state we're at about 97 and a half% and keep in mind that's not the number of seniors I've mentioned this all the time that begins senior year uh is the number of seniors who began when they were freshman it's fouryear and fiveyear coals also keep in
mind something that uh we've been pushing back on when I say we some of the superintendent on um not counting as graduate students in the 18 to 21 program um you know that to me is nonsensical
especially uh when we're doing what's right for the student and the graduates uh but they don't count as graduates um and in a small district does you know it impacts the smaller districts where a few students really do make an impact on the percentage so hopefully that's going
to change in terms of um another interesting note in the performance report we are at about 48% of our students uh enrolled in one or more AP class uh the state averages at 35 and we have 80% of our students enroll involved
in a dual enrollment program where they get college credit where the state norm is 26% so there's a lot of information in the reports is up there on the web like I said it's all the information that's been reported in one form or another uh
previously late last week we got the results of every three years we have to do water testing throughout the district uh which have to shut down the water for a day and then they come in and test every water source in all the buildings um I'm pleased to report that we were uh
clear u throughout the district except for two areas there was a um slop sink custodial sink in Per and one in Washington that both uh did test a little bit for lead uh they never used for any drinking or any kind of water
and we took both of them now out of commission they're both shut down which is the remedy if you have a small problem but everything else in the district is clear uh probably by the end of this week uh we'll have the uh test
uh results up on the website as well as the uh letter that goes out to explain the two areas that the two saints not areas that we had to take out of commission okay i was at the Bergen County job fair on Saturday uh it was there was uh
despite the teaching shortage that you hear about there were 330 people there looking uh for jobs uh it uh it was it was a good uh morning afternoon got to meet a lot of different people get some resumes uh and hopefully get a few
interviews and potentially hires out of it um we are as you see on the agenda we are trying to move as quickly as we can uh with hiring for for next year uh because you is tough competitive market right now with with teachers and I will
keep you posted of that as we move along and uh finally there there are a couple items on the agenda that I will be mentioning but two of um of note that I want to mention briefly now uh we will be asking the board to approve uh the uh
bid award uh to uh for the Lincoln Fire alarm system replacement and uh once that is approved hopefully tonight we can then get moving on and to try to get if possible second shift work started even in the spring but most likely get going right away in the summer and the
other is um as we are you know realigning our IT department and in the Miss O'Donnell's uh impending retirement uh we I'm asking the board tonight to approve a supervisor of student information and ed technology and it's
our uh filmographer Mr met um I told him that when that item comes up the agenda he wants to put his face in front of the camera uh he can do that um so he is on the agenda tonight so um don't want to prematurely congratulate him but looking
forward to uh the next part of the journey with with uh with Steve and that's it anybody have any questions all right if no one has anything for the superintendent um move on to the report of the president um since the president is not here um I
just have a couple comments um he sends his regards obviously wishes he could be here um I wanted to call out the information um that Beth shared with us earlier today um acknowledging um at the uh annual uh Bergen County I'm sorry
their May 29th the Bergen County School Boards Association will be recognizing our superintendent um which I think Jack you certainly distinguished yourself this year and behalf of the district i know we're completely proud of the work that you've done and continue to do um student
support engagement but also um that the uh county school board is going to be uh recognizing three of our board members um Dr sergio Alotti for his 10-year milestone Dr greg Rine um for his 10-year milestone and board member and
trustee James Pagosian for obtaining his certified board member certification so congratulations to you all in advance and uh I hope board members are able to attend aren't you 10 years i think I am
could be a clerical oversight but you know um wasn't on the memo so I just wanted to make sure acknowledge is not quite and you are it's all good mrs jones will follow up on that yeah thank you Mrs jones you have
connections i'm on Thursday more than I do 100% so um if no if no one has anything else um what I would like to do is uh open the meeting to the public at
7:14 p.m um generally this is when we open the meeting up to the public for items that are on the agenda um but I know we have a few guests here who are looking to present this evening and since uh they put the vice president in charge we'll
bend the rules and um we'll let you speak if you'd like to come to the microphone you can do so now on any issue you'd like to discuss um I would just simply ask that you state your full name your address okay and if you could keep your comments to three minutes or
less my name is Julia Minervini i live at 38 Donaldson Avenue Rutherford New Jersey you speak into the microphone okay and I would like to keep the textiles program in the school i have signatures if anybody wants to look at them
um but we the undersigned students teachers and alumni of Rutherford High School are requesting the continuation of the textiles program a valuable elective that has brought both creativity and relaxation to our school community over the course of just a few
days we have gathered over 250 signatures including those from students across all grades teachers and even recent graduates who are deeply invested in ensuring the future of this course students including many seniors have shared how they will miss the textiles
class as they graduate and underassmen have expressed their eagerness to enroll in the class in the future the textiles program offers a unique opportunity to unwind and focus on hands-on creativity something that provides a refreshing break from the pressure of academic
work after speaking with several underassmen many expressed frustration about not being able to fit a fullyear elective into their schedules due to time restrictions and other requirements courses our suggestion that
was brought up frequently was the idea of offering textiles as a half-year elective historically textiles has maintained steady enrollment and adapting it to a halfyear format could make it more accessible for students who want to take it but are unable to due to
scheduling conflicts additionally we are aware that the Ru Rutherford Education Foundation recently invested over 30,000 in new sewing machines and equipment to enhance the program if the textiles course is discontinued this will grant
will be reviewed as a poor interest to the supporters of the REF and they may choose to not continue to to support the program therefore limiting the amount of money raised for the teachers of the district each year the school cannot
sell off this new equipment since it is from the ref grant this will leave the equipment in storage unable to be utilized as intended another point worth noting is the impact on staff one of our beloved teachers who not only imparts
valuable skills in the textiles also serves as a role model for students and FCCLA members we will be will be losing their job if the class is cut this decision would not only affect students in their learning experience but also
harm the dedicated educator and her family rutherford High School is one of the few schools in our state that still offers specialized electives like textiles and it's programs like these that make our school stand out from others it is part of what makes Rutherford a unique and vibrant place
for both teachers and students the loss of this class would be a significant blow to our community and would deprive future generations of students from experiencing what so many of us have loved we urge the administration to reconsider this decision and allow the
textiles program to continue to thrive serving as a creative outlet for an essential part of our school's diverse academic offerings thank you um if you'd like you can um I'll take those or we can take those if it's
helpful here let me come to you i don't want you to Yes is anyone else here this evening to speak on this issue yeah okay um well Julia yeah Julia first of
all thank you and I you know I would sign that petition as well um you know the the program hasn't been cut by the administration okay there the program did not load in scheduling uh we as principal of the high school when I
was principal and as superintendent I we're one of the few schools that have a full family consumer science program because we push it uh we think is a valuable experience our our textile classes uh for the last 15 to 20 years
and even more going back longer have averaged about 80 to 85 students a year registered for the class uh there was a time when we'd have over a hundred registered we'd have to tell students they couldn't take the class uh this current year there are 60 students and
keep in mind we have a full-time uh instructor who has to teach five to six classes right in order to be working here um for this coming year we have 20 students who have signed up with 20 students we can't run a
program um we don't want to lose the program um I'm happy 250 students signed a petition i hope next year when it's back up again as an elective they'll sign up for the
class but we can't run a class where there's only one section because we can't have a staff member on board to teach it we have another family consumer science teacher who has a full load of
foods and fitness and nutrition classes if we were to have her teach one textile class we would then turn those students away from a class because she wouldn't be able to teach the other classes so this is not something that was I just want to clear up any misconception the
budget that was presented to the board of education in March and approved by the board preliminary approval and then was sent to the county and was preliminary approved there uh has in it textiles that there's it's not a budget
cut it's not something I ever wanted to do i as superintendent uh and as principal I have never had a program that we cut and I hope the day when it comes and I retire I can say that during my tenure I never had a program that we cut but if a class doesn't load we can't
run it and despite the fact that 250 students signed a petition only 20 registered for the class so we can't run it and we're not shutting down the door next year we're going to try to see if
we get enough to bring it back and if we do we will and if we don't we'll have to decide what happens at that point okay so that's the reason behind it as was not the intention of me uh the high school administration or the board of
education not to offer this class and the reason why this just surfaced this past week was because registration for next year ended about a week or so ago julia thank you we appreciate you coming forward to the board this evening and I do appreciate that you know it's part of
our foundational pieces right the profile of the graduate is uh citizenship and communication and I think sometimes you know I am and we are up here you know we we always have to be co cognizant of
when's the right time to say something and protecting individual rights of teachers and students but sometimes you know misinformation then gets out because of that yeah so this was not a cut it was a it was a program that just didn't work okay
thank you is there anyone else who'd like to speak on any item on the agenda this evening or anything else at this point please step to the microphone state your name address and if you could please try to keep your comments for three minutes
or less just going to move this up a little bit hello hi my name is Patricia Zeniga the mother of Olivia Rodriguez from Washington School um we had to move recently for whatever reasons and um I was I went to the school to get her
evaluated today and I was told she could not go there anymore to Washington school because we didn't move we just recently moved it was because my mother just passed away so I was hoping that she can finish off her last few days here in
Rutherford this really not a board of education issue you should really come up to my office and speak to me but if you're not residing in Rutherford anymore you can't attend school in Rutherford but there are exceptions like family crisis stuff like that like this
little girl is eight years old again this is not something this is a personal matter we shouldn't be talking about it at a public meeting if you want to come to meet with me in my office we'll go over what the what the law is in New Jersey and what the policy is here and
we'll have that conversation but it's not something I I don't feel comfortable talking about a student in a personal matter in a public meeting um I'll be happy to meet with you tomorrow or any day that works for you perfect tomorrow
okay and can you I'll call I'll call the office call in the morning we'll set something all right thank you okay thank you anyone else wishing to address the board okay oh sorry good evening stephanie McGawan uh 299 Jackson Avenue first just wanted to say
good evening uh Councilman Guzman and I are here this evening representing the mayor and council this is the first meeting since January that we are not in a conflicted time period and so we wanted to show up and say hello um and also to thank you all every one of you
for your outstanding work in your contribution to the community to upholding a school system that is consistently recognized for its excellence um and with that we also wanted to acknowledge our superintendent Mr hurley for being recognized as
superintendent of the year and as an educator I can tell you um it's it's a huge honor to be recognized in your county it's an amazing honor to be recognized across the state um especially a state like New Jersey that
has over 560 school districts um and so uh Mr hurley thank you for um your continued advocacy of our students for maintaining a level of integrity to this community um and for being a really good
ambassador for us not just for our children here but for us outside the walls of Rutherford and so for your many years of service of which I certainly know that there are many um I will end with saying that uh I I knew Mr hurley as the
English teacher Mr hurley um and the coach Mr hurley um and to see your evolution and your continued commitment to Rutherford is incredibly appreciated especially um living in this community and and being able to have trust in you for doing this good work so thank you
all for your time and commitment to our community and we wish you a good meeting tonight thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you sir and um you knew me when I had hair on my head and I just reason why you one of them one of them
well thank you both for coming this evening we uh we greatly appreciate it so I'd like to close the open uh meeting to the public at 7:26 27 rather um and I'd like to move
into new business where action will be taken um I'd like to start with personnel um Mr ki yes we have on the agenda tonight 33 motions to put forward uh 31 on the main
agenda here and then we have uh some additionals on addendum here two additional on the agenda for 33 total um so it's okay i'm going to go ahead and read go through all the motions please do awesome so motions one through five
are to approve the resignation of various people as listed number six is to approve the termination of an employee number seven is to approve Steven Met as supervisor of educational technology and student information number eight is to approve a Spanish
teacher at Union Middle School number nine is to approve a leave replacement uh at Peron Elementary School 10 11 and 12 are to approve long-term substitute teachers as listed 13 and 14 are
approved transfers as listed uh 15 is to approve uh the following teachers as listed for presentations on the mentoring book club and Socratic seminar number 16 is to approve Mr cavea as a coordinator instructor for summer
band uh 17 through 20 are to approve disability leaves as listed 21 is to approve a leave of absence under the US family medical leave act uh 22 is to approve uh to approve a disability leave
uh 23 is to approve the extension in a disability leave 24 is to approve a leave absence under the New Jersey Family Leave Act uh number 25 is to approve an adjustment in hours for a lunch monitor 26 is to approve the
following high school co-curricular assignments and stipens as listed 27 is to uh 27 and 28 are to approve home instructors 29 through 30 are to approve uh substitute teachers and teacher
assistance as listed 31 is to approve the f uh the following travel reimbursements as listed 32 is to approve uh uh an English teacher at Rford High School and 33 is to approve
the transfer uh of a teacher so those are the motions that we have before us tonight thank you Mr superintendent have any comment on any of those no other than reiterating Mr bett and u and the others you'll be
seeing over the next you know couple of months a lot of hiring hopefully and uh some transferring to try to make sure we're covered where we need to be thank you any board members comment excellent move and you know it
would actually be proof understanding and comment show that AI will not take that job any other board members do we get to keep him well uh or is this like he can't do this position because question that's a good question yeah
that's um but u he's probably got a cat fil He understands probably better than anyone how the board of ed works he's been at every meeting for the last 15 years well congratulations welld deserved thank you we haven't approved you haven't approved it yet i haven't approved it yet listen I'm only the vice
president mr con if you'd like to put those motions forward i would like to put motions 1 through 33 forward please is there a second Mr mr goian yes Mrs cole mr kiy yes Mr
healey yes Mrs jones yes Mr mone yes Dr rene yes Mr sprayberry yes motion's carried now we can congratulations [Applause] he would have edited the tape anyway
to make it look like he was approved even if he wasn't we would have lost We would have lost that that case moving on to curriculum and instruction mrs jones thank you uh there are six motions put forth by on on the
recommendation of the superintendent tonight one out of district placements two field trips now totaling 165 three stress stress less summer program four professional
services and five professional services and six home instruction for three students thank you um yeah I I just like to remind the board every year that stressless summer is um our student assistance counselors run
two days with students who they see throughout the school year to kind of go over some you know tips and things for them for during the summer and and just review some strategies um so uh they could carry with them throughout the summer recess
any board members comments or questions uh only that on the stress list i mean the feedback I've received from people in town have been that it's a fantastic program so I'm super happy to see that it's on here that's great there's no other comments um Mr jones
you want to put I move resolutions one through six under curriculum instructions there a second mr beosian call the role mr poan yes mr ki yes mr healey yes mrs jones yes mr mone
yes dr rine yes mr spayberry yes motions carry thank you moving forward with finance Mr bean good evening uh we've not had a finance committee meeting since our last full board meeting on tonight's agenda we have four motions to consider number one is the routine approval of bills number two is to
approve an increase in the bulldog bulldog care program tuition number three is to accept with gratitude a donation of $2,000 to the heroes and cool kids program at RHS from the Rutherford Elks and number four is to accept with gratitude a donation from
the Eisenstein McBrin family of toys and building blocks for the preschool class at Washington School great any comments um the tu the tuition at Bulldog Care I guess now we're in our fourth year or maybe our fifth year we have not raised it and it says across
categories because it's all different you know you could be there till 4:00 you could be there to 5:00 6:00 so it's a $10 increase and we you know we've done our homework with other areas we're still uh at or lower than what what most rates are but with everything going up
the salaries of staff going up and the like uh we need to cover some and the expenses going up but we can cover that i also want to thank those folks um for the donation for the um the the toys for Washington School
but also uh every year the the Elks and also the RAF [Music] um they they combine to fund that program which is a very good program has been in existence now for well over 20 years um where high school kids go down to Perp and work with some of the
younger kids um I I also want to mention uh Mr whitford and and his team and and everyone who worked on the on the budget you know after the board approves preliminary budget we send it off to the county for review and I think I
mentioned that it's not just the uh the numbers the dollars but it's also the narrative pieces that have to go in uh both Mr wford and Mr ryan worked on that uh to show how things were set up well it's the first time uh that we
didn't have because you know the county feels they have to tell you something right so there's always like a a paragraph here or a section here uh we we got the hole in one email that went through completely all areas so Mr ryan and Mr woodford on the narrative pieces
as well as the fiscal pieces uh everything hit all cylinders so congratulations there and the next step on the budget is April 28th we we do a final presentation and then uh you know the board will vote whether to adopt it
or not okay good any board members questions or comments for Mr poi not hearing any you want to put those motions forward i'd like to move motions one through four under finance is there a second mr mr bean yes mr ki yes mr healey yes mrs
jones yes mr mone yes dr rine yes mr spayberry yes motion's carry thank you um I see under policy um there are no motions listed yes we did not have a committee meeting very good we'll move on to buildings and
grounds uh Mr scrapeberry good evening we did not have a bone crack made prior to meeting uh we have two motions to move tonight one being use the use of proposals for project graduation and waiver of fees and bid award to signal
electrical for the fire alarm system i would like to motion thank you um Jack any comments or anything um M swiffy anything about the uh the bid you want to uh the bid for the Lincoln School Fire alarm project as
Mr hurley said before hopefully after this award we're able to get some sort of second shift work to begin that process uh we'll be having that replacement in line with existing uh equipment so there'll be no lapse in fire alarm service at all but the goal
is to have the new uh equipment in and then the old system offline by the September start of school for residents and we're pleased that the bids came in under what our budget was right yep it definitely came in under budget so uh we were we were happy to see that to give
some additional funds great thank you for um any board members questions or comments all right not hearing any mr grayberry motion call
second Mr bean call the roll please Mgoan yes Mr kiy yes Mr healey yes Mrs jones yes Mr mel yes Dr yes Mr mr speaker yes
motion's carry all right fold business you don't have any cold business other than I'm echoing uh Mr early's comments on the food drive it was really very well attended i mean it I get scared
sometimes because if they had to get out of there fast there might be trouble there's so many people there but it was wonderful and I saw Jane Tarantina who is one of the many people for food pantry and she was very very happy with the amount of donations and did we I
don't think we've had a meeting since Mary Poppins have we uh well let me comment that the play was you give me a chance to answer uh no I don't think we did well you'll comment also but I it was unbelievably
good it was I I was just so moved i cried at the end of it because I can't believe our kids can do this play after play and be this outstanding but it was everything you could ever want in a Broadway play never you know nevertheless a high
school one yeah it was one of our best performances great absolutely great and I can't get out of any place fast anymore even if it's not crowded any other board member with the whole business chris I
uh had the pleasure of uh coaching a seventh eighth grade lacrosse team that actually played a game on the high school field it was an amazing experience that field is fantastic and what was so interesting is the team that
we played was Saddlebrook they had come to us and they had played out here when it was grass and they were the coach unsolicited came up to us and was shocked he's like "This is the one of the most best fields we've ever played on in in Bergen County frankly is what he said to me." Well you know what was
very cool i I was flying back from the National Conference and flying over the high school and you know you see the field and that's and that's that's cool i was up on the plane saying "Look at turn around turn around Sky Marshall."
Um but no it it is and um and and I'm glad it's getting the use of it unsolicited accolades about our field are well appreciated 100% yeah that's great anyone else okay then we'll move on to legislative update mrs jones this is
Senate Bill 4186 introduced just recently on March 3rd 2025 by Senator Benji Wimberly requires school districts to maintain and pay premiums for student acquis
okay very good then before we s do that uh I wanted to just mention that committee meetings on May 5th I had mentioned uh building and grounds and personnel we're probably gonna squeeze the curriculum and instruction in as well that night so
when we get closer I'll I'll send that yeah um then at 7:41 p.m I'll open the meeting back up to the public seeing any member of the public who wish to address the board at 7:41
p.m i will close the open meeting to the public um we do have a need for an executive session legal issue negotiations one legal issue and an update on negotiations so 10 minutes um no action will be taken
and um give you a motion go to objective mr sprayberry Mr ki