I call to order the July 21st, 2026 meeting of the cereable board of education in accordance with chapter 231 public law 1975. This public meeting of the serable board of education has been established by posting a copy of the public meeting notice on the district's
legal website. In addition, copies of the announcement of this meeting have been sent to the burough clerk and a copy of the notice of the meeting has also been posted on the bulletin board outside the office of the secretary to the board. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance of the United States of America and to
the stands nationy andice for all. Roll call. Miss Hill. >> Mrs. Bloom. >> Here. >> Mr. Callahan. >> Mrs. Hernandez >> here. >> Mrs. Maldonado >> here. >> Mrs. Npalitano >> here.
>> Mrs. Pabone >> here. >> Mr. Smith. Mr. Walsh >> here. >> Mr. Fernandez >> here. >> Can you summarize executive session? The board discuss personnel including but not limited to agenda items, student matters, and matters falling under attorney client privilege.
>> Any correspondence of note? >> I'll entertain a motion to approve the minutes of both the regular session and executive session of the June 16, 2026 meeting. >> So move. >> Second. >> Second. >> So I have Mr. Walsh and second by M.
Mrs. >> Mrs. Hernandez. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Maldonado. >> Yes. Mrs. Malano, Mrs. >> Mr. Walsh, >> yes. >> And Mr. Fernandez, >> yes. I guess we're missing the best the best part of the meeting today.
>> And I had questions. >> No, really. All right. Well, I'll I'll keep my comment short then. I just want to say that the Bombers Cafe is back open for the summer Monday through Thursday from 8 to 12. Um, but they're only going to
be there till August 6th. They're only going to be there August 6th. So, hurry up and go get your coffee. And seeing this bid, this busy crowd, I I'll leave the rest of my comments for next time. >> And I believe we don't have vice president comments. >> No, nothing.
>> Great. We go into our presentations. >> Yes. Um, and as you know, um, I will not be remaining with the district beyond June of 2027. >> So, tonight we have >> I'm voting no
>> some special presentations. You can't vote no to that >> for you this evening. We have two organizations that are very proven and skilled in finding exceptional school administrator leaders um that can take districts to the next level.
I couldn't be prouder um to present them to you and give them an opportunity to share with you their superintendent search services. So um we have two New Jersey School Boards Association Maryanne Freriedman is here and we have Dr. Brian Zakowski and Dr. Michael
Cuchar who are here from Strategic Exemplary Alliance. We're going to allow New Jersey school boards to go first. So, while Maryanne gets set at the podium, I will distribute her information for her. >> Can I ask a question? Where did we get you from?
>> Where did we get what? >> Which search person did we use to find you? >> New Jersey school boards. >> Thank you. >> Is that good or bad? >> I would say they did a >> Nobody's perfect. >> Still out. I would say they did a great
job. We were very lucky to get Dr. Lavy >> and I believe that was Gwen Gwen Thornton. Don't worry, we won't hold that against her. >> Good evening everyone. My name is Maryanne Freriedman. I am a senior field service rep with New Jersey school
boards and I've been with the association for about 16 years. Um, and I've had Mercer and Middle Sex now for the past eight years. probably six years because I had you and
then I was brought to I was asked to take mom in Ocean County and then I was brought back to Mercer Middle. So I'm happy to be back. Wanted to talk to you a little bit and thank you for inviting me in to talk to you about our search process. Wait, there we go. Okay. So, lots of
school boards obviously go with New Jersey school boards because they have a relationship with us. We see you at county meetings. We see you at workshop. We see you at DA. We see you at a lot of different places. And we do have a professional team. with us. While you
see me in front of you who would be facilitating your search, I also have an entire association behind me. Attorneys, communications experts, policy experts, labor relations experts, things of that sort. So, we really do care about the
challenges that you face and we understand the challenges that you face and I was a board member for nine years before I came to New Jersey. We also are devoted to your needs, the needs of the board of education. You are our customer, you are our sole customer.
And so we have a highly confidential process that we put into place. It's legally defensible and we do have as I said NJSBA experts in the field and again we work for the board, not for the candidates. So the successful
superintendent search really has several components. First of all, this is the superintendent is the only person that you hire directly. Everybody else that you hire is at the recommendation of the superintendent and this is the most important thing you'll do over the next three to five years because the contract
can't be less than three years and it can't be more than five years. Okay. So it is a confidential process. We have a way to get involved stakeholder groups for 12 years 13
sorry I thought it was 12 and you're really going to by doing the search generally you're going to want to involve your stakeholder groups and get their opinions and their feedback and so we have a process to be able to do that as the board you are the only the
non-conlicted board members are the only entity that can sit at the table to do the interviews and go through the superintendent search process and your next superintendent so we take that very seriously and we know that you will and the confidentiality has to be maintained
otherwise it's a problem because The education world in New Jersey is extremely small. We're a small state, but the education world is even small. And if rumor gets out or if there's any kind of leak of the candidates will find out, they'll
withdraw from the search. will be out that this confidentiality is breached. So, you're going to want your stakeholder groups to participate in this to the best of their ability and we can do I can do inerson input sessions with them. We're a large district in New
Jersey terms and so we would be I would be able to go into the schools to meet with your staff usually after school or at a staff meeting with them for about 15 20 minutes and let them know what this process is. also and then we'll have an online
survey that everybody can fill out as well. And so that's really the most important thing other than the confidentiality of this process. So the legal requirements as you probably know the person must possess a certificate of eligibility or a standard certificate.
If they don't have either of those things when you go to appoint them you would be able to interview somebody who didn't have their certificate of eligibility yet. But if you went to appoint them and they didn't have it, you would not be able to
get caught in the contract with the executive superintendent. Um, they need to be a New Jersey resin if they're not a New Jersey res. We do get people from New York, Pennsylvania, and Delaware who apply Delaware for you guys because you're a
little bit too far north. But we do get people from Pennsylvania and New York State all the time. As I said, to contract. It has to end on July. They all have to end on July 1st and so it can't be more than less than a five. The
contract has to be approved once you all approve it tenatively along with the final. It has to go to the executive superintendent for approval and once that happens you can get the next
and the compensation is based on comparability. So the the staff in the community since they can't be sitting at the table with you or have any participation in knowing who the candidates are in sessions that I can do and meet with
your community members and your staff and your students. We have students involved as well and we're going to ask them five questions basically. What are the strengths of the district? What are the challenges over the next three to five years? What qualities would you like to see in this in your next
superintendent? what experience and background would you like to see them have? And if they could ask one question, what would that question be? And then I compile all of that information and provide it to you. It's all anonymous, so you won't see who said
what, but from those questions, I'll provide you the sample first round questions if you select NJSBA. And then you'll be able to select questions that your staff and your community members or your students have asked as well. And that's allow them to participate and
get them to participate and I know that sometimes when we meet when I meet with staff they don't understand why they can't be seated at the table and confidentiality is the reason they're not bound to confidentiality as you are and often times when we know that other
search firms because we do know that other search funds allow staff to sit at the table often times candidates will know that because they know that there's secure way of keeping that confidentiality. So all those survey questions, all of
those answers and those responses will help you select who to bring in for interviews, who to move forward in interviews, and what questions to ask, and who you'll meet with as your finalist. This is a selection process, not a settling process. So we never want you to feel that you have to
select some settle on somebody from the pool if you do first round interviews and you feel there's nobody you want to move forward or second round interviews and you feel there's nobody you want to move forward, we would rather you close out the search and start over again than settle on
somebody. So the first thing that we would do is if you selected NJSBA is I would meet with your noned school board members and identify the criteria and the credentials that you would like your next superintendent to have develop the
and then also send it out electronically to a lot of other associations and colleges and the search calendar will also be up on your website for transparencle in the packet that we have out. I know you can't really see that, but that
really details what the process would be like. So, tonight I'm here talking to you about the process. If you select NJSBA, we meet with you to develop the criteria and the credentials also develop the advertise start.
We like for the ad to go up for at least a month on our website and all the other have the deadline for the application. Then I'll go through the all of the applications as they're coming in and I'll rank them. I'll tell you about that in a second. Then I would deliver the
pool of applicants to you along with sample questions that you would select from different things about the superintendent search and then depending on what if you go with what tier you decide on I would either be with you for all of the interviews
or come before interviews get you all set up and then come back at the end of the first round to process you do the same and third round. Then once you have your finalist send you a send you the references and
also send you the script for the reference check. I like for each board member to contact three references so they hear themselves what the person is like and what the references have to say about them.
Then you're ready to start negotiations. We usually suggest that the board attorney negotiate on their behalf and the finalist have negotiate on their behalf. Having those two
attorneys who know contracts and output, then it would go to the executive superintendent by you and the finalist and then once the executive superintendent approves it, then you can. So, how do we advertise your search?
It's on our website, all of our social media sites. You can on all of your social media sites. So, LinkedIn.com, all of those places. We have it on New Jersey Association School Business Officials, NJA, which is the Association
of School Administrators, NJPS, the Principal Supervisor Association. We overlate and the Department of Education, county offices. send out marketing blasts once a week on the ads on the
searches that we're doing and we're also a member of NAS the National Association of Superintendent Searchers which is through the National School Boards Association and we use a program called online applications. all online now. So
if you would hired you know bankers with all the paper applications they would have resided with the business administrator as long as the business administrator wasn't applying for the position and then you would need as members to come
in and make arrangements with the business administrator to sit down to go through those applications. It's all electronic and all the non-conlicted members will have access to all of those materials and you can get all of those materials at the end. So you can do it
at 2:00 in the morning if you're not sleeping or you can do it at 7 o'clock in the morning whenever you would like to and try and give you 10 to 14 days to go through the pool of candidates and then let your board president know who each select individually to bring in
first rounds. So the application for the application itself which takes a while to fill out and to complete. There's a letter of interest, there's the resume, a copy of their school administrator certificate or their C, their transcripts, references, and also
their performance evaluation. And I make sure your field service makes sure that all of those things are intact. I make sure that the transcripts are there from universities and colleges that they have
the degrees that they say that they have from those transcripts. I also make sure that their certificates are in there. Sometimes candidates will put in a tracking number. We can't track that. Only the individual candidate can track it that way. So we need to ask them to get us the actual certificate. And then
remember the confidentiality when you go through all of these is really critical. We'll also ask you to select three areas if you would like to have essays as part of your application. And we literally have a page of a through topics that you
can choose from and I'll work with you topics that you would like to ask the candidates to write an essay about. We ask them to give their actual performance and their actual history and experience in those things not philosophical theor.
So then it becomes criteria based applicant review because all the criteria that you come up with is very objective and it has to be met and then your public has come up with different criteria that they would like to see you take into consideration when you're
looking through all the applications and the qualifications that are in the applicants. I used to say when it was paper I touch every single paper in there. I click on every single piece of information that's in the
And then I'll cure criteria. So that's usually somebody who's been a superintendent or has been an assistant superintendent. And then are the people who meet that objective criteria? So there's no room
in our rating process for do I like the person? Do I know that you like the person? Do I know you don't care for that person? I objective criteria. So B will meet your criteria. If you require anything in the ad
first round is confidential. It will all be nonconlicted members about nine people. It's I like to have 45 minute interview. 30 minutes just doesn't feel like it's enough. It's very structured. You will select questions that I'll have provided to you from your
surveys and also things that you have told me that you want to find out about candidates. So every applicant is asked the same set of questions. So they generally have between two and a half and three minutes to answer a question. They know that up front. So, we on that
and let them know when their time is running out. And then the things that you want to know at the end of that first round that I'll work with you on is does anybody feel like they could be a good fit? Is there anybody interested in learning more about those people that you bring in for a second? Second round
again is confidential. Usually four, five or six applicants. Candidates will come back usually 60 minutes for that and then that's less structured. So you can specific And while the first round is going on, if you have specific questions for specific candidates, you can write those
down. And then if those people are brought back in, those questions can be able to see that person would like to bring them back. They could decide at the end of the second round
or you may want to bring in two or three people. That's usually very detailed. usually about 90 minutes of time for about 30 minutes and then questions and
at that point in time I've only had it happen once a round interview but at that point in time usually that's your final contact I let them know that they are the finalist and ask them to add additional references that
they can provide to me no references are checked any in the search process from the beginning to this point until I get those references from the finalist and I send them to the board president with a script and not script but I send yes
with those president as I said I like to contact so those are the reference checks there's a background check that will need to be done in two of our um two of our premium searches. There's also social media background check that you
will get within the price of the search. Um and then there can be district visits. I have not seen district visits done since before mostly because once you do that if you're going to their district or they're coming to you and you're
introducing them to people, confidentiality is lost. There's a lot of things that can still go wrong between that point in time and the appointment. The contract negotiations as I said would be your attorney and the attorney that they have from either ASA
or PSA. Once that's done it back to you, then you can really celebren their pet, their dog, whatever floats your boat. Okay? But it is a celebration. And then in about four
to six weeks after the new superintendent starts, I'll come in and do a transition workshop with them where the board develops and identifies the expectations they have for the new superintendent develops and identifies the expectations they have for you and
set districtals. So it really sets you up very nicely for that first year for successful first year. So how can the community participate on those online surveys and also those inerson surveys? These are the questions that we ask. I
let you know what those were. They would be asked at both the we have three different levels of search. which is classic search, 15,500 which is premium and 20,000 8,000 8,000 all search materials go
through us and they belong to the board once you have identified and appointed superintendent and let them know that they need to keep that for their records. So you get everything that they have submitted to us back at that point in
time. Um for everybody that was in the search, not just your finals. Um it's a legally defensible search process. We provide all the application information and all those materials. We provide you with training on interviews. We all
do reference checking. As I said, nobody's really doing anymore because it's just develop the board criteria, the advertisement and solicit from your staff. Also, we review and
receive candidate applications. We respond to any inquiries. We're basically your confidential administrative secretary to be able to handle materials. We provide that ranked ABC list. A people
require B is interviews. We collaboratively develop those interview questions and we assist the boardachens. There's also training for your CSA contract. A lot of boards are not taking advantage of this now with us because
they have their board attorney work on the contract. So they're involved with that and we provide ongoing support everything that we just talked about and have consultants who are working as talent acquisition folks and they will
go out and we can't recruit because I can't I can't go to another district much like I wouldn't able to come to Dr. Lobby and say I've got a great and it wouldn't be good I have to be able to represent all the boards and
counties that I work in and we do across the state so we have consultant who comes in and they can actually go out and recruit. So they'll get all of your information, your criteria, your credentials and the adendants
or still are superintendent. We know a lot of people um the consultant as I said I would participate in all of the interviews with you. Actually I'm here for the interviews. I'm not participating because you know the
who are going to interview that social media background check that I mentioned before the $20,000 that I just includ is This is in your packet and it's basically you know why you choose us
the grid for the differenti >> thank you for coming out especially with today's weather. So thank you for coming out. >> You're welcome. If >> I can just ask a couple of questions. >> Sure. >> What do you believe truly separates a great superintendent from a good administrator? What what qualities would
you look for? I would be well what I look for doesn't necessarily matter because you're going to select your your next superintendent. I'm going to guide you through that process. What I would look for would be somebody who has is kind, who has empathy, who can, you know, be quick on
their feet, um, who's articulate, who can communicate very, very well, and has to be able to communicate with a large diversity of people and also a large group of people in different areas of your
experience of being an educator. And I think that that's one of the most important things that will come through from your They're going to want somebody. The only people that generally will apply for the position that have not been teachers before are people who were
possibly guidance counselors and school psychologists and have gone through the mentorship program to get their certificate of eligibility and they have a lot of qualities also. But if the board says that classroom teaching and we always say classroom
teaching as opposed to teaching teaching could be college teaching at the college level which as you know is very different from teaching through 12 level but if that's required then that would knock people out and that's okay. We
just don't want to reduce the we don't want to restrict the pool so much that give so many qualifications that are required that we be able to have enough to consider the application
>> and here in Sarville we pride ourselves being very unique. I'm sure every district feels that way but >> you are >> we we are >> I know you are. You're bombers. >> Exactly. So, how would you tailor your approach specifically for our district or is it a more one-sizefits-all type of approach?
>> No, we I would talk to you during that credentials and criteria and development of the ad and the calendar would talk to you about what specific things you might be looking for. Um, if you wanted me to go to the cafe one afternoon, >> that would be a requirement by the way.
You know, >> I think requirement of all our candidates first candidate says they don't like the coffee. That's just me. Hey, I'm voting against >> I can't order them to go to Obama's cafe. However, I wouldn't be surprised if some candidates do come through. We have a lot of candidates who have said
in their first or second round interview they've gone to the shop to the whatever the local grocery stores are around and talk to students that are the school district because it's taken on a whole new level
having won the um state filmmakers award for students. that I would be able to go there and sit down and talk to, you know, see if anybody would like to talk to me, introduce myself and see if they'd like to talk to me about what they feel the
next >> um I would be like most interested making sure the candidate um followed the legacy that Dr. Labby has already established like you know the Bombers Beyond Cafe that's something that he he was responsible for like there's lots of things in this district that he should
get credit for such as the um you know bus depot like the whole busing situation fixing that. So I would want to gear to make sure that those programs that have already been established do not get diminished or you know they're all very good. So I wouldn't want somebody coming in and like oh got to
change everything. You know what I mean? Want the things that's working. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. That's the way I look at it. >> And most people don't most members don't want people to come in and just automatically fix things, you know, or see see that what they feel needs to be fixed and fix it. They would really
appreciate people who will come in who will really assess the district and see what their feelings are and then talk to the board about what they feel might need to be changed. And a lot of those times in talking to the board, they reason why it should be cafe all of
those things that you mentioned some of those >> now would Dr. Labby as the outgoing superintendent be able to guide us at all give us any advice like you know make any recommendation is that allowed >> so that would be up to you generally
don't recommend that the superintendent is in the interviews um because it's a it is a board decision but it would be up to you as to how much involvement you want I don't necessarily mean the interview but just you know a little bit of feedback. >> What what what can you tell us what
distinguishes your firm from other firms or your organization I should say from other firms? >> We work with school boards. So you are our customers our clients and we take that very seriously. We want to be able to help you make the best decisions that
you can make. I will be working with you. I'm your field. I'm not going anywhere. Um I'm not going anywhere. So um it's in my best interest. >> Yeah, just a quick I'm sorry. You can go.
>> Okay. Uh regarding the strategic planning, the three model reflect, reimagine, and recalibrate. Can you elaborate a little bit of what that would look like? >> Sure. So usually once the starts. Um, they may want to do this if they start on July 1st, they may want to do it in the fall or they may want to
hold off until the spring. It depends on what's going on in the district. We would do we would come in and talk to you about that again at that point. do a presentation in front of your community members so that they can see what's going on. And it's three meetings over three months. The superintendent would
do a state of the schools report and state of the district report in this case and really give a very good upto-date background and update scenario on how the district is doing right now at the first meeting. And then we have we break up anybody who's participating.
We try and get students as many students as we can involved, parents, teachers, staff, and members involved and come up with identify strengths and challenges of the district. And so we ask them to brainstorm for a bit of time. We go
through consensus process and what strategic planning means is developing vision that all stakeholders can get behind because the stakeholders are actually building that strategic plan. It comes from them. It's not a top down. It's
ground up. And so they'll come up with and challenges of the district that the superintendent will have identified some of the ones that they've identified in their short time here as well. And then we'll each group will report out on their top 10 and then we'll talk about
the things that they've seen more than consensus points and then we'll talk about the next meeting. The next meeting we've switched over from exercise to portrait of a learner. And so with that, we're looking at the previous month's
outcomes which you would have usually within two days after the strategic plan goes up on the website. So anybody can look at it and if they haven't been able to be there for the first meeting, they can see exactly what happened, how we got to what we got to and come in ready
to go on the second. And so then we're talking to them about all the different things that they would like to see in front of your students, what's required for them, what do they feel is necessary for them to possess when they walk across the stage of graduation to get
their diploma. And so that will a lot of that information about what skills your community members feel here, your parents, your students. We get great information from students and then and then report out on those consensus points and from that we'll identify
three to five goal areas just broad. Then the third meeting so again everything's typed up on the website within a couple of days. Third meeting is everybody comes in review first and second meeting have all the at their tables and they go to whatever goal area
they would like to go to and they can move around if they go their want to go someplace else and they come up with objectives three to five objectives and goal for each group from the larger group and we
provide that material to superintend action. It's really just like when you develop your district goals, you are the what people strategic plan gives you the what they would like to see the community would like to see happen over the next
three to five years and then they develop the plan with you where you are now to where you want to be. Yeah. If um when the applications come in, if we happen to have a number of internal candidates, can we do a first
round of internal candidates before uh opening it up or uh well, I mean, we would have already opened it up, but can we do a first round of just internal candidates? >> We usually don't do that, but we could probably do that if you would like to. I like to I prefer not to separate out internal candidates from external
because that that can give out information that you have a lot of internal candidates. The internal candidates do have to meet the requirements in order to be brought >> and then you can bring whoever you would like and they would go through the same
process as everybody else. >> Thanks. >> I just have one more question for you. What percentage of your superintendent are still with the district five years later? I mean you you may not know that off top of your head. I do not know that off the top of my head. Um I I know that
the national average is three years for superintendent to stay. We always hope that that's not the case. That you'll have somebody like Dr. who stays for 12 13 years. Um we can't promise you that. Nobody can. But most of most of the
superintendent that I've put into place have been there I would say for four or five years. That's not I can't even think back to 2000. >> Well, I I want to thank you greatly for for coming out and giving such a thoughtful presentation.
>> Thank you so much for all you do for your students, your staff, and your community. It's really valable. We really appreciate you. So, thank you. >> Thank you, Mary. >> Thank you. Okay, our next presentation will be by Dr. Brian Scowski and Dr. Michael Cuchar
from Strategic Exemplary Alliance. >> Maryanne, I'm all intimidated now. Did such a great job. I'm nervous. very nice. Great meeting you. Thank you. You too. Safe home.
Thank you so much for inviting Brian and I here tonight. We're excited to have the opportunity to present. Uh we both feel that this is going to be an incredibly popular job and it's going to be a popular job for many of the reasons
that's been po talked about tonight. 13 years of a superintendent. That doesn't happen often. Certainly doesn't happen in this day and age. So that's a tribute to you as a board. And of course to Dr. Lavyby. Can't believe
it's 13 years. I think it was your first year you had that terrible hazing situation. And I got to know you through the newspaper, but I admired how you and the district handled it. and in a tough situation, you treated everybody with
dignity and respect. >> Thank you. >> So, um, this is a desired district and there's a lot of good and I think the timing of it is also great because you're not going up against a lot of other districts. That's why I don't want
you to drag it out too much because right now there there aren't any other districts competing whereas just a few months ago we're up against five districts all at once and and so that becomes very competitive. I've been in
the search firm for 12 years. So while um Rich was getting his job here, I was being recruited by Dr. Bill Labrao, former commissioner of uh the department of bed in New Jersey,
went on to Rucker's leadership there and then he was the regional vice president for Hazard Young and a he recruited me to work with him. I worked for him for about a year and then went out on my own
and for 12 years have been doing this in two states, New York and New Jersey and have done over 50 searches. Um why are we so successful? What sets us apart? And thing that sets us apart
is we're labor intense. We are committed to the process and the system that we put in place. With me and shortly Dr. Brian Zakowski will be introducing himself. We also have Miss
Judy Rner who's on vacation, couldn't be with us today. So we have three people dedicated, three either former superintendent, current one in me. I'm the superintendent of the South Bergen
Jointure Commission. It's a public uh special education public school. I represent 18 school districts. Um I've been doing that for nine years. Prior to that 12 years, I
was superintendent of the Burdenfield schools. That's 21 years of super tendency. Brian has retired and come back. Judy has retired and now she is the assistant executive director of the
New Jersey uh superintendent association. So we we have a great deal of experience and we put together a profile and we do it because that profile will drive the
whole search process and all we are are facilitators and help helpers. We're not choosing for you. We're not telling you who to pick. We'll give you advice and recommendation. We'll give you full evaluations of where they uh land,
whether they're in the mustsee group or they should be seen but concerned about this or that or they don't meet the criteria pile. You as a board have a right to pick who you choose and we
respect that but we'll give you all the information just like we'll give all the resumeumés and cover letters to the board as they come in. Not going to do it every day. We'll do it in weekly batches so it's it doesn't get
cumbersome for either one of us. So we we uh believe strongly in making that profile. The board of ed is elected to choose the superintendent.
Your greatest power comes from two activities. Hiring the superintendent and evaluating the superintendent. Unfortunately, our communities believe when there's an opening that
they have the right or the destiny to choose the super. We're very clear. That's a requirement that a board cannot pass along, cannot give away. That is
your legal responsibility to choose. And we're going to make it hard on you. What do I mean by that? I was hoping and there were a lot of great questions. I was hoping people would be asked, how many average
applications do you get on your searches? I can tell you this, the lowest I've gotten in 50 searches is 40 applicants. Typically, they're up to 50 applicants.
And of the 50, I would say more than half meet the requirements. So, it's going to be really hard to drill down to choose which eight, 10, or 12 are we as a board
going to interview. It'll it'll be tough and that's when we know we've done a really good job when we make it hard on you. So a little bit more more about myself because that recruitment stage is going to be big and it all comes from the
profile. Besides being a superintendent for 21 years, I was high school principal for a number of years and I worked in both New York and New Jersey, primarily now in New Jersey.
And um while I was involved in those positions, I was president of NJASA. So I held that position which gave me great exposure to superintendent from Cape May right through Bergen County. Um
I was uh involved for 25 years volunteering with the Middle States Association out of Philadelph and I was the uh the chair of the executive committee for secondary schools. taught
at Satan Hall for 15 years uh and done over 30 doctoral dissertations as a mentor. There's quite a lot of people I know through education that helps me recruit. I'm going to let Brian
introduce himself, talk about his recruitment. Judy being a a deputy director, she speaks for herself. One thing superintendents fight over is the mic. So, I got nervous. Thanks,
Michael. Good evening, everyone. I know so many of you and I heard the Bombers Cafe reference many times. Board President, I think we met there at the Bomber Cafe. Um, I brought my team over from North Brunswick because >> I remember Thank you. >> We were so uh impressed with Dr. the lobby set up and what we're trying to
establish in North Brunswick for children, students, and not only as it relates to the bombers cafe for the great coffee, but the the longitudinal type of service because I was served by a young man named Dante and I now know he's going to be a bus aid for Serville.
That kind of vision is is um what when you ask that question, what are the important parts of the superintendent or the qualities? What makes superintendent successful? Superintendents first and foremost have to work with the board be able to synergize the board's you have
so many different perspectives how can we operationalize that and those people like Dr. lobby see the needs of the district, children, all children, not just the high achievers, all children. And having that uh vision and be able to
operationalize it while working with the uh board of education in a governance structure, very highly regulated organizations that we're in. I think that's our greatest strength as current superintendent. I failed retirement. I was superintendent for 23 years and I
retired in 2021. Dr. Replet asked me to work for him for about four or five years. I'm still working for him, but I do that in in another uh capacity in his doctoral program. But I had such a great board, such a great relationship, my board asked me to come back. In fact, when I left after 15 years at North
Brunswick, they allowed me to select my successor. So when she decided to retire, they asked me to come back and kind of it tough economic times. Can we get back on track? So, uh I think working with Dr. Cuchar and working uh
in his firm, it's Dr. Coochar's firm as a seated superintendent. I was really in the back end doing searches because I think uh what's differentiates our firm from all the other firms is we're able to understand and recruit those people
to uh understand the district that like Seville the needs uh the profile of that uh district and their needs coming from the board and the various stakeholders and able to identify people with that skill set that's transferable to lead a
district to lead a community and to lead a very complex organization like a school district. Um I was like I said I was superintendent for 23 years. I'm back I spent my 24th year as superintendent last year. The board had asked me to come back another year. I've
been doing searches for Dr. Cuchar mostly behind the scenes uh identifying candidates uh recruiting because as superintendents we can recruit unlike school boards or any other organization they have trouble because there's a conflict. we're able to pick up the phone and ask people who we think would
meet that profile after we establish a profile with the board and the stakeholders out and recruit what's uh best and we were part of that. Uh as Dr. Coocher. I said there was five districts. Miltown, a small Miltown, we did the search were very successful.
South Brunswick, we did the search. Cranberry, we did search. Just finished in Franklin. Uh John Valley just retired and their their new superintendent will start uh I think September 1st. So, we've been involved in this area in New York, all over the state, and it never
changes. The criteria for success really comes from understanding the needs of the district. Not the needs of the superintendent, not the even the resume of the superintendent. How that person can serve that community, can serve the students, all students and work, not just serve, but also work within the
parameters of a complex organization and the many needs of the people that are there to help students and put it together in a workable plan and an actionable plan. Really answering the how. I think all of you know the what the great leaders. How do you get all
children involved? How do you solve a bus depot issue? How do you solve whatever issue may come up? >> Anyway, off to bus depot. All right. It's a little sensitive around here. >> Sorry. As I said, any any issues that one's dealing with. Yeah. No, that's okay. >> It's very astute of you. >> So, I want to turn it back over to Dr.
coochar. But the most important uh you've heard it many times is really finding the right school administrator, chief school administrator, aka superintendent. It's really the fit and um by getting such a large pool and getting I think a wide range of
candidates that we're be a able to present and be proud that we're able to present. Now you'll have advertisement, but it's just not advertisement. Key is recruitment. And Dr. Coocher and I and Miss Ratner will be recruiting ASA. We
are affiliated with ASA. Dr. Coocher was past president. I'm a past president. I'm the current foundation president of ASA. And um we also have a relationship uh with schoolboard association as they will put our if we're any of our districts they put on their website as
so there is a connection in there as well. But um we're able to go through the recruitment pro process which is the key. Dr. finishing up on the recruitment. Uh I used to be a high school principal and uh people used to say kids are lazy.
They don't want to get involved. I'm saying it's simply not true. They're like, "Well, what is it then? It's they haven't been asked." And I, as a high school principal, if I needed a kid to be the heavyweight wrestler and he was a
little heavyweight, I'd ask him. Never did they say no. someone to be involved with the yearbook. We need someone to do photography. They don't say no. And there are so many people we get to be in searches that they never even were
thinking about it. And that's the candidate you want. Not someone that's looking for another job. Not someone who wants to get out of dodge, but someone that wants to make a difference and sees it as the f perfect place to make a
difference. That's why it's not a problem to say your weakness. There are superintendents like going to districts and if their challenges match their skill sets. Now we're talking about good fits. Now we're drilling down about
what's really important. And so how do we deal with this community though that thinks they're going to select? The way we deal with that is we hold open forums. So we'll have them both in group and uh oneon- ons. So all board members
will have a 30 minute zoom with one of us, every one of you. And we don't do it as a group because we want everyone to speak freely and you talk about equity. You're the ones that have the most skin
in the game. So you should have the most input into it. And besides the questions that uh our colleague from school board shared, we'll also ask people, what superintendent would you like to
see here? And maybe they're happy or maybe they're retired, but just hearing who they like. You get a feel for the style for for their strengths and so forth. And also might be a place where we'll
get get people to recruit. A lot of times I'll remember principles that were here years ago that may be superintendent elsewhere just um to uh get you thinking. So we'll meet with the board in uh to the individual profiles.
We'll meet with a few of the central administrators. We'll do mass groups of all the teachers. We have a a process where every teacher can be invited to an open forum. Uh we'll see groups of kids,
groups of stakeholders such as PTA, parents, SEPTA and so on. And then we'll have two open community forums and open meaning anyone can come to them. One will be virtual, one will be
in person. We also like school boards does a uh a survey, but we'll give you more input into the questions we ask. So, it's tailored towards Sayville. So, by the end of the profile
development, every community member, every person working in the district will have had three opportunities to provide input. They'll have the two open forums and the survey. So, if they weren't invited to a
one-on-one or to a small group, everybody still was invited. We make sure we work with you as a board to get that message out. So, Brian, I closed the loop a little bit on recruitment. I'll let you talk
about the phases. Obviously, uh there is a very preuncter way we go about it. We have five phases and eight uh components of those five phases. First is the formal planning stage. Uh we determine we meet with the
board if we're selected. We discuss timeline. We discuss the calendar because we know as a board we work with some boards and I forgot to mention like Edison such a board we worked with just a committee of the board uh when we did their research I think two and a half years ago but with Franklin they did a
complete board. So it's very important because calendar is hard to align because we have multiple meetings and we tried to make uh you know that was a big meeting in itself trying to create a calendar so we could adhere to and work with the full board in that particular district and we'll create those survey
questions collectively we'll certainly lead you in that process facilitate that process we have some but we want to tailor to what you feel comfortable which uh you know reflects the serville way and what your thoughts are profile development very important because this will lead to the ad. We
want to assist the board in terming the criteria for the new superintendent. SCA will conduct the in in uh initial interviews right uh individual board members initially individually so we get that feedback but we'll also use um community involvement the input of the
stakeholders we'll create a profile now it's interesting that you could imagine getting a wide array of opinions from many stakeholders superman or superwoman doesn't exist they but from that profile we can really zero in on those uh key
criteria key traits and strengths that u one needs to operate from the perspective of the serville community board and serville stakeholders. Additionally, we're committed to uh confidentiality that is so important. I heard it mentioned me multiple times for
school boards uh presentation confidentiality. We know we're very successful. We've been asked to come back to many districts uh from word of mouth because they found wow it's been a very confident we didn't know who was in the final for whatever district we we
were doing it because we know as superintendents it just wouldn't be fair to that current board the current superintendent staffing community it's it's beyond strict uh the confidentiality of this process is uh
what trumps everything else in terms of getting recruiting. We know superintendents will not apply if they think it won't be as confidential as it could be. I've had superintendents ask me, are they going to do a visit? I don't want to be to pay because they could do a
visit after they offer me a contract, but can you imagine if some districts or some search firms and and boards want to do visits going back and we don't again we don't recommend that. But we also recommend you the reason why parents will say to you, can we get on that
search? Can we can we get on the interview? The reason why you can't do that is when it goes out to um the public, they have no restrictions on their confidentiality. So, we pride ourselves working with boards, keeping everything strictly confident,
confidential, and making sure that people who want to apply won't feel there's a barrier of confidentiality that restricts them because You know, as superintendents, we know running districts, working with a community, work with a board, you don't want to
break their confidence and but everyone has an opportunity to maybe seek another position, whether it's moving u up or closer to home or whatever reason, but um you certainly want to have everyone
who could apply should apply and does apply. So then we do the recruitment. This is where we think I heard they call what separate we this separates we really feel good about this with our connections in not only university world and not only with PSA and ASA former
president um we do a lot of workshop development uh we we see some uh new talent we see existing talent we have people reach out to us now that once you get into the flow of doing searches and my firm has done over 50 so people know that we've done local searches once uh
they see SCA we'll get calls calls all the time from colleagues. They'll even say, "Hey, I'm not interested because, you know, I'm I'm ready to retire, but I know four or five folks, you know, that you really should check out. They're superstars." And so, we'll be able to talk to those
superstars because we're not bound um you know, we don't have any relationships and many um conflicts by reaching out to those superintendents and say, "Hey, let's just have a conversation. Think about it." So with the district we try to balance gender
wise and it's difficult when you're doing elementary So I'm warning you all right now. It's not going to be 5050 gender because the females aren't there to >> and we were very fortunate. We did a
Delran search in Burlington County, Dr. Brochial's old district. He went up. We had of the four finalists, three were female. So sometimes it worked out uh in that area. But um we do pride ourselves by reaching out. We want a diverse pool of qualified candidates. The key word is
qualified and meet the criteria and we purposely reach out as many and try to make a diverse uh pool of candidates so you could feel proud that you looked at all uh areas of the uh talent pool, not just a specific, you know, uh Rick Labby
wannabe, right? We want someone who who has a skill set and and skill sets are developed with experience and uh knowledge and uh u you know what I would say accomplishment and so there's so many good different superintendents and we see them in our organizations and we
we do target those who are very successful and we look for searches and discuss them with their opportunity and I did hear I did I think I heard a question um about internal candidates that's important too We we promote that
uh boards give their internal candidates that opportunity. Um we had five internal for South Brunswick and most of them said that we know maybe I don't know if we're going to but give us some experience and it was a very good experience and they felt valued that they would even have an opportunity to
meet the board in a situation like that. So we promote if you have people internally thinking you should you have talent here there's nothing wrong with that. We did a full search multiple months and Edison was so happy with us, they actually hired their internal
candidate, but they were felt they validated that internal candidate with the great talent we brought forth to the search and uh the finals and um and they they to this day they hire Mike and I to go back and we do their retreat and and
continuing for the last three years because they were so grateful of the work we did. Even though they hired the internal candidate, it was a validation. So that internal candidate just wouldn't say oh you're internal you get the job or you get to whatever go past go they we validated the process and they and
they eventually hired that. So I heard Mr. walls talk about that but we certainly tell boards yeah it's not a bad thing you have talent give them opportunity and they certainly will appreciate and feel valued that's very important and then so after recruitment the selection that's where we set up the
interview processes we will do the first round you hired us not that you're going to get every resume every cover letter and we will rank them green we say they meet the criter exceed the criteria we
say u yellow. We'll we'll highlight them in yellow. They have met the criteria, but they may have like you looking for someone. I'll make this up. You're not you. Some people say we want an EDDD or a doctorate or or prior experience as a
superintendent. We'll say this is a great person we have. But the reason why they're in yellow, not green, is maybe they didn't serve as a superintendent, assistant superintendent, but there's someone you should look at maybe. And we'll we'll certainly go through that. We'll meet one entire night and go through every candidate and and the
board eventually will pick that six. We recommend six to 10 that the board then really dives into starting that process. But uh we will do the screening. We meet and screen every candidate even if on paper they do not meet the criteria. We
still give them an opportunity to speak to the so there's so we talk about legal ease. >> We give them 30 minutes. Judy, Dr. Coocher, myself, um Judy's Miss Ratner, we will certainly meet and uh talk to every single candidate that applied. If they apply for your district, we think
they deserve an interview and and we value that they put in a resume and they went through the trouble and they did their research. So, we will do that interview and we'll let you know. And sometimes they come back in the red section where they didn't meet any of the criteria, but they said they wanted to just uh discuss and hear about Sville
and apply for the job. They have a right legally. We're going to do that for everyone. There's no exception. We don't we don't eliminate anyone prior and the board will see everyone that's been interviewed. You'll get every resume. So, that's that's a critical piece because that's that when they you heard legal searches, that's a legal search.
We will not allow that. Uh we will not eliminate anybody for you and ever give you any kind of liability when it comes to searches. We don't make that decision that uh we're not going to interview anybody based on a criteria on a paper screening. We'll paper screen and we'll meet everyone face to face in 30
minutes. And so that's the selection. Then the appointment we'll work with the board obviously appointment. We then also we we offer some I heard the question about how long to average. We're very proud of Dr. Cooch's company offers a two-year
guarantee. You might say two years doesn't sound like a lot, but we have never had to pay that guarantee off. We will do the search for free. come back if there's a reason why the search wasn't successful, especially after the first two years. Typically, a contract
is three to five years, sometimes three and a half years depending if they get hired in the midyear, but if they start July one, it's three to five years. Um, and uh if there's two years and something goes wrong and the boards has to there's some kind of separation for
whatever reason happens, you hear about it, you read about it, we would do the search for free um the next time around. if you so endeavor to bring us back. Um because we know the appointment is the final uh part. It's stage one of the
next how many years going forward. And we do offer services to help you with that onboarding um and the announcement. But when you look at the timeline, you'll see that we put eight components. Um and you'll also see that there's we'd
say we could do this in three months. three three to three and a half months. We've been asked to do it in two months and we've done it, but I don't think you don't want to rush that process. I think you're smart. Dr. Labby announced in June of 2027. So, you're starting the process now that'll give you enough time
to make an informed decision. A a process could be followed, adhere to, and you'll feel very comfortable. But the key part about giving it enough time, at least a year, is you're going to hire someone who has a contract, who's a seated superintendent or assistant superintendent. They're going to have a contract and have a a
separation clause. And some of the separation clause, especially for a superintendent, could be three to five year, three to five months. So if you hire someone, make a decision December, January, or February, and they have a five month separation, you would still not get them till maybe July, uh, August
1st. That's what's happening in Franklin. there was a separation and seated superintendent got the Franklin job and September one ends a fivemonth um separation clause. So, uh we know that's a critical piece about starting
early, getting the right person, hiring the person, all the stuff with the county superintendent typically never a problem because Seville is a is a board that knows what's going on in terms of what you can offer. you have a a template contract typically that you
would use uh and negotiations usually go very smoothly and the county superintendent will look at the contract look at the uh comparables make sure that it was within a range of salary fair and and look at the make sure there's nothing illegal about the
contract in terms of any perks or things like that um and then we have a wonderful county superintendent Mr. Anderson will get back to you ASAP. But the real thing is the separation of the of the um trans of the transaction. Real
quick, we'll go through the eight components. We've been here. I know it's a late night, but as you can see, we highlighted internal external communication. Communication transparency separates the uh uh a good search from a failed search.
Focus groups. We'll make sure we'll work with the board that first meeting. What are the focus groups? Certain boards have different types of specialty focus groups. We know we want to meet with all the normal stakeholders that you identify PTO, your administrators, your staff, of course, individual board
members, community uh organization. But sometimes there's specialty areas that we get identified during that meeting. We've met with all of these. We create the online survey when we start talking about that first night. The third is development of profile coming from the feedback from the
stakeholders. Uh development of that is through the board of ed sea and the stakeholders. The recruitment strategy by having a comprehensive profile. Why it's so important we get a key profile. That's
our recruitment. That's our ad. If we say look we're trying to match people are attracted by a solid and and a very clear uh profile of the candidate it makes recruitment a lot easier. Seville is going to have a lot of interest. I
say this because did we hear Dr. Labby 13 years? So take Dr. Labby out superintendents with the district for 13 years. Holy mackerel. That's a that's a a unicorn. It's not happening too much. Although I was there 15 years doc we
were unicorns but reason was because you see such volatility in the areas of superintendency and I think it's the the groundwork but Sville is going to say wow someone's been there they're going to do research that means they have a board that works with the superintendent and there's a great governance structure
in place it must be every district's going to have challenges but to have the stability of a board that works with a superintendent over that many years that's a critical critical piece of the recruitment strategy will help us recruit. Screening the candidates. We talked about the red, green and I
mean the green, yellow and red will go through everything. Uh we'll help with the interviews. We'll start the initial interviews. We'll screen interview but the candidates six to 10 round one that meet that where the board selects starts at that'll start we
call the first round with the board. Then typically we say if you have 10 you want to maybe cut it to four or five and then after that we usually recommend two or three and then after that uh by that time we will set up enough areas of
intrigue like case scenarios we'll have them do presentations first round of questioning by the board every candidate of the six to 10 candidates that you pick will get the same questions that's a legal requirement you won't kind of go
off. You could ask follow-up, but they have to be all within the same questioning. Round two, when you get when you get down to the next round, you then can go off script and we'll help you go off script in a way that be unique and we'll see that person um as
they would lead at board. We'll give them some uh scenarios. We'll give them a chance to work with you maybe in an interview process. you'll say, "Wow, felt very comfortable that that was presented by that superintendent." Um, yeah, I like that candidate. But you can
go off script and do follow-up questions based on the >> red interviews as well. And this to me is really important, >> right? >> Is that we are very careful to get
through the sociopaths. What is sociopaths? the people that read you, that are cunning, that are smart, that'll give you an answer and then adjust based on your reactions. So, we want to make sure that you're
getting somebody that has a high batting average, that knows what they're doing. And so we are align questions for you to choose that are all tied to the core components
that's delineated in the profile. Then our rubric we give you to take notes and keep aligns itself to the questions and the components. So, it takes the emotions out of it since we're all human
beings and things touch us the ways it doesn't touch others. Like, I'm preoccupied with your bomber cafe. Why? I'm a special needs superintendent. Why did I leave regular ed for this? I
have four children, my wife and I. The fourth of four is on the spectrum. She was told she'd never go to a typical school. She'd always been in a special school. Well, this little girl at three years old went to a public school. Fast
forward now, she's 25. She's got a college degree and she's working as a par profofessional. Now she's starting college for the par to teacher route. She has a four-year degree. only one of my four kids to not only graduate on
time but graduate early. So I know the beauty of special education when it's done right and it provides opportunity so that bomber is 18 to 21. I'm going to be here with my uh crew
during the week before it closes and copy it. >> Let me let me know when you're coming and I'll buy you a coffee. >> Appreciate it. and and I'll take you up on it. Criticism. Wait, what's the thing about the highest form of praise is
copying them. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> I wish I would have said that, but I didn't. I do want to say um Dr. Cuchar said talked about we run into a lot of usual suspects who are professional
interviewers. They are classic. you want to hire them on the spot. We work with boards and we say, "Make sure you have the follow-up question and ask them what that look like in practice." They all know the cliches, the latest lingo. They could even go on AI and help them with
interview responses. >> What does that look like in practice is always a great follow-up or how did you accomplish that in your district or you know, give us the how you did it? And then the fumbling and mumbling starts for those professional interviews. So
we'll work for that example with questioning those followup. You know, we do so much interviewing as superintendents. We do get a advantage of we can see the pretenders and the contenders. Those are really good at interviewing. But you know the old Dirty
Dozen movie, if you ever watched it, old movie, they look great, but can they fight? When Donald Sudden looked at the old Dirty Dozen, they they all dress up and they go, "Well, they look great, but can they fight?" Well, you want candidate that can fight, right? You don't want them just to be a great interviewer. They want to be able in practice. And that's what we would help.
And that's important as we evaluate and set up the suit new superintendent for success. This is Dr. Colin uh Dr. Cuchar's favorite uh quote. You know, it's just good to great. The right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats to
correct. So, this is an important seat, superintendent. We just don't want to put everyone on the bus. We need everyone in the right seat on that bus. Um, and you deserve the best. So, this process, I I commend you again starting early because it is a process uh to find
the best. It's not easy. Uh, but I think you have to use every lever at your disposal to try to get you the best group of candidates so you can find the best fit. Work with us. And we certainly will give that consultation from that superintendent lens working with you as
from the board lens running the district. And I will say I know you want to talk about timeline. I know I don't know when you want to start. So I just did a three-month quick September to October. You're going to hire the firm. Um you're going to get into that um
meeting with the that firm and do a work session, develop the profile, develop the questions, the survey in that first month. And then that within October comes, you're going to have we're going to have all those stakeholder meetings. You're going to have uh the feedback because we're going to create the profile. It can't be rushed if we're
going to do an honest creation of a profile. Uh and after that month, we bring it back to the board. We create that profile. We create the ad. We create um that profile as our Q card to recruit and then we put it in uh the
paper or the various or um organizations. We put on the websites. We send it out. We actually go to ASA with superintendent association in Connecticut and Pennsylvania. Of course, we here in New Jersey and we get the coverage. Um, and it's uh a wide within
the metropolitan area. November is really when you're going to start if you did a three-month the first two months the month of November or whatever third month of your search you're really going to start getting into meetings and candid meeting the candidates and doing the searches u down
to six to 10 3 to 5 and then maybe the following meeting after November you know because you may have passed your November meeting date you would hire that superintendent and go through that whole search process if you were to start September you said to the search firm October October, we're going to
start in November. Just understand it's a a three-month process. Um so, and again, three-month process, three to five months separation maybe. Um that could be almost a full school year. So,
that's why again, I think starting this early is is is beneficial. >> Before we ask questions, um we do also want to thank you for your service. But it pays well, right?
>> Oh, yeah. I'm kidding. >> Thank you. >> Thank you for the opportunity. You know, certainly we'd love to hear some questions. So, thank you for this opportunity. >> Well, thank you. >> No, first first again, thank you for coming out especially in in in this
weather. Um, I just got a couple questions. So, you mentioned about uh selecting a candidate in December. Are we allowed to select the candidate summer or do we have to wait until January >> in that case for that scenario? Yes. The Gonzalez decision was clear because as I
lame duck you would have to wait for reorganization. >> Right. Okay. >> I just again >> no I understand it's just a time frame type of thing. I get I just wanted to >> right >> that was a concern that it's a question that we've come up with a couple times. So I just wanted to make sure we were missing something
>> that you can't bind a a a former board which is on it way out. there'll be a reorganization can't bind the next board. So they call it the Gonzalez decision and so yeah that's a very good question but >> for reelection >> four >> plus Dr. Labby told this already he told
us that we couldn't do it until after the re >> right after the re and again I put that there only because it show within the month the timeline. Yeah. >> Gotcha. Gotcha. Dutch just wanted to confirm that >> um yeah, >> this is a pretty uh robust election, but
again, you win if you It depends on where you land on the ballot. Doesn't matter what you who you are. If you're in first, you're guaranteed to win. First, second, third, they guaranteed to win. So, hopefully we'll land in a good spot. >> Right. >> So, so what >> lucky? >> So, what mistakes do you see most boards
make in the selection process? >> That's a great question. I I'll answer it quickly and then I'm going to turn over someone has even more experience. I think going too quickly. Uh boards tend to want to move the process to get someone and they they have to let it
take its course. It's a process meaning let's get the stakeholders involved. Let's get everybody involved. We've worked with some boards where they expedited the situation and people felt left out. even though you're going to make that decision, it's an opportunity to kind of get the feedback, help us
recruit. The key is recruitment and if it's being expedited, people start thinking maybe there's they have someone picked out already, maybe it's not a clean process. So that that's probably what I've seen over the last few years. So that's why I think South Brunswick, if you remember, it was all in the paper
that East Brunswick was expediting the process and um they were going to have a better I don't think I mean South Brunswick I think very happy with our services but we told them they were going away for the summer. We told them well then go away we'll come back in September and finish it because you
don't want to rush it just for the sake of before you go on vacation. So to me trying to expedite it not being true to the process. I I want to add to that because it's a great question and typically I talk about this >> Mike they can't hear
>> Typically I talk about this >> they won't hear you on the video so people that want to watch the video if you're not on the mic they won't hear you >> oh on the mic stand here what do >> so uh Leonia they they did their first round they
told me who they money back and they said, "What about so and so?" No, the on the bubble on the bubble. Well, the first round is survey questions. They're broad in general. See, a superstar might
not come out a superstar on round one. And I was able to talk to them and said, "You're making a big mistake by not bringing this person back." Ultimately, they chose that person. The person was a star there. But you got to be careful
about, as Brian says, letting the process take its course, not making the judgments prematurely in your head and then sticking with it. But stay open to it. I was proud of the Edison board.
They they were tough for the first couple of months, but when it was over with, probably one of my favorite boards. And what I really liked about it was their internal. They were giving a courtesy interview. I remember after the
first one, they said, "Mike Bry, he was good. We want to hear him again." And he wound up through. So they didn't have that preconceived notion. So just keep an open mind. You've you've been
donating your time to the board a long time. You've been living in this community. Follow your heart. You know what you need and what you want. And you guys seem to be working well together. Keep unified. That's when it goes a ride too. When the
unity breaks down and then then we have the horse trading, the back door. I don't see that here. could be putting on a good show, but I doubt it. >> We're professionals. >> Yeah.
>> And what factors have you seen delay the process? >> Oh, well, schedule is one, but also people get to inaction
because they're afraid of making a mistake. This process cures that cure that whole ill by going through the system that we put in place. Okay. And I
got a very important question for Dr. Zakowski. Am I pronounc um now it's a little indepth. So um what is your favorite coffee at Bomber Cafe? Jersey.
>> Jersey diner. Okay. All right. You pass. >> I met my cousin there and after we had Jersey diner coffee, we went over to the diner down the road. Jersey. >> There you go. >> Anyone else have any questions? John
>> Zakowski would have been a great name in Saveville. He would have done great. um answered my question before and I love the fact that you guys can recruit and that you do that you guys interview every uh candidate before we see him. I I I really like that part of it. But um
just the main question, what's the damage? >> What's the pain? >> It wasn't in there. >> No, no, no worries. 199. >> Okay. >> Right. That's one for all all coming in.
>> Yeah. >> Everything. >> Okay. Appreciate it. >> You get three of us. >> Well, there'll be because you said, "Oh, we have additional services." Is there going to be another charge for when you bring the guy on or her on? >> No. >> Okay. Well, I like the fact that you guys have
actually been superintendent, so you kind of know what you seem like you would have been good superintendents, not flunkies. So, you seem like you would know what we're going to need. >> And I failed my retirement, so I'm back. >> Yeah, you're back. So, I think you uh
say been because it sounds like has been. So, no, I'm kidding. Yeah. So, we do have a critical eye. We know how hard it is to be successful. Certainly, the key will ask you when you look for your candidates when you stop learning stop
and although I heard great things you want someone not to bring their bags to understand your resume >> the hardest thing is >> wise old not
winning six championship get better cycle together organizes to examine what where we are the hardest job taking over someone successful cooperating
How do we get to that next level? But so to your answer, Mike and I have Judy was a superintendent for 11 years. And so we have that understand that doesn't matter what happened last year. Those students are only one year senior
year one year. The organization has to serve every student every year, every day in the classroom. The only way you do that is continuous improvement >> through a lens of all children. >> Well, this is a rough district, so we need somebody with um thick skin.
>> Um not anybody who's wishwashy like that to be able to hold their guns and stick to their decisions. >> Oh, no. We prefer not. We prefer not if that was one >> 14 straight wins. >> Oh, I don't care about that. But they have to be able to do what Dr. Labby did
when he first came on board. Here he is. He's all happy that he's here and boom, he gets hit with a public nightmare. And what did he do? He didn't back down. He didn't say, "Oh, I want everybody like me, so I'm going to make a different decision." He made the right decision regardless of the fact that it, you
know, people didn't like it. And he took a lot of heat for it. So this is a very rough public opinionated district. So, you know, it's not like everybody talks, but the same people who are complaining are the same people who are complaining. So, we want to make sure that that new superintendent
has the has the shell of like an exterior that's not going to be able to right through it. So, that's what I want. >> I love my cousins here very same style, but certainly all the same
challenges. So, Dr. Bergmanfield that we know we'll certainly match up and I think we do the profiles stakeholders say I heard president social media increase that 10fold
They're certainly not shy. >> Eileen, thank you for bringing that up because it brought up a question that was asked to our colleague from school board that I wished you asked me, but I'm going to bring it up to answer it anyway. uh what makes a great leader in
my mind and and it goes to your point um and to what Brian was saying one a great leader has immense integrity there wasn't anything that Dr. lap he was going to do that he couldn't put his
head on the pillow. So even though it was tough, I don't I don't know him personally, but I can tell you by knowing of him, he did what he believed was right and he couldn't have done anything else. And I respect that about him
>> quite a bit. So you certainly want someone with integrity and someone who's going to make everyone around them better. That's a great leader. And and you have it now and you'll have it again. And I'm going to come back for coffee and have
the Jersey coffee regardless. >> And I'm sure either way I'll buy you coffee. >> We make it. I'll enjoy the coffee. I'll buy a double. >> Well, hopefully like I did not know Dr. Labby. I just was new to Seville School
District. I had gone to Cath. My daughter went to Catholic school for a bunch of years. We moved over to the district. when you became the superintendent and I was like oh my god when all this you know everything broke loose I said wow this poor guy here he is brand new and then I became his biggest defender I actually started
going to BOE meetings every I wasn't like a freak that I went every time but I went frequently and um got to know him and really believed in Dr. Abby. So, I would hope that whoever replaces him brings that same type of personality,
integrity, uh, respect for everybody, you know, that he does. So, hopefully we'll find somebody like you. I see you got a tan though. I noticed that today. >> You, too. >> You, too, Miss Bus duty every morning.
>> I'm like, look at all the pale faces that aren't not are not going in the sunlight. >> We do the same bus duty for Mr. master. >> Oh, I I am A >> welld deserved. >> Congratulations.
>> CONGRATULATIONS. >> That's great. >> The best will do. >> Oh, before I wish you a safe travels home, I agree with you. Dr. Live deserves tremendous amount of credit for Bob Cafe. It's an incredible job. But I also want to congratulate uh Mi Mr. Naster. He was an integral part of that
and as our entire team there really David thank you Dr. Labby thank you for ma making the best place in town the the happiest place in town >> and also too Dr. Labby was instrumental in getting people like Miss Grossman. I
forget your name. >> Miss Berg >> and our other uh what's her name? >> Audrey Burns. Um you know when people retired he brought in new >> Don't don't
>> because you do the most talking. >> No, don't you speak the most. >> Don't feel bad. >> There it goes. But but he also brought in these good um replacements for people who retired. Not that they weren't good, but they really I feel like we have um
gone into a new direction and that's because >> Eileen, you're scaring the future superintendent candidates. >> Don't feel bad she doesn't know your name. The man sitting right back there, she calls him Richie. >> Isn't his name Richie? >> No, >> she called me Katiana. >> Katiana. >> I messed everybody's names up. >> Katiana.
>> She's Katiana. >> Mr. Glock Mcclo. >> You can't say your name for anything. So I can >> she still can't say but >> by the way board members I sent you the proposal uh again so you can you can take a look at the cost proposal I should have put it in no
>> I have a question for you presentation has been great >> please no >> if you are sitting in this chairs what will you think is the most important decision that we have to take
as a board to hire hire a firm because you're you know that you're going through NJSBA that they hire him. So what may you guys stand up or make different in this process that we're gonna if you are sitting in here what is the most important things for you to
hire a firm >> answer I can guarantee victory that knock your socks off because we do it That's why. Look, I like Marilyn. She's a nice little woman. She's one woman.
You're not going to put her up against three of us. I like her a lot. But look, you might want the 20,000 with the with the strate. >> You may. I don't know. It's your choice. It's your board.
>> And I'll say that our ability separates us ability to recruit wider range of candidates. So why we were selected in county and county our ability numberful
pres level as some of us to go out and help recruit because working for the firm on his found that hired me.
So they just couldn't go out school. I really enjoy my point super And we're going to see these people again in meetings. >> Yeah. >> We're going to run into them.
>> So, are you guys going to poach people who are really good? And >> darn right we are. >> To come here. >> Darn right we are. >> And if you want to keep your person, treat them better. >> You deserve as opportunities for people who are stars out there come here and
say and sometimes it just takes a little nudge because say look take it from me. I I met that boy working. I think you should just talk to him. So when we nudge them, we don't say you're gonna get the job. We want to create create that level of
candidates, right? Wide rate of candidates that we can do. So I think that's what separates us, the number of candidates and the number of qualified >> confidentiality. >> Yeah. Just don't pick anybody whose board uh had to go in a hole because they didn't do financial projections
correctly because that's one thing we're strong on is finance. >> I know I presented with Dr. school. >> Yeah, we're very um Erin has a unique skill of stretching a penny and making it turn into thousands of dollars. >> Just I'll leave you with this. Just
don't charge your mortgage with a credit card every >> Were they selfinsured? That that was another difficulty. >> Yeah. Well, that's the that's a statewide issue even for the municipality is this insurance issue. But >> that's big.
How do you get million when you're all of a sudden overending funds come in? >> Good. >> Erin's like, "No way in heck. Any else have any other questions?
>> No, I'm good. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you so much for coming out. >> You too. >> Thank you guys. >> Thank you. >> And and as always, we're saving the best for last. Uh Mr. Glock Malloy is going to give you a an extremely brief
presentation >> on I believe our school safety >> day. So, we're on >> and now we're on page five. >> I Yes, you're right. It's going to be riveting.
>> Oh, yeah. >> Half the report you already saw because half the report is reporting period one. So, we can skip over those size if nobody has any questions on those. There have been no changes there. Um so let's go forward here. Our quick breakdown the
different categories. Nothing has changed here. This has been the same for many many years now. Um reporting period one. We've had no changes here. Verified all our numbers have been confirmed. Um so that data is the same as what you saw earlier this school year.
So as we move on to the next slide, that is our reporting period 2 data. Um that's our violence, vandalism, weapons, substance and HIV data as well as other suspensions. Ask a quick question. >> Absolutely. >> Before we legalize, you know, marijuana,
did we have as many substance abuse issues? >> The number has definitely gone up. Um but we've had substance abuse issues particularly at the high school level for, you know, years before uh marijuana was legalized. But the number has gone
up. um as has data that you don't see here which is you know the amount of people that have to go out for testing and things of that nature. So that has definitely increased. >> Um coming down off our reporting period
2 data we have our totals for the year um which includes in the smaller numbers underneath the change from last year. Um, so in each category, you see your school, you see the category, and you see the plus or minus off of last year's numbers for totals in the SSDS
reporting. >> Some have gone up, some have gone down. Um, overall, our numbers have um improved this year um for particularly suspendable um offenses in the areas of violence, vandalism, our high yield offenses. We've gone down overall for
the school year. Um the next couple slides just break down the subcategories of violence. Sometimes you look at that high level for violence, that high level for vandalism and well what is making up this. Um so on our next two slides we see the breakdown for violence and then
for our breakdown of vandalism. You can see that most of our violence falls into the assault and fight category. And again, as we talked about um earlier this year as well as last year, our threats also fall into this category, which sometimes can skew the numbers a
little bit for overall violence because that is very often our staff, our administration, our teachers um intervening before we get to an assault, a fight or something else. And we have the threats that have come have been stopped are still consequences, but they
come before um we get to that level of physical violence. So sometimes although it'll drive the violence numbers up overall um when we see that numbers of assaults and fights um potentially go down in certain categories um the threats tend to balance out a little bit
but um overall this is our violence subcategories and on our next slide we see our vandalism subcategories. Um we don't have much that falls into the vandalism within our school district. We do have some theft, some vandal uh damage to property. Um, we don't have
much in this category. We do get some false public alarms at the high school level. This is usually internetbased communication, things of that nature. Coming down to our next slide, we have our reporting period one totals. Again, information you've seen earlier this year.
We come down and we see our comparison year-over-year for reporting period 2. You can kind of see that our numbers um you know again in violence we've come down a little bit from last year. Um vandalism we came down fairly significantly. Um weapons we went up a
little bit. Um substance abuse we have come down since last year. Our HIV numbers fluctuate a little over the years. Um and we did see a drop off in reporting period two of our overall other suspensions as well. Then on the next slide, you can see that
same data for our overall for the entire school year. Again, violence pretty static. Vandalism's come down. Weapons has come down for the overall for the year. Um, substance has come down. Um, confirmed HIV has went up a little bit and alleged
HIV has went up a little bit as well. And our overall other incidents leading to suspension have come down. The next section of our SSDS deals with our HIVs and trainings and programs. Um, these are specific trainings and programs that deal with school safety,
HIVs, cyber bullying, things of that nature. The vast majority of our school trainings and programs tend to occur in the first part of the year. Certainly not all of them. And some programs continue throughout the course of the year, but their start date is in the
beginning of the year. So much of this category falls into reporting period one. So we don't see a huge change um with our reporting period 2 data for our trainings and programs. We do see some that start in reporting period 2. Um you
can see here that we have a few. Arlith had five programs launch in reporting period 2. UE had three. So we do have some that come up in reporting period 2, but the vast majority of these come out in reporting period one. our comparison
year-over-year for reporting period 2 and last our comparison year-over-year for the entire school year. You can see that we're fairly comparable to where we were last year. Um we've gone up in total programs um down slightly in number of trainings. Um and sometimes
that can just be the nature of a training was rolled out and a program continues where additional training didn't take place. Um, and overall we've got an increase for the year. Then our last section of SSPS is Mr.
Nasters's specialty. Um, this is specific to our special needs population in the district. This is our restraints and seclusions. Um, as we've discussed previously, we do not engage in seclusions within the Sville School District. So for us, this is pretty much restraints. are reported period
reporting period one numbers which you already saw by reporting period two numbers. Then our overall numbers for this school year and our final slide is our comparison year-over-year.
You can see although our numbers were a little lower last year with 68 compared to this year's 97, we're pretty consistent with the prior two years of 96 and 97 since the tracking of uh restraints and solutions began to be part of the SSDs.
So with that, I will open up to any questions. >> So I just got a quick one going back to slides three, four, and five, right? >> Okay. >> Important careers one month.
>> Yeah. So, I realize reporting period 2 has about 50% more time, 6 months versus four months, right? >> Mhm. >> But just looking at this and looking at the year-to-year comparison, obviously we've gone down or stayed about the same. So, this is probably a trend
that's that's historically accurate. I'm not looking at it now, but looking at period period one, middle school and high school total incidents, we got 65 and 251. that seems to jump up not 150% but 400 and almost 500% or 300 and
almost 5 500% in the two categories. What is it about period 2 that seems to cause more and again I don't think it's just unique to this year because we look at the middle school overall they dropped significantly and the high school was slightly up. >> There's a number of things that fall
into that category. Um particularly in the other incidents, the uncatategorized ones, what you often see at that point is students have u for lower level offenses, they've now made their way through the code of conduct where they're getting suspended as opposed to
a detention or Saturday. Um it could be incredibly low-level offenses that, you know, I've cut my Saturday, I've cut my and now I've gone and I have a higher level. So a lot of times in reporting period 2, what you're just seeing is progression of the code of conduct. >> Makes perfect sense. Um beyond that, you
know, there are any number of factors. Um the more time they've been in school, um the more time that there's been for conflict with other individuals. Um you know, sometimes summer break is a good time to break and it takes some time to work up and have specific issues with uh
individuals, groups, social groups. >> Um but the biggest number that you see there is just the simple fact that you've moved through the code of conduct and now you have a higher level of suspensions for given offenses. >> That's why you're the man, Eric. I knew you'd have the right answer. Thank you
for that. >> I just want to know something. Maybe I'm reading it wrong, but why 2627 period 1 total? Like what what does that mean? You didn't start 26 27 yet, right? >> On the page that the period one
comparison, >> I see 2627 on a couple of them. >> Yeah. >> So, I'm just got ahead of myself with the years. >> Yeah. So, I'm just making sure. Yeah, cuz cuz you don't you don't have a 25. >> I was doing 26 27 of
>> I was like, wait a second. What do you mean we have 320 already in 2627? >> Nope. Cuz we don't have a 2526 on those pages. So >> this one does 2526. >> Some for example the reporting period one comparison
>> it has 2627 and then it has 2526. >> Yep. I will fix that for you. But our top level number is our this year's number. >> The top level >> the top level in the kind of yellow orange color. That is our number for this year.
>> Just like with the progressive discipline. If you do this again, I may have to retract my earlier statement about you being the man. Okay. Just letting you know. You let you off with a warning. >> I just felt stupid at the moment thinking what I was. >> Nope. You caught it. Great. >> Absolutely, Alison. Thank you. I will make that correction tonight and I will
repost that. But your top level number is your 2526. That is our data. >> Anybody else have any questions? >> Great job, Eric. >> Thank you. >> And that concludes our presentations. >> Thank you, Dr. Lavy. Now we move on to
board discussions. Miss Pabone, finance. >> Oh, thank God. All right. >> All right. Last Tuesday evening on the BOE finance and infrastructure committee met um Erin discussed the upcoming 2025 20226
annual comprehensive financial report and auditors management report in which our auditor will begin in August. After that she reviewed the estimated 2025 2026 fund balance and according to her it's possible that we will be closer to
$5 million. Um, furthermore, she indicated that um, since we cancelled one of our purchase offers um, purchase orders uh, for a construction company that we were going to work with for the Cheesequake Road property, we um, actually have uh, about
$19.1 million in capital reserves before we purchased the bus depot. So, that's it. And then Jimmy told us or Richie told us that we would um, he provided updates on the referendum projects. He reported that the three major
outstanding change orders are nearly finished. He then provided an update on other projects such as the solar panel carport completion project at the high school. He informed the committee that this week, this past week, they began tearing up sections of the parking lot at the high school so they can connect the carports to the electrical
infrastructure. Um Jimmy also reported that the middle school electronic sign is now up and running thanks to G um Jersey Central Power and Light. Likewise, he reported that purchase order for electronic signs for Wilson Truman and Celover. Is that right? >> Slover
>> Slover um were order have been issued. Additionally, he noted that the high school greenhouse is finished. Remember, we waited forever for that thing to come in. It is finished. Um I heard that it's really nice, too. And then he informed the committee that the renovations of the student bathrooms at Truman and the
replacement of the carpet in the high school auditorium began last week as well. And finally, he shared that he's still in the process of getting pricing for the um asphalt asphalt. Um Ree says patio extension at
Arless. And that is it for the finance and infrastructure committee. >> Thank you, Miss Bone. Dr. Can can you do finance or >> I can't do finance, but I'm not personel. >> I was like, why would he have to do
finance again? personnel. >> Erin just went into a panic attack right now. For uh personnel, we discussed the open positions in both certificated and non-certificated spots. Uh we discussed
the personnel matter and we discussed our uh substitute fill rates for the 2526 year and looking to increase those fills on a more consistent basis for the 2627 year. Thank you, Dr. Agaliz. And now, Mr.
Palano. >> Okay. So, the governance committee met twice prior to tonight's board meeting. During those meetings, the committee reviewed the job description for the induction coordinator stipen position, discussed and proposed revisions to the 2627
um school district calendar and completed a review of several new and revised bylaws, policies, and regulations that are being presented for first and second reading at tonight's meeting. The committee also reviewed and proposed revisions to policies 8660 and 8662
regarding student transportation and discussed abolishing regulation 2363 which is this which was the student use of priority owned technology to replace it with the new policy regulation 5516 student use of internet enabled devices
and that's it. >> Great. Thank you Mr. Palitano. >> Welcome. >> Now on to student achievement bloom. >> Okay. uh student met on Tuesday night. The first thing that we did was revise
the 26 27 calendar. There is one change. >> Turn turn on your mic. >> You can't hear me. >> Um we had to change one date for our um professional development because of election.
Uh the next thing is the curriculum guides for review pre-calculus and pre-calculus honors and this has to be done to align with the updated standards. The next thing is the memorandum of understandment with Ryder
University and Middle Sex College. This is the annual renewal and that involves our tomorrow's teachers honors and um that's a dual enrollment and we're looking to expand that. uh math tool pilot fall 26 fifth grade
MAGAM math uh we're going to put that into place and there is no cost to that program. AP AP preliminary data shows that courses are doing fabulous. Uh four courses had
100% passing rate. The environmental program the passing rate is up. Uh 51 more students took AP tests. Um scores are up 3.4 to 3.52
and physics is up by 10 students. Uh ESL core program adoption. This is all new. And then we went to special projects. Uh Miss Burke again professional development preparing for
opening day. the NJ DOEA state requirements, uh, new staff orientation, CPI training, responsive classroom training. All of these things are being put into place for, um, professional development
and grants. We have title two and four funding. Uh we also are utilizing funds for training and salaries, tutorials, multilingual, the school violence prevention program grant. We are applying for that. And
that's it for student achievement. >> Thank you, Miss Bloom. And now we're going to have you on overtime. >> I beg you pardon. >> We're have you on overtime. Middle Sex County School Board Association. >> School Board Association. Uh I wish I could say it's all quiet, but it's not. Um but that's a story for another time.
We are working on our calendar for next year, trying to get all our dates set up with school boards. Um, so as soon as we have our dates for next year, I will let you know what they are. >> Great. Thank you. Now we move on to public participation. Please keep in
mind there's a threem minute time limit. >> Seeing no one, I close all public session. >> No one. There is no one. If no one has any objections because of the time, I'm going to forego the majority of my report and I just want to highlight two
items. Darn. >> Um, does anybody is anybody okay with that? >> Okay. So, I just want to obviously we do have a retirement so I do want to take the time to recognize one of our our staff members. So, um, if you can refer
to number one in personnel on page 27, we're asking you to graciously accept the retirement of McDallia Rivera. Um, she's a full-time par profofessional at Project before it's over. Congratulations to Mcdalia Rivera on an incredible 20-year career with the Sable
Public School District. For two decades, her dedication transformed our self-contained classrooms into safe, joyful spaces where our youngest learners could truly thrive. Her patience, warmth, and endless creativity
unlocked the potential in every child who walked through her classroom door. Miss Rivera has left an unerasable mark on the hearts of countless families and colleagues alike. As she turns the page to this next chapter, we wish her
retirement filled with relaxation, adventure, and the same joy that she brought to every single student and staff member on each and every day. Thank you for 20 years of pure heart and service, Mrs. Rivera. So, we thank Mrs.
Rivera for her impeccable service and we congratulate her on her well-earned retirement and we wish her all the best. And then I'd like to also uh recognize that we are asking you to recommend Angela Talo who is currently one of our
bi biology teachers at the high school. Um we're asking you to um approve her to be an interim vice principal at the high school and middle school. Um because Mrs. Kerry will be going on leave of absence from the middle of October
through the end of April. So we're asking you to approve Mrs. Apollo as an interim vice principal and that's an important thing for us because we're so blessed in Seville to have so many outstanding leaders and she is one of
those outstanding leaders that's going to have an opportunity to really showcase those leadership skills to us in this capacity. And we'd also like to thank all the incredible staff members um from across the district that applied for this. It was not an easy decision um
but she truly was the cream that rose to the top. So um you know we are graciously asking you to approve that recommendation and um we congratulate her on that and that concludes my report unless anyone has any questions about anything
on Yep. finance, student achievement, governance or personnel. Mrs. Bloom I see that you have your hand up. I have one question. Just something that jumped out at me on page five, uh, number 25 where we do the non-public funding. >> Yes. >> Security. We provide security for
non-public. >> It's not that. It's funding that the state gives them that we are we kind of hold the money and spend it for them. >> Oh, okay. >> So, it could be for things like updating cameras or something like that, but it's not our funds. It comes from the state and we just have to make sure that
they're following the law. So, we're the ones who spend it for them. >> Okay. And it's certainly not our resources. >> Yeah, that's I was just saw that and I said, "Oh, I have to ask about this." Okay, thank you. >> Good question. Anyone else? >> And as was mentioned before, one of the
things that we are asking you to approve is that calendar change. We learned that the the primary in June is not going to be on the first Tuesday, which would have been the first. It's going to be actually on June 8th. So therefore, we have to change that student holiday and
the staff development day from June 1st to June 8th. So that's the only change there. >> Any other questions? Seeing none, I'll entertain a motion to approve the agenda. >> So move. >> So I got Mrs. Maldonado as a motion and
Mrs. Npalitano as a second. >> Uh Mrs. Bloom, >> yes. >> Mrs. Hernandez, >> yes. >> Mrs. Maldonado, >> yes. >> Mrs. Mr. Npalitano. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Pabone. >> Yes. >> Mr. Walsh. >> Yes. >> Mr. Fernandez. >> Yes.
>> Now I open up the floor to public participation. Please come up one at a time. >> Okay. Seeing none, I close >> public session. >> Oh, I did want to say something. >> Good. That's in closing comments.
>> Oh, okay. Closing comments. I could do >> Okay, now we're having closing comments. I would just like to say um to the uh viewers of our meeting and to the public of Syville that we um are running again for the board of ed. So we are going to
be happy to try to win back our seats and continue. It's me, Eloy Allison, and John Walsh. So both of us people. Thank you. >> Anyone else have any other comments? Seeing none, our next meeting is
Tuesday, August 25th and Tuesday, September 20 22nd, 2026. >> I'll entertain a motion to close. >> Second. >> All in favor? I. >> The eyes have it.