Little less formal Good evening everyone. I would like to welcome you to welcome you to the Thursday, April 16th, 2026 board of education meeting. We are calling the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. And if everyone could please rise for the
pledge of allegiance. meeting of meeting notice. The New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of the public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon. In
accordance with the provision of the act, the Verona Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting to be published in the Star Ledger online and posted with the Township of Verona and the Verona Education Association. Postings of this meeting setting forth
the time, location, and agenda were posted at the Verona Board of Education office and on the Verona Public Schools District website. Copies of tonight's agenda and resolutions have been made available to the public via the Board of Education website. Dr. Riley, can you
please call attendance? >> Mr. Waka, >> Mr. Ferner, >> here. >> Miss Kenotic, >> Mrs. Driscoll, >> here. >> Mr. Ban, we have a quorum. >> Thank you. Moving on to our um I need a motion please to approve our
minutes from our March 24th 26th meeting. Motion by >> So moved. Motion by Miss Kotic. Seconded by >> Second >> Mr. Pera. Are there any discussions? Dr. Riley, if you could please call RO. >> Mr. Pera. >> Yes. Motic.
>> Mr. Scott. >> Yes. >> Motion passes. >> Thank you. Moving on to our superintendence report by Miss Diane Depy. Evening. Just a reminder, I did mention this at our last meeting, but reminder, tomorrow night is the uh Verona Foundation for
Educational Excellenc's Inspiring Excellence Award, and we will be honoring uh or they will be honoring Lisa Hegel from Brookdale School, Betty Ho uh from the high school, Mandarin teacher, Dana Lustig, Forest and Landing social worker, Lu Luigi is the head
custodian at um Lanning. Diane Bartell is a forest second grade teacher. Jenny Hi with the HBW Mandarin teacher and uh posostumously Alex Maurice who passed earlier in the year who is a uh FN Brown special educator.
>> It will be uh I I hear it's going to be a pack house. >> So actually sold out. >> Oh, you're sold. >> Yeah, we sold out all the tickets. So fantastic. >> Shouldn't have advertised this. >> No, you know, >> um >> we appreciate it. >> Last night was uh another win for the
VHS and HBW bands and the VHS Jazz Choir. Uh they performed as they usually do and did not disappoint. It was a a very um all-star cast of of some of our most talented students and teachers from
across the district and Mr. Mortyn showed up and uh >> yeah, it was nice. It was and they did uh they went back to a tradition that Mr. Gordon used to do which is the senior song and um it was very uh they did Green Day and I can't think of the
name of can't think of the name of the song. They did a Green Day song. It was really great and then they ended with the jazz choir and jazz band at the high school doing Billy Joel's um Italian restaurant which was really a nice uh
addition to traditional jazz music. Um the VHS jazz band will participate in the jazz band festival at JP Stevens uh tomorrow. Uh and our concert band will be performing at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark this upcoming
Wednesday. Um as uh uh VHS model UN is attending a conference at Cornell University. Uh they went today. They will return on Sunday. The conference is designed with the delegate uh experience at its core, offering creative and challenging uh
committees that push participants to think critally critically about some of the world's most pressing ide issues. By the conclusion of the event, delegates will ideally leave with a stronger understanding of international affairs and a broader perspective on the world around them. For many students, model UN
can be a meaningful and transformative experience. And this conference aims to provide that that same opportunity for growth, reflection, and engagement. It really is. Um, when Mr. Maher uh I I didn't really know a lot about Model UN, not every school does it. Um, our kids
really enjoy it and and are very excited about it. So, we're glad that we were able to get a bus and get them upstairs. It's very difficult because we don't h it's not a huge group of kids. Um I I do know that Mr. Maher has gone above and beyond for them. Last year um we could
not get a bus and so he rented a um like a transport and drove them to DC himself. So I don't he wants to do that again. But he was but he was a trooper to do that to make sure they have a good experience. Um there's also an interesting first for uh Vern High
School, an upcoming TEDex event also sponsored by VP. Um, Mrs. Analone is uh uh gonna do the first beyond autopilot TEDex. So, TEDex is a grassroot initi initiative enabling local independently organized events
bringing that TED talk style of ideas worth spreading to the community uh to communities uh they're involved in. The VHS TEDex has a theme of beyond autopilot, focusing on moving from a life of routine unconscious habits and default settings to one of intention,
awareness, and purpose. I look forward to watching you talk about this. This is uh April 23rd, 6 o'clock. I'll check on the time. >> Oh, it's right there by the door. >> Yeah, actually I have I just have to
enlarge it. Uh the time is not on air. Oh yeah. 6 PM. >> Yes. And then on the 24th there is a collection of one act plays at the high school and we are coming up on our DECA team is um has made it to nationals and
will be performing or competing I should say in Atlanta. Uh and that's my report for this evening. >> Great. Thank you. Does anyone have any questions or comments? Um, u Mr. DJ, do you want to do uh Ryan's
report, the student report that he sent you? >> Oh, >> yes, he did. >> You were Okay. >> Okay. >> Great. Thank you. Um there are no committee reports. So moving on to public comments on any agenda action items.
Would anyone like to come to the public the podium to speak anything to talk about anything we are voting on this evening? Please state your name. You'll have three minutes. Any discussion items? New or old business?
Any correspondent? No correspondence. Thank you. All right, we're going to move on to um our resolutions. Are you two ready? Motion. Okay, so moving on to our um resolutions. I need
a motion to approve our personnel resolutions A1 through A9 by Mrs. Pony, seconded by >> second >> by Mr. Fera. Are there any discussions? >> Dr. Riley, if you could please call RO. >> Mr. Pera, >> yes. >> Miss Kenote,
>> yes. >> Mrs. Yes. Thank you. Moving on to our education resolutions. I need a motion to approve resolutions B1 through B4. Motion by. >> So moved. >> Mrs. Kenotic. Seconded by >> Second.
>> Mr. Pera. Any discussions? Dr. Wley. If you could please call RO. >> Mr. Per. >> Yes. Miss Kodic. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Pisc. >> Yes. >> Moving on to our athletics and co-curricular. I need a motion to approve resolutions C1 through C2.
Motion by so moved Konotic seconded by >> second >> Mr. Dr. Ivy if you could please call >> Mr. Burner >> yes Mr. Kotic >> yes >> Mrs. P >> yes >> thank you moving on to our facilities
resolutions I need a motion to approve resolutions D1 through D2 by Mrs. Kenotic seconded by >> second Mr. Kerna any discussions >> Dr. Riley if you could please call RO >> Mr. Yes, Mr. >> Yes,
>> Mrs. Trrisco. >> Yes. Moving on to our finance. I need a motion to approve resolutions E1 through E6. Motion by >> So move Kenotic and seconded by >> second
>> Mr. Ferna Dr. Any discussion? >> Um just a question about the recision of the grant. Um was that >> uh because it wasn't uh we weren't going to go forward with the conference or what was >> No, that's a great question. Um, Dr.
Miller decided to go virtually instead of um traveling and also they honored excuse me the group an early bird price so they gave us a discount per participant. >> So, um that's why we revised it. >> Everybody's still going.
>> Oh, good, good, good, good. >> Thank you. Dr. Riley, if you could please call a roll. >> Mr. Fer, >> yes. >> Miss Kenotic. >> Yes. >> Misc. Yes. >> Moving on to governance and policy. I need a motion to approve resolutions F1.
>> You got to table that. >> Oh, >> I didn't get it to you today. >> Oh, I'm sorry. >> No, that's okay. It was my fault. >> Can we uh have a motion to table Sorry about that. >> That's okay. Um, do we have a motion to table resolution F1? >> So moved. >> Motion by Miss Kotic, seconded by >> Second
>> Mr. Pera. >> Dr. Riley, please call. >> Mr. Per, >> yes. M. Kotic. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Brisco. Yes. Thank you. Moving on to public comments. Anyone from the public that would like to come to the podium, you have three
minutes to speak on anything you'd like and just state your name. >> Hi. >> Hi. Good evening. Um, it's nice to meet you. Um, my name is David Burstein. I live in West Orange and I run a project called Price Reflect. Um, we analyze
publicly available board authorized rates across New Jersey school districts. Our data set currently includes more than um 50,000 rates from 119 school districts including Verona. Um, two findings stood out. Uh first,
authorized rates for similar services can vary dramatically across neighboring districts. Um speech therapy contract rates for in Essex County, for example, range from $65 per hour to $186 per hour.
Second, the same vendor sometimes appears in different rates in different district contracts, something that only becomes visible when you look across districts. Um, we publish these findings at price reflect.com. Thank you.
>> Thank you. Any questions? Thank you very much. Thanks for coming out. Appreciate it. Anyone else from the public? See, moving on. That's it. We got a Okay. Our next public um schedule
meeting will be Tuesday, April 28th, 2026, beginning with confidential session at 6:00 p.m. and public session at 7:00 p.m. at the high school learning comments. I need a motion to adjourn our meeting. Motion by so moved to submit. Seconded by
>> Mr. Ker. All in favor? I It is 7:17