##VIDEO ID:AhEwe0jXAs0## e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e president Mr chairman I'd like to nominate Mrs Kim cbot as board president Mr mustel need a second second Mr Bono yes Mrs Mr foki yes Mr Mr Harris yes Mr Holmes yes Mrs Perez yes Mr Rivera yes Mr Silva yes Mr sabran yes Mrs kispa yes congratulations [Applause] oops sorry I'm going to call for nominations for vice president do I have any nominations Mr President I'd like to nominate Mr John sabran on his birthday happy birthday do I have a second I second Mr must Mr Bono yes Mr foki yes Mr Harris yes Mr Holmes yes Mrs Perez yes Mr Rivera yes Mr Silva yes Mr sabran yes Mrs kispa yes motion [Applause] carries comment on agenda ite yes we do L Vasquez lus Vasquez former parent of student but still a very active Community member and I just want to take this time to say how proud I am we have an amazing board with some wonderful people in our community that uh I know are going to do a great job for this district and one of the things that I value about you all you're such an important part of uh what families value here I know personally you've been a vital part of the some of the concerns that we brought to this board and together we walk we work to reach a consensus as to what is best for for our children uh and for the district and for that I thank you I have the fullest confidence in and you find people on this board right now that it is going to be a great year congratulations God bless you and I just pray that God guides you and leads you in making the best decisions for our district thank you [Applause] good afternoon board members and Friends Tony Cado from Chestnut Assembly of God in vinand I just am here tonight to say congratulations uh we're so excited about this year excited about what God wants to do through all of you and this board know that we are rooting for you we are praying for you and we know that God is going to use you in this school district and in this area in just a mighty way you have our support and you have especially our prayer support thank you for all your hard work and we are behind you God bless [Applause] you is there any anybody else that would like to speak thanks for the offer I'll be brief but I would like to take a moment to congratulate our newest school board members on this undertaking this is a significant position uh as most of you know this is where I began my elected career and people often underestimate just how important the role of a school board member is you are the first line of defense for the children in this city and that truly is a role of a gladiator if there ever was one in my opinion so thank you for stepping up and making this commitment you will have some wonderful time some good laughs trying times and some disagreements but always try to remain focused on the fact that it's all about the kids and always all about our staff that are here to take care of our children but I applaud you for stepping forward and doing that I applaud all board members that have served over the years and those of you that have are continuing your service now I thank you for your commitment to the children and just know that the city stands ready and committed to continue our relationship with the district as it is certainly grown in the last number of years and we have um truly cherished that um as I continue to serve as a mayor we will be here for you please don't never hesitate to call him myself Council or our Administration so thank all of you happy New Year to all of you God bless you God bless your families God bless staff and central office thank you for all your hard work and you know the couple more gray hairs although the ladies cover them up a lot better than we do thank you thank you good evening everyone my name is Hassan Hamel I'd like to congratulate the board newest members and thank the previous board members for the great work that I've done in the community I want to give a special shout out to Mr Harris personal friend that watch grow up I'm very very happy to see him be a part of this process and I know that he was going to bring a lot of fairness and integrity to the board as as you all had um thank you very much for for your continued good work and God bless you all in in and have a wonderful wonderful session thank you before we move any further I would like to just welcome our two new board members um Mr Harris Mrs Perez and I'd like to welcome back Mr Silva um we're all here for you if you have any questions our phones are always on to the board members who are still here um we have a big job to do this year um as we do every year and I want to thank everybody for all their participation and their assistance that we're going to need so what any questions you have please just reach out we're always here for you guys do you have any recommendations Mr yanana yes uh I would like to recommend for approval to the board uh read-option of bylaws and policies and acceptance of the 2024 annual school election results questions or comments do I have a motion second second roll call please Mr Bono yes Mr foki yes Mr Harris yes Mr Holmes yes Mrs Perez yes Mrs Mr Rivera yes Mr Silva yes Mr sabran yes Mr cisp yes motion carries okayy we're at board member comments already I'm going to go with Mr fi good evening I I just want to welcome Mr Harris Mrs Prez I know you both are going to be valuable members of this board and I look forward to working with you and welcome back Mr Silva have a good evening thank you Mr Holmes yes I'd like to congratulate Mr Harris and uh Miss Perez welcome to the board looking forward to working with you Mr Silva as always great to work with you glad to have you back uh looking forward to a great year with a great board great new faces on the board ready to work we have a lot of work to do uh with our superintendent um and I'm excited about the work that we're going to do glad to see our former superintendent here Dr guio and some other members of the public that we're glad to see tonight thank you Mr Bono good evening uh to Mr Harris to Donna pz and Alex Silva thank you um and welcome to the board uh it's an honor to serve with you and I look forward to a great year ahead we have a lot to do and looking forward to working with you guys I'm always here if you need me just like uh our president uh kotty said um any questions or anything I can do for you please don't hesitate good luck thank you Mrs prz good evening I just want to say thank you for the warm welcome thank you for those um that have reached out and I'm looking forward as I always say I don't know what I don't know yet but I'm willing to learn roll up my sleeves and um get in the mix and figure out what is the best thing for the students of of Vinland New Jersey and that's why we're here for the students of viol New Jersey and the staff and making sure that we're on the right trajectory to have a wonderful wonderful year so I am looking forward to working with all of you Mr Vera I will take my allotted three five uh good evening uh I like to welcome Mrs Perez and uh Mr Harris onto the board um there always a you know a great time when we see individuals in the community step up and wanting to serve knowing that we don't get paid knowing that you know it's long hours sometimes but the reward is the smiles on the kids faces every day you walk into one of those school buildings um let me stop before I get emotional um it's um so that's the reward and so I'd like to welcome you both um Mr Silva welcome again uh I failed to congratulate him in the previous uh meeting but congratulations and and welcome back I always always a pleasure to work with Mr Silva um and we always kind of Bounce stuff off each other and and it's great to that you're back um Mr Harris you have now been selected to sit next to me so two things have to happen bring extra pens because I'm always asking for a pen because I always forget one and tissues too sometimes uh and as a rookie you have to bring me coffee every meeting for the entire first year I'm kidding I'm kidding welcome have a good night everyone Mr Harris thank you how much time do I have he yielded two minutes so we got seven now all right it's going to be a while good evening everyone and thank you for attending I come before you this evening filled with excitement on this new chapter and some nerves uh bear with me and I'll go over my story and I'll try to make it brief a year ago I retired from the viol police department and I thought my service to the community was over at that time I decided to uh run for school board my entire adult life has been in serving my community uh briefly in the Army and 30 years in law enforcement uh obviously my time serving my community wasn't over that's why I'm sitting here so I would like to take a minute to thank the people that helped me uh I would like to first thank my wife Susan uh I think she made it she was at jury duty and I told her I know a few people at the county I think I can get you out of it and her response was we don't get out of jury duty so so I think she's here I'd like to thank my wife for standing by me and encouraging me and everything that I've done over the years over 30 years and I appreciate the count countless hours she dedicates to our family and uh and the countless hour she dedicates to our children I'd like to thank my children Shane Harris Jr Shaina Harris Crystal bralton Dorian Diaz and Sergeant First Class Jonathan Diaz who should be here somewhere thank you for your service son and I appreciate you making it here with my granddaughters uh thank you to my father lemel Harris Jr who could not make it here he's a little he's uh elderly so he couldn't make it down here from night from uh North Jersey what but he will be watching this and I wanted him to know that I appreciated him I appreciate all the encouragement he's given me over the years to include our long conversations after I graduated about me joining the milit military uh I agreed with it and uh my first day in basic training with some large guy was yelling in my face telling me to give him more push-ups I wondered why I agreed to that conversation but in any event I appreciated my military service where it taught me honor and duty to something greater than yourself and I believe that contributed to me coming here I'd like to thank my friends and campaign man managers lene Bowers and Dave cardana for all the help you've given me over the years I really appreciate it I also thought like to thank you for the help you given me during my campaign i f tried to follow every one of Dave's requests but I had to draw a line on helicopter's Landing during the campaign video for Schoolboard that seemed to be a little bit too much I'd like to thank Dr Mary guio Wendy Osborne and Su Chini these ladies I have supported me throughout my entire juvenile career when I was a juvenile officer and I won't forget it and I appreciate it uh I'd also like to thank someone who's not here former board member Tom allrich and the captain at the time he was my captain and uh elevated me to position of juvenile Sergeant along with Chief kis body that assignment allowed me to work directly with the students and the staff and form positive relationships so I appreciate that uh I'd like to thank Lieutenant Lester Johnson who couldn't be here uh Sergeant maruba Harris officer koven Hassan Hamid these gentlemen have stuck with me through good and bad times and they are my counselors and a lot of time they keep me grounded when I get a little too confident in the things that I'm doing I could go on naming people but I'm living it in my time I've also learned the hard way to acknowledge too many people you forget someone that's important I was at an event where I was being honored and in my excitement I named everybody but my first supporter and first best friend my brother lemel Harris a year ago I lost my brother during the campaign and uh I thought about withdrawing my name from The Campaign however I could hear lemel telling me you don't start nothing that you're not going to finish so here I am and I'm going to skip ahead to the voters I thank you for all your support I thank you for all the calls texts likes requests for signs even though I ran out and I'm overwhelmed by the amount of votes I received I'm humbled that you took the time to cash your vote for me uh I pledge to listen to your concerns and work hard to address the needs of the students and the staff I've always been a person that's willing to sit down and talk to anybody from any side of the op I would like to congratulate Mr Silva and Miss Perez also on winning the election to the board members who I will be joining or who I have joined I would thank you for your continued service I look forward to working with each of you to serve the students staff and voters of VI my thought process is simple on this board leave the politics out and let you do what's best for the kids thank you Mr Silva yes first off I'd like to congratulate the new elected board members uh Mr Shane Harris and Miss Don Perez I'm looking forward to working with you both additionally I personally would like to thank all of the voters who took the time to come out and who have supported me during this election process I truly humble and grateful as stated before when I was previously elected I will continue to be a strong advocate for open communication transparency and accountability I believe everyone has a voice and your voice should be heard as a reelected board member to the violent School Board I promise to continue doing my best and continue to be the voice of the people my door will always be open and inclusive I will always listen and I will continue to put our students first thank you to my family and everyone who has supported my candidacy thank you Mr sabran thank you this is my 10th year on the violent Board of Education and I am grateful for the support of my colleagues and especially Mrs ctis body and my desire this year to serve in a leadership position to Mrs Perez and Mr Harris you'll probably hear if you haven't already heard that serving on the school board is a thankless job that's not true um when I see the our ability to have a positive effect on the The Learning environment for every child in our district I feel like I'm making a contribution to our society to our community and to the world so don't believe that uh and you'll find that out the first time you get involved in a Student Activity uh to see Smiles on kids' faces Mr Silva you already know that you've been around a while and and you work in public education but I hope all of you join me in making a promise to use our knowledge acquire from our experience in life and education and whatever to ensure that good decisions are made in the management of this District that we will be able to fulfill our mandate to provide a positive learning environment for every one of our students thank you Mr Yano congratulations and welcome Mr Harris and Mrs Perez it was a pleasure to meet with you and talk to to you last week to get to know a little bit about you and some of your areas that you're interested in uh we have a great board um also um want to welcome back our you know comedian in Chief uh Mr Silva you know he's got lots of jokes and he's always focused on the kids so it's a very positive experience when we work with Mr Silva so this board has done a lot of great work we continue to be collaborative and focused on what's best for students and I'm super excited about what the new year has to bring an offer for us so again thank you welcome and uh thank you to the rest of the board uh for being here this evening and looking forward to just a awesome awesome 2025 again Welcome to our new board members and to our um to Mr Silva uh to our I would like to thank you all for coming out tonight um we would like to see more of you coming to the board meetings um it does make it does make a difference it does matter to us we need to hear what your thoughts are um it's nice coming to a board meeting but it's you know 90% of the time there are zero to maybe five people out there so please come out let us hear your thoughts we might not always agree with them or we might agree with you but you know we need to hear what you're thinking to our staff our Central staff thank you guys for what you're doing we have a whole new year to start with and Mr Yano Mr mustell um I'm very you know I can't wait to get started I want to thank my board members for uh voting their confidence in me and um we're just going to move forward so with that being said do I have a motion to adjourn second all in favor I you guys hang