Good evening and welcome to the West Orange Board of Education public board meeting on Monday, June 16th, 2025. I would like to thank all of you here in person and those watching from home for joining us tonight. I'd like to welcome my fellow board members as well as Mr. Moore, Miss Flowers, and our student liaison. Uh Miss Flowers, would you
please take the roll call? Good evening. Roll call, please. Dr. Bryant, here. Mr. Stevenson, here. Miss Vera. Mr. Ifer, here. Mr. Rock here.
Notice of meeting. The no New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interests are discussed or acted upon. In accordance
with provisions of this act, a written notice was sent from the office of the secretary of the board on January 6, 2025. That said notice was sent by regular mail to the West Orange Township clerk and the editors of the West Orange Chronicle and by email to the Star
Ledger. That said notice was posted in the lobby of the administration building of the board of education and posted on the district website. Please be advised that this meeting is being recorded and may be broadcasted on local TV and the district website at a future date.
Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all. In consideration of the closed and public meeting of May 5th, 2025, do I have a motion to accept the minutes? Motion. Thank you, Mr. Is there a second? Second. Thank you, Mr. Stevenson. Any comments? Hearing no comments. Miss Flowers,
please take the roll call. Dr. Bryant, yes. Mr. Stevenson, yes. Vice President Ifer, yes. President Rock, yes. Thank you. And next, good evening to our student liaison. Uh, Nina Davis and Abigail Rothstein, please
share your student leazison report with us at this time. Uh, good evening everyone. I hope that you're all doing well. Nina and I are very bittersweet about this meeting because it's our last one as student leazison on the board of education. I wanted to start off by saying that I'm so grateful for having had this experience to work not only on
my relationships with my peers but how I interact with adults carrying myself throughout life and recognize the importance of speaking up and what I believe in and how to do it in efficient and effective ways. Working with the board of education, Mr. Moore, Mr. Guerrero and Miss Connors has been an absolute honor and I can't wait to see
what and who the next leazison will do with this special empowering opportunity. I'll be attending James Madison University next year as part of their honors college and will be majoring in social work with hopefully a minor in chronic illness hoping to one day be a childlife specialist in oncology department in order to help cancer patients and their families adapt
with their life-changing circumstances. I will always be proud to have gone to have gone to such a diverse empowering and supportive school and to have been a student leazison alongside my friend Nina. So in closing, thank you to my teachers, family, peers, board members and community. Like many parents said in
our previous meetings, people come here for the amazing school system. And although times may be hard, I truly hope that one day Nah and I will have the pleasure of seeing your children be afforded the same opportunities that we have had. And we can't wait to see them change the world in many ways we know that they can. Thank you.
Mine isn't as nice as that. It was so sweet. Oh my gosh. Okay, my turn. As my time as a student liaison comes to a close, I want to reflect on my time and what this experience has meant to me. Serving in this role has been both an honor and a learning experience. It
gave me the chance to listen to the concerns of my peers and the differing perspectives that reside within our town. Whether it's asking a small question or simply making someone feel heard. I've learned how powerful communication and collaboration can be when solving issues, no matter how big
or how small. These are lessons I will certainly be carrying with me when I continue my journey at Rucker New Brunswick where I will be studying journalism and media. I'm grateful to everyone who trusted me and worked alongside me. Thank you for allowing me to grow, serve, and contribute in this role. I leave it with a deep
appreciation for the importance of student leadership and a commitment to always speak up for what matters. Thank you. Right. Thank you both. And thank you both again for serving this school year as student leazison. Mr. Moore, it is now time for your report. Would you please share your superintendence report
with us? Thank you, President Rod. I forgot my glasses, so I'm going to do the best I can. So, please bear with me. Um, this evening we have the pleasure of awarding one of our high school students
with the Mountaineer Trailblazer Award. The Mountaineer Trailblazer Award were started by Dylan Panel, a former student of West Orange High School, Susan Panel, the mom of Dylan Panel, and Donald Panel, the father of Donald
Panel. I know they were here earlier and unfortunately we were in close session and it ran over time, but I do have the great pleasure of introducing our proud principal of West Orange High School, Mr. Oscar Guerrero, who will honor our
student, Eleanor Cooks. Good evening, everyone. Thank you, Superintendent Moore. Uh, I'll be quick. Um, you know, obviously uh you know, our recipient this evening had a uh lacrosse uh banquet that was uh beginning and didn't want to miss that understandably.
So, so uh stay, but I just still wanted to recognize that student as well as the panel family. Uh the Dylan Panel Mountaineer Trailblazer Award is a prestigious recognition presented by the board of education and is given to students who have made significant and
lasting contributions to one or more aspects of our school community including culture, student life, school environment, curricula, and instruction. I have a few words uh from Miss Suzanne Panel about the award. Trailblazers are
those who pave the way for others by breaking new ground, by challenging obstacles and never giving up. They possess courage, determination, and innovative thinking. They inspire and motivate others to carve their own path and make a difference. And they they
say, "Believe you can and you're halfway there." This award was inspired by my son Dylan who beginning in 2009 petitioned the board of education about having a junior ROC unit at West Orange High School. The members of the board challenged my son to circulate a
petition to see if there was interest in student body. When he next appeared before the board, not not only did he have over 150 eighth grade student signatures on his petition, but he also had the support of assistant principal at the time, Hayden Moore. teachers,
administrators, board members, and local and state government officials. Dylan wrote letters to New Jerseys US senators and representatives and to military officials in Washington DC to gain their support. And finally, after four long years, the Mountaineer
Squadron was introduced as West at West Orange High School at the beginning of the 2013 2014 school year with my son named the first squadron commander. Dylan never gave up and worked above and beyond to see his dream a reality. That
is the basis for this award, the Mountaineer Trailblazer Award. Over the years, other extraordinary students from West Orange High School have won this award, including Vanessa Leman, Sandra Guerrero, Marley Diaz, and Mason Bashoff. When Principal Guerrero
informed me who was chosen to receive this honor this year, I was so excited for what Eleanor Cucus has dreamed, worked for, and accomplished thus far in her life exemplifies a trailblazer in every sense of the word. So, on behalf of my husband, Donald, and and myself,
and on behalf of my own trailblazer, Lieutenant Dylan Panel, I am beyond proud to present this award to Eleanor Cucus. She's not here. We give a round of applause, please. And just just to quickly give you just a few words about Eleanor, she is a driven
12th grader at West Orange High School who has left a significant mark on her school community. A true advocate for inclusion, Ellie, as she's known to her peers, spearheaded the creation and implementation of the Best Buddies program at West Orange High School,
integrating it into the fabric of the school and fostering countless meaningful connections with our special needs students. Beyond her impactful work with Best Buddies, Ellie is also a talented drum major, a dedicated lacrosse player, and an active participant in a variety of West Orange
High School activities, showcasing her diverse talents and commitment to school spirit. Congratulations, Ellie. On behalf of Ellie, I'll make sure she receives this wonderful award. Thank you all. Have a great night. For our HIV report, since our last
meeting, there have been two reports and neither met the criteria for harassment, intimidation, and bullying. I concur with the findings presented by our anti- anti-bullying specialist.
Not yet. Thank you. I want to take an opportunity to publicly con publicly convey my sincere gratitude to our students, parents, and dedicated staff and administrators
and our supportive board of education for your unwavering support throughout the school year. It is through our collective efforts and strong partnerships that we have accomplished so much and for that I'm deeply
thankful. I also want to acknowledge the diligence and efforts of all our students from preschool through high school. I'm incredibly proud of everyone of their continued commitment to becoming lifelong learners.
But a special congratulations to our board liaison, Nina and Abby, who are graduating this year. I want to thank them for giving the public an
example of what it means to be mountaineers. Thank you for representing us. You've done a fine job. I appreciate you up at the deis and I think that students should be inspired by your work. I've gotten a chance to see you guys. Your
personal work, which is amazing in itself, but what you portray and bring forth to the public is undeniable. We really appreciate all that you do. Congratulations. And also a special shout out to the
graduating class of 2025. I'll see you on Thursday for the commencement ceremony. I'm looking forward to it. I'll be decorating my cap, too. Yay. President Rock, that concludes my report.
Thank you, Mr. Moore, for that report. Um, are there any committee reports from the board? None. Uh, President R, from a policy committee standpoint, uh, there's a sec there's a first reading on the agenda tonight
related to the high school. That, uh, policy has been reviewed by the board policy committee. Uh, and is the recommendation of the policy committee that the board uh, advance into a second reading for next month's uh, hearing and be ultimately adopted
at the meeting in July. Thank you, Mr. Stevenson. Thank you, Mr. U. Thank you. I'll just say briefly that um I just wanted to mention that we get a lot of emails and not all of them are
ask for a response or want a response, but I I do want to assure everybody that we do read them. And one in particular that caught my interest which I just wanted to mention is that there was a suggestion backed up with a lot of data that I didn't know about the benefits of
starting school half hour later. Um children are sleepdeprived. The the the comments were made um and the learning is not as good as if they're better rested. This has all kinds of implications in terms of scheduling and transportation and after school
activities. But I just wanted um I didn't no need for me to mention their name but I just wanted them to mention that I just wanted to mention that we read that and we listen and we talk about such things and keep them coming. Thank you. Thank you Mr. Hippier. Uh
thank you for those committee reports. Uh I would like to share my board president's report with all of you now and highlight Hazel Elementary School. Principal Castillo announced that Hazel Avenue Elementary School has been selected to receive the 2025 sustainable Jersey grant funded by the PSEG
Foundation in the amount of $10,000. The funds will be utilized for the purpose of a greenhouse learning space for our Hazel students. This announcement of this awarded grant was made very recently and the district is very excited about this initiative. On behalf of the entire board of education, I congratulate Mr. Castillo and the Hazel Elementary PTA. We appreciate their
collaboration, their hard work, and their dedication. Uh the next item on the agenda is the first reading of policy 5460 which Mr. Stevenson mentioned. This is the high school graduation policy. This policy has been reviewed and revised by administration. It is presented this
evening for first reading. Is there any discussion from the board? Hearing none policy will appear on the next agenda for second reading and adoption. Next we will have questions from the public on agenda items only. Any community member who would like to make comments or ask questions, please
come to the podium at this time. Please state your name and address for the record and then begin your comments. Please limit your comments to three minutes. Do we have any members of the public here in the audience tonight who wish to make a public comment microphone is always very high for me. Sorry. Uh hello Superintendent Moore and
members of the board. My name is Josh Goldbar and I live at 10 Nance Road. I'm a 46 46y year resident of West Orange, a teacher at Roosevelt Middle School, and president of the WOEA. Today is a final board meeting before our schools adjourned for the school year. And I'm
thinking back uh about the challenges that we have faced this year. I think everyone would agree when I say that this year has been difficult at times. We faced an unprecedented unprecedented budget deficit this year and Mr. Moore had to make some very difficult
decisions. Some I agree with, some I may not, but that's irrelevant because I know that they were done with careful consideration about how his choices would best serve the students. Let's think back to March when we were first told that we may be facing 100 job losses. I know that he and his team
worked tirelessly to reduce the number of jobs lost due to these cuts and eventually they were able to bring that number down to less than 30. And I want to be clear, even one job lost is one too many. But everyone involved should be commended for their hard work to keep
that number to a minimum. Let's remember that these are not FTEEs, full-time employees. They are mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, people starting their career, people who moved for this job. They have bills to pay and people who depend on them by losing their jobs.
Their lives may be irrevocably changed. We would be morally void if we failed to remember that. In addition to the reduction in staffing, the biggest change being made is the shift to all middle school students uh middle school serving students in grades six to eight. This
has been difficult for all involved and again to his credit, Mr. Moore reached out to the union for our input on the change and we able to and when we are able to, we are happy to help out. I'd like to thank Mr. Moore for that and I look forward to continuing to work as partners in the future. We have worked closely this year and though we have not
always seen eye to eye, our conversations have always been based on mutual respect, which I assure you is not always the relationship between union presidents and the superintendent. Many in the community may not remember, but in 1989, the middle school shifted from a 7 to8 model to a 6 to8 model. In
fact, I was a member of that first cohort of sixth graders who went to middle school in West Orange at Roosevelt. Some support the change, some don't. But again, let's not forget that we are all on the side of doing what is best for the students, regardless of how we feel
about this change or any other changes. And in the end, things will work out. Next year, we will see some New Jerseysized bumps in the road. But we're going to get through it. We'll get through it by working together. is going to be challenging for our middle school
students, especially our sixth graders. And all involved deserve an extra bit of patience and grace. The students are going to need that. The parents will need that. You'll probably need it. And the teachers, I promise, will need that as
well. So, I want to end with a thank you. Thank you to the board for being willing to serve in a role that invites criticism from the public including sometimes maybe myself. It's not an easy role to step into and I commend all of you fulfilling your civic duty. And I
know my times but this is just directed towards them. So if I could have 10 seconds please. Uh I also want to like to take a moment to congratulate the student liaison on their graduation. Uh you have impressed me this year with your poise, your confidence and professionalism. You guys have done a
great job. Congratulations. Thank you. Hello. Good evening. Will Dano 84 Cooane Terrace Orange member of the West Orange Parents for Education. We're still here. We got called out. We have a few members here tonight. If you'd like to join us,
please come up to me afterwards. Anyway, uh I want to start by thanking Nina and Abigail. You guys are fantastic. Stay committed to your community. I was also a student rep. I'm here now in my town. You should be getting in student government when you get to college. Um, we still have a lot of outstanding
requests and questions for y'all and I know that we've been diligent with asking those questions, but Miss Flowers, Superintendent Moore, we still are asking to meet with y'all. Hopefully, now that it's starting to quiet down with the summer, we can all meet. As you can see, the meetings are much less attended. So, I would love to
have our group be able to meet with you very soon. Um, we did have some new questions from the meeting agenda that came out. Um, the assistant superintendent curriculum instruction, the director and assistant director of building and grounds being abolished, wondering how we're going to manage the facilities going forward with those
position changes. And then uh we just saw that the uh director of transportation is is resigning as well, which all the transitions with everything going on with the middle schools is of concern now as well. So those are new questions we have. I know we've already emailed the other questions before. So really looking
forward to meeting with you all again. Thank you for being so diligent with everything. We know same sharing Josh's notes here too that you all have been as diligent as you could be this year with what's happening. And so I hope that we can work together with the parents with the community to try to fill these budget gaps which are going to happen
again next year. So we're here. We're going to stay here. We've already got parents for next three meetings in advance that are scheduled to come here. So we're here and we're looking forward to working with you all. So thanks so much. Thank you. Um Josh, I appreciate that.
That was very uh very nice words. We we definitely appreciate it. Uh I think we all have a common goal and that is to do best for um the community, our school community here in West Orange. Same to our parents. I understand. Uh and we do
plan to do workshops. We're trying to figure out how we can do that with some like quality to it so that we're not just shoving a bunch of things in front of you and say, "Hey, you guys figured this out for us." But um but we we will get we will work with you on that. In
terms of Yes, we uh we lost some uh administrators. Um I think though uh President Gar mentioned that even though we were able to recapture some jobs, the
thing about um the cuts are, you know, we tried to be as equitable as possible and that meant a little more work for the administrators as well. So we have taken on more together which would fill
some of those gaps uh that you had mentioned when it comes to curriculum. We do have some very we have some very astute administrators and those that are in and a lot of what we do is going to be entrenched in research and data. So,
we're we're we're going to be able to work through our curriculum together and what we'll have to do is team up with our teachers and we're we're looking to do a lot of vertical and horizontal articulation especially with the middle schools and the proximity where students
are in a building for a set amount of time. Also, teachers are in the building for three the three years that the students are. We will do more of a surgical work with more of our students in understanding their development as they move from sixth to seventh to 8th
with not only just the academic support but also the social emotional support setting the foundation for high school. We think that the middle schools will give us a chance to do that both academically but also for our teachers
when we now move middle schools instead of just PLC's but more department meetings where their focus subject area from sixth, seventh and eighth and they can feed the information to all three live where our meetings are driven that way with uh whether it's math, English,
science and uh where we can work where we feel that being in the uh one middle school for uh the three years we're able to do that. We're looking forward to that and seeing what that looks like as
we we may not work that way right now exactly but we plan to work that way going forward. Um as far as our facilities are concerned uh yes we did have to make cuts and it
was a twoerson job before and now has moved into a oneperson job um because uh you know we turned some of that savings back into you know the classroom and things of that nature. So but we think
we can still manage it that way. Um, we, yes, it's more work, but I think that we're going to ask the principles, which I know the principles are probably not going to want to hear this on the microphone right now, to work with uh the head their head custodians to do
more localized um things, concentrate on the repairs, more localized, and then work with central office to expand those repairs a little bit more. So that instead of both of what we had before where managers would have to go from building to building to building
separately or together to try to figure out problems within the building. We're going we you know we want to work uh with our principles and our head custodians to kind of identify and help us prioritize some of those repairs and instead of just us at central office,
you know, because we have the pur strings coming in and saying, "Okay, well, we got to fix this or we got to fix that." maybe we'll have a more localized um idea of what needs to be fixed in what building because our funds are limited. So, we have to prioritize
and pick and choose those now. We have to be as frugal as possible right now as you know and uh this we think will help do that. It was a surprise to us that the transportation director uh resigned.
However, um we do think that we can still have a we're looking to maybe have a transportation supervisor similar to a director. Um but there will be some breakage because the director and so
forth comes with a different salary cap. Not that I should be saying this, I guess. I don't know. Am I breaking rules? So would tell me. But but we plan to uh Tanya, you're the one that's supposed to stop me. But we plan to
I could but I went too far. But but we plan to um work on it with our transportation director. Uh what we would look to do is with some of the savings give our director uh an assistance with a dispatcher and perhaps someone else that can we can break down
some of those uh some of the transportation um duties. The thing what has happened as a result of the uh budget is we have a few less routes and that has helped us because we're trying
to figure our routes out where we can use maybe an something let's say a bus for high school and then a bus for elementary instead of having so many routes that we had to triple up the runs which causes uh buses to be late buses to not be on time. So, we're trying to
be more efficient. Um, yes, it helps because more kids can walk to school because we cut so many routes, but it also has given us a chance to um maybe not use buses in a triple route situation, but more of a double route
situation with with the way we have designed it. So, we're looking at uh seeing some efficiencies. We will still move forward. I know that there were some things in my first year that I said right away I want to do this. This is when I thought we'd have the money. Uh
we started but it hasn't stopped us for so we're still moving forward with air conditioning which we've continued. Washington school I'm proud to say has been the first school completed with air conditioning uh and is able to get on and we have the others uh up next. What
we had to do, if you remember, is uh upgrade our electrical in all our buildings because our buildings, elementaryaries because they're old. So that cost plus that time plus tariffs and delays have caused a little bit of
uh uh uh pro um delay, but not extreme. They're still moving forward. Um so those things are still in place. With regards to transportation, we started with our pilot this year where you can track the bus on the K12. We want to
expand on that and can and use IDs for our younger kids so that parents that may not have the 360 thing at least during our school day know where their children are. We're able to uh make sure we know our kids are for field trips,
things of that nature. We'd like live data of where our students. We think that's important security-wise in today's age. And also tracking where our buses are going. We can use data to see what those routes look like, how long those routes go. There's many benefits
to moving in a more technical uh in a more technical position as far as transportation's concerned, but it also I think will will help us going forward as we move into new leadership. And they will. But I will say I want to give Greg
Cohen a shout out because he, you know, I presented this to him and he jumped on. He said, "Okay." And it was a big project, but he met with people, he worked on it, he got us to a certain point. So I think though he's left it in a good place that we're able to pick up.
We all have an understanding on how it works. So I think we're going to be okay with transportation. I'm actually optimistic about it. Um, and I think there's some good changes on the horizon. I I would like to say if we, you know, hopefully, you know, this will
all come to fruition soon so that I can sleep, but uh, we are moving in a direction, but we're able to pick up some of the pieces. We're just going to do a little more with a little less. Thank you, Superintendent Moore. Uh,
moving on to our resolutions. May I have a motion to approve the personnel items A1 through A12? So move. Thank you, Mr. Ifer. Is there a second? Second. Thank you, Mr. Stevenson. I want to congratulate the following retirees. Vincent De Jesus, a science teacher at Liberty Middle School for his 13 years
of service. Connie Salamino, our director of special education for her 21 years of service. James Widen Borner, a social studies teacher at West Orange High School for his 25 years of service. And France, a par professional at West Orange High School for his six years of service. Uh, thank you all and welcome
to the club where every day is Saturday. Is there any discussion on personnel? Hearing none, Miss Flowers, please take the role. Dr. Bryant, yes. Mr. Stevenson, yes. Vice President, yes. President Rock,
yes. Thank you. Next, may I have a motion to approve the curriculum and instruction items B1 through B2? Motion. Thank you, Dr. Bryant. Is there a second? Second. Thank you, Mr. Stevenson. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, Miss Flowers, please take
the role. Dr. Bryant, yes. Mr. Stevenson, yes. Vice President If? Yes. President Rock, yes. Thank you. Next. May I have a motion to approve the finance items C, special services items A 1- 11 and business office items B 1-
through 36 and addendum 37. So moved. Thank you, Mr. Stevenson. Is there a second? Second. Thank you, Dr. Bryant uh like to take this opportunity to thank uh a few people for donations that they have made to the district. Uh the Black Ball Giving Foundation gave $350 to West Orange Public Schools. Dr. Joanne Polaro
gave $1,000 to Kelly Elementary. And the PSNG Foundation is uh giving us a donation of 5,000 as part of that grant that we mentioned earlier in the agenda. Is there any other discussion? Seeing none, Miss Flowers, please take the role. Dr. Bryant, yes. Mr.
Stevenson. Yes. Vice President Ifer. Yes. President Rock. Yes. Thank you. All right. Finally, may I have a motion to approve reports item D1 through three and addendum and addendum? D4. So move D4 and D4. The walk on uh reports item
D1 through D3 plus addendum D4. So moved. Thank you, Mr. Stevenson. Uh is there a second? Second. Thank you, Dr. Bryant. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, Miss Flowers, please take the roll call. Dr. Bryant, yes. Mr.
Stevenson, yes. Vice President Ifer, yes. President Rock, yes. Thank you. All right. Thank you very much to my board colleagues for that. Next up, we have petitions and hearings of citizens for any agenda or non-aggenda item that you wish to discuss. You will have three minutes to speak. Please approach the podium at this time. State your name and
address for the record. Hello everybody. My name is Jaclyn Hendy, Six Beverly Road. Um, I had a question for you guys regarding French in the middle schools. Um, I my daughter is going to be attending Roosevelt. Super excited. It's a wonderful school.
Um, and uh, we received two letters, one that had French and one without. So, I was just curious, is this because we couldn't find somebody to fill the position? Is this going to be a permanent um, removal from the curriculum? And if if it in either case,
how do we um continue the strength of that program throughout the high school? Is there going to be um is it going to my understanding is the way that they the idea would be that you would start in middle school and continue that same language throughout the high school. So if French is now got a gap in it, what
happens at the high school level? So I'd just like to hear a little bit about that. Thanks guys. Appreciate it. Um yes. twofold. Yes, it's very difficult to find certified French teachers. That is correct. But we do have it fully at the
high school one, two, and three. Um it we prior to I believe me, myself coming in, we didn't have languages. I think we only had one in the middle schools, but we added languages to the middle school. And I know people want to keep them and
so forth. the budget plus the hiring and certifications, finding someone with the certifications. What we did do was to make sure that we've had people, we've even went back and tried to hire retired French teachers to come on to work a
little bit. So, yes, we see the importance of it. So, no, we will try to maintain French. That's not a that's no question. We want to maintain everything we have. And we were going to even maintain Mandarin. We we just couldn't do it in the lower levels at first. But
like anything, unfortunately, this budget was devastating. These were some tough choices, but um also enrollment and certifications are also also played a role in in some of the uh
situations because not all are decisions. Some were like, okay, this is the situation we're in. We can't seem to do something about it. But I I think that that might be across uh districts because we've pitched I've pitched to my colleagues and we steal each other's
teachers at this point. I'm just telling you Oscar, you can vouch. We steal each other's teachers because it's hard to do that. Thank you, Mr. Moore. All right, that concludes public comment for this evening. Were you going to Oh, I thought
you wanted to say something before we adjourned. Oh, I did, but no. Would you like to say something before? Oh, sure. Sure. Sure. Because the next thing is a motion to adjourn. Okay. Well, then let me take the opportunity then. Uh, thank you, President Rock. Just want to say a couple of things. Uh, congratulations to
all of the graduates who are graduating, all the students who are moving up, the kindergarteners, the fifth graders, those students who are leaving 8th grade, particularly uh my son's fifth grade class at Redwood Elementary. They're looking forward to their middle school experience. want to say a special
shout out and thank you to all of the PTAs at all the respective schools for all of their hard work, the parents that put in the time to ensure that all of the activities throughout the year are done and done for the benefit of kids. Uh sometimes the work of the PTA gets
overlooked. I just wanted to take the time to acknowledge the work of the PTAs. Uh and lastly, I just want to say again, I stay consistent. West Orange really does benefit from the leadership of Hayden Moore as a superintendent uh
who is able to function on a parallel tracks despite the emergent crisis in the last few months of the of the budget issues he was able to continue to work simultaneously to move the district forward. Uh so despite all of the unfounded, unnecessary
um and unwarranted criticism of the last few months, uh he continued to lead. And so I thank him for that. Thank him for his willingness to engage this board in meaningful discussions around how we uh set forth an agenda that serves our students and it and their families. Uh
the policy that was the first reading tonight is indicative of that. the middle school 678 plan is indicative of that. Um, and really just his overall manner in which he approaches the job is
indicative just of his leadership and the character and the caliber of the person that he is. So, it's my honor to serve with him. Uh, despite issues that arise as the budget crisis, uh, he continues to remain as consistent and constant as he is as a leader. And so as
an elected board member, it's it's good to have someone at the helm who despite these upticks of crisis is able to continue to flow and function. So thank you, Mr. Moore, for your leadership. Uh thank you, President Rock, and my fellow board members uh for our stick
tuitiveness uh throughout any issues that emerge as we continue to do what we've been impanled to do. So thank you. This meeting will be held in the West Orange High School Library Media Center. We will not be going into executive
session after the close of this meeting. There will be no further business discussed and no additional action will be taken. May I have a motion to adjurnn? Motion. Thank you, Mr. Ifer. Is there a second? Second. Thank you, Dr. Bryant. All in favor? I. All right. Thank you for joining us tonight. Our meeting is now adjourned. We wish you a
good night. picture with these. That's it.