Good evening everyone. Happy 2026. Welcome to the West Orange Board of Education January 6, 2026 reorganization meeting. My name is Tre Lanin. I am the assistant business administrator for the district and I will be the acting board
secretary for tonight's meeting. Um, in this evening's agenda, there is a resolution for board approval for the designation of positions where I am being appointed the assistant board secretary going forward. At this time, please stand for the
At this time, please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge >> allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
The 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 is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provisions of the
act. A written notice was sent from the office of the secretary of the board. That said notice was sent by regular mail to the West Orange Township clerk and the editors of the West Orange Chronicle and 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 at ww.wobe.org. Please be advised that this meeting is being recorded and may be broadcast on local TV and the district's website at a future date.
I will now announce the official results of the annual school election held on November 4th, 2025. Four candidates ran for two three-year terms. Dr. Dia Bryant received 7,870 total votes.
Dr. Robert received 7,05 total votes. Susan Palamucci received 5,423 total votes. Noa Sadani received 5,26 total votes. Thank you to all of the
candidates who ran in the election. Next, we will have the administration of the oath of office starting with Dr. Bryant. Dr. Bryant, I would like to invite you up to the podium. >> [clears throat] >> Please raise your right hand and read
the oath of office aloud. >> I [clears throat] I, Dr. Dear Bryant, do solemnly swear or affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith
and allegiance to to the same and to the governments established in the United States and this state under the authority of the people. So help me God. I, Dr. Dia Bryant do solemnly swear or affirm that I possess the qualifications
prescribed by law for the office of a member of the board of education and that I am not disqualified as a voter pursuant RS194 through1 nor disqualified through conviction of a crime or offense listed
in NJS 18A 12 through1 and I will faithfully impartially and justly perform all the duties of that office according to the best of my ability. So help me God. Sworn and subscribed before you this day
this what is this ninth day? >> Today January 6 >> this sixth day of January 2026. >> Thank you so much. Thank you, >> Dr. Please raise your right hand.
I, Robert, do solemnly swear or affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey, and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States and this state under the authority of the
people. So help me God. I, Robert, do solemnly swear that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office of member of a board of education and that I am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to RS194-1,
nor disqualified due to conviction of a crime or offense listed in NJS 18A 12-1 and that I will faithfully, partially, and justly perform all the duties of that office according to the best of my ability. So help me God.
Sworn and subscribe to before me this day of January 6, 2026. picture. Should we go up? >> Yeah. and congratulating our returning members of the board.
>> I will now take a roll call. Dr. Bryant >> here, >> Dr. Eer >> here, >> Mr. Rock >> here, >> Mr. Stevenson [clears throat] >> here, >> and Miss Farah >> here. Next on our agenda is the election of the president following which the
president will assume this seat. The floor will now open for nomination for president of the board of education. Any member of the board may place any member's name for nomination. I will be asking for a second even though one is not required. Are there any nominations?
>> Yes. I'd like to nominate Brian Ro. A second. >> Second. >> Thank you. >> Are there any other nominations for the office of presidency? >> Hearing none, I will now take a roll call for Mr. Rock for president of the
board of education. Dr. Bryant, >> yes. >> Mr. Ifer, >> yes. >> Mr. Stevenson, >> yes. >> And Miss Farah, >> yes. >> Congratulations, President Rock. You are now the president.
Thank you all for that. Next, we will open the floor for nominations for vice president of the board of education. Are there any nominations? >> Yes, >> Mr. Stevenson. >> President Rock, I rise, albeit ceremoniously, to nominate the honorable Maria Vera for vice president of the
board of education. We have a nomination for Maria Ver. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Dr. Bryant. Are there any other nominations? >> All right. Seeing none, Miss Lamin, will you please take a roll call for Maria Vera for vice president of the board of
education? >> Yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Mr. Rock. >> Yes. >> And Mr. Stevenson? >> Yes. >> Congratulations, Miss V. >> Thank you.
each one of you board members and >> now that we're done with that piece just want to take a point of personal privilege to thank all my board colleagues for for this support and for returning me to be president and congratulations to Miss Beer for returning to be vice president. We have had a eventful but successful couple of
years. I think everything that we've done between the uh prek uh universal prek expansion between the investments that we've made in our [clears throat] physical plant between the attention that we've paid to our uh curriculum and instruction issues especially in the middle school we've made some progress. It's been eventful and I look forward to
another year where we can celebrate that progress and cement that uh moving forward and especially another year working with Mr. Ward as superintendent. You've been in the seat a couple years now and every year we get a little better at this. But I'm I'm proud to be your partner as president again for another year. >> Were you over here?
>> Absolutely. [clears throat] Right. Now we will move on to our resolutions. I would like to call attention to item K, code of ethics for schoolboard members. All members of the board have read and received a copy of the code of ethics and will provide a signed copy to
the board secretary to be kept on file. [clears throat] May I have a motion to approve reorganization resolutions D through R. >> Motion. >> Thank you, Dr. Brian. Is there a second? Second. Thank you, Mr. Ker. Any discussion? Seeing none. Miss Flowers are up. Miss
Lamin, please take the role. >> Yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Mr. Ro. >> Yes. >> Mr. Stevenson. >> Yes. >> Thank you very much to my board colleagues for that. Uh that brings us up to petitions and hearings of citizens agenda or non-aggenda items 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, my name is Ma Matthew Felson. I live at 93 Lesting Road. Um, I'd like to read a petition letter. I know some of you have already seen it and responded
as well, so thank you. Uh, the dear members of the board and administration. Uh, so we representing the undersigned parents, there's about 70 or so folks who've signed. Um, guardians of young children currently enrolled in early childhood childhood centers in West Orange are writing to formally express
our concern regarding the recent change to the UPK enrollment policy that removes a guaranteed or priority placement for children already enrolled at participating private providers. So many of us made deliberate and long-term child care and family decisions based on the district's previously established
UPK structure under which children would uh enroll the participating pro providers would age up and get guaranteed placement once eligible. Families specifically sought out UPK participating locations years in advance, transition children into these programs well before eligibility, and structure their childare plans around
the expectation of continuity of care. For some families, these decisions extended beyond childare alone. One family chose West Orange out of several neighboring towns when relocating in part because of the stability and predictability of the UPK program as it was presented and implemented over the past several years. Others uh
coordinated employment, [clears throat] housing, sibling enrollment decisions around the expectation that UPK placement would follow the public rules. Our children have in many cases been enrolled at these providers since infancy. They form strong bonds with teachers, peers, and school environments that are developmentally important at
this young age. Several families transition transition children into participating providers months or even years ago specifically to minimize disruption and avoid multiple school transitions during early childhood. And while these examples are from families within our classroom, they likely extend not only to families with children in
the infant and toddler rooms, but for this span of ages across all of the dozen plus providers. The lack of a transition buffer has also placed participating childare centers in difficult positions. Throughout 2025, providers enrolled enrolled families and structured and restructured classrooms
based on the existing policy. Some centers transitioned away from private three and four year old classrooms entirely in reliance on the up the prior UPK framework. If a currently enrolled child is not selected in the lottery, they not only lose access to a no cost placement, but that family doesn't even
have the option to pay private tuition to keep their child at the same location. uh with minimal notice, they are now attempting to accommodate families who may lose access to seats at their current school through no fault of their own. Given that this is the fourth year out of a five-year UPK roll out, we
respectfully request the district consider a transition accommodation at minimum for those rising to 3K in the upcoming year. Any family, though, including those with younger children that have made decisions or plans reliant on the existing program structure should receive [clears throat] similar consideration. Such an approach
would preserve the district's long-term policy goals while honoring the reasonable expectation of continuity of care, families, and providers who have planned under the prior rules. We appreciate the district's investment in a universal prek and its commitment to early childhood education. We hope the board and administration will consider
the real and immediate impact the sudden change has on families, children, providers, and adopted an approach that reflects fairness, transparency, and continuity of care. Thank you. >> [clears throat] >> Thank you. >> Printed version and signatures. I don't know if I should. >> You give it to Miss Lampage. She'll
distribute to the board. Thank you. Is there anyone else that wants to make public comment this evening? >> Anything you wanted to? >> I appreciate that. But let me clarify a few things. We've always had a lottery
system. There are no guarantees. Number um and especially while we have uncertainty with the budget, we have not expanded our prek because we have ran into some uncertainty.
Here's the equity. Yes, some parents are able to play pay for private schools and we are seeking vendors from private schools. So therefore, you may have you may be paying that private school that we have our commitment to having universal
precare. But you use the word eligibility. You're correct. Eligibility begins at three. That means everyone in our community moves to a lottery and then the lottery decides on who comes in
with no bias. Therefore, parents that can't pay for prek when they're two or an infant will still have the same opportunity as parents that do pay for prek because I'm we don't just cover
some parents or 70 parents, we cover 600 parents. And we want to make sure that it's equitable for all. On the other end, we have parents that come to us and say, "Hey, Mr. more. You've been, you know me, you've been here a long time. I
may get free lunch. I can't afford it. Can you guarantee me a spot in the prek program? I cannot. Equity. I cannot because I explained to them the same. I understand your plight. However,
because we're limited in how much room we have and we're limited in funds, we do a lottery. So therefore, parents that may have already started paying, they can get in due to the lottery. And parents that may not have paid at all or
started their kids can still get in because it's due to a lottery. So when we're talking equitable, that's as equitable as you can be. Now, with that being said, if you do happen to get
in based on the lottery and you attend a private prek, we'll do everything in our power to keep you there as long as it's part of our universal prek program. We are more than accommodating and a decent people and we understand, but we cannot
guarantee people whether it's have or have not. The only way we can do things that in which we show equity is to create it in such a way that whether you were able to pay for it
earlier, you're not guaranteed a spot or whether you couldn't pay for it at all, you get you may have a chance at a spot. So eligibility becomes important. And when you're all at three, then we all do the lottery. And therefore, those that get in, you can get in. And if you're at
a spot in which we have universal prek, we will work to get you into that program and work from there. That's as equitable as we can be. We understand that um it's not pleasurable for people and you might make your plans, but as a
school system, we cover 7,000 students. They may not fit into everyone's plans. But it's important for me as the superintendent to survey our entire community and work from that angle. And
that's why there's a lottery system. So no, there are no guarantees. Nor would I lock up the the district into a guarantee as that can cause people to feel there's liability. Why am I not there? Where's the bias? No biases. It's
a lottery system. Just clarifying plain language. Are you saying that the denominator gets bigger once all of the three-year-olds are in that lotto? So when you go from private to three, the denominator is much larger. There are many more people vying
for the >> Absolutely there are. But not only Yeah, it's absolutely. Not only that, um we started at three in our community because we looked at the numbers and what we could have afforded and so forth
and therefore we have to open it up at three for those that may not been able to start earlier or those that have started early. >> It's a bigger pool of people. That's what I was trying to make. >> No, it is. It's a bigger pool of people. [clears throat] >> Absolutely. So that's why we do the
lottery system and that's where we work off of equity and we feel that's equitable and with our budget it's we we're sorry that we couldn't expand more. we want to which would make it easier for you to get in and I wouldn't even have to have
a conversation like that but unfor unfortunately we have uncertainty and I do refer back to this to this community and to the teachers and people at large we are dealing with a deficit in which we are trying to balance and work with
so please keep that in mind as you think please don't think this is just being ogres or being but we have to stay steadfast in our work steadfast on the budget, making sure that we're fiscally responsible going forward so that we can
have all these programs that your kids enjoy. Now, [clears throat] >> thank you, Mr. Moore. I just want to accentuate that last piece you said, which is that we are working towards universal prek enrollment. It's unfortunate that we have to have a lottery for a short period of time, and that can be frustrating, I know, for
families that moved here because they heard there's universal prek. Um, but it's very hard to stand up a program that serves 900 or so students overnight. And so, this has been a four-year uh point of progress to get to this point. And within the next two to three years, we should be at the point where we're within the next couple
years, we have 100% enrollment. We are actively working on increasing the amount of space that we have in the district for this. We're actively seeking more providers so that we can do that. Um, but it's the unfortunate reality that right now we have almost everyone enrolled in prek, but we can't guarantee that 100% are enrolled.
All right. Uh, so there's no other comments from the board. We will uh take a motion to adjurnn. >> Motion. >> Thank you, Mr. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Miss Beer. All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? Thank you for joining us tonight. Our meeting is now adjourned.
We wish you a good night.