MINUTES OF THE PATERSON BOARD OF EDUCATION REGULAR MEETING
November 20, 2007 – 7:00 p.m. John F. Kennedy High School
Presiding: Comm. Andre Sayegh, President
Present: Dr. Michael Glascoe, State District Superintendent Ms. Frances Finkelstein, Business Administrator Mark Tabenkin, Esq., General Counsel Mr. Mark Kramer, State Monitor
*Comm. Joseph Atallo Comm. Waheedah Muhammad Comm. Jonathan Hodges Comm. Lawrence Spagnola *Comm. Errol Kerr Comm. Willa Mae Taylor, Vice President
Absent: Comm. Chauncey Brown
The Salute to the Flag was led by Miss Mahmoda Choudhury, 12th Grade, N.H.S.
Comm. Taylor read the Open Public Meetings Act:
The New Jersey Open Public Meetings Act was enacted to insure the right of the public to have advance notice of, and to attend the meetings of the Paterson Public School District, as well as other public bodies at which any business affecting the interest of the public is discussed or acted upon. In accordance with the provisions of this law, the Paterson Public School District has caused notice of this meeting:
Regular Meeting November 20, 2007 at 7:00 p.m. John F. Kennedy High School 61-127 Preakness Avenue Paterson, New Jersey
to be published by having the date, time and place posted in the office of the City Clerk of the City of Paterson, at the entrance of the Paterson Public School offices, and by sending notice of the meeting to the Arab Voice, El Diario, the Italian Voice, the New Jersey Herald & News, and The Record.
1 11/20/07 Revised Comm. Sayegh: I understand Miss Choudhury may be attending Fairleigh Dickinson University next fall and we wish you well in your academic endeavors. I want to remind the members of the general public who wish to participate during the public portion that there is a sign-up sheet. If you want to address the Board of Education, please sign in. It will be collected within 30 minutes and each speaker will have three minutes. At this time, I would like to turn the meeting over to Dr. Glascoe for Presentations and Communications.
PRESENTATIONS AND COMMUNICATIONS
Paterson Strings – Schools 7 and 10
Dr. Glascoe: Thank you, Comm. Sayegh. Tonight we are going to hear from a very talented and unique group of student musicians in our district - the one and only Paterson Strings. Under the direction of music teacher Nathan Thomas, the Strings bring together over 50 dedicated student violinists in grades 5 through 8. The students attend School 7 and School 10, and have performed at numerous venues, including the Annual New Jersey State Music Educators Convention and the district’s Teacher of the Year Award Ceremony. Last month, the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra worked with a few of these musicians and invited them on stage for a world-class performance for 500 students. The students showcased what they learned by performing the Star Spangled Banner with the Symphony Orchestra. The Paterson Strings will now perform two musical selections. The first piece will be a French folk song, followed by Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. Take it away, Strings.
(Performance by Paterson Strings)
Dr. Glascoe: Mr. Thomas, would you like to say a few words or at least let us know where they will be appearing next?
Mr. Nathan Thomas: We will be having our Annual Christmas Concert. Dr. Dougé, I didn’t run this by you but I would like to combine both of my schools and hopefully you will allow us to host it at your school on December 19th, which is the day we chose for the School 10 Christmas Concert. I would like to have the School 7 children collaborate and combine with them on that date. With you approval, Dr. Dougé, we will be performing again on December 19th at School 10.
Dr. Glascoe: Way to go, Mr. Thomas.
Mr. Thomas: I don’t think she can say no now.
Dr. Glascoe: Certainly, we really want to thank this wonderful group and Mr. Thomas for his efforts. We also want to thank our principals. Dr. Dougé, please stand so that we can acknowledge you. Is Christine Damasceno here tonight? So this was a wonderful treat and as we all move on to celebrate Thanksgiving and the tremendous
2 11/20/07 Revised holiday season this was a tremendous lift. So thanks to our wonderful group of students.
Recognition of the Heroic Actions by Adalgisa Toro and Joyce Huster
Dr. Glascoe: As you know, working with children is an enormous responsibility, with safety being the highest priority. Tonight, I am honored to present a resolution to two very courageous teachers from our district. These two fine women jumped into action a few weeks ago, potentially saving the lives of many students and staff members. What happened is this. On Tuesday, November 6, a bus carrying great School 5 students and staff was returning from a field trip when its driver, Sheila Austin, experienced a massive heart attack. Noticing that the bus had lost control, Ms. Adalgisa Toro, a bilingual teacher, and Ms. Joyce Huster, an ESL teacher, intervened immediately and brought the swerving vehicle to a complete stop. I am happy to report that none of our students or staff members were injured, thanks to the swift thinking of Ms. Toro and Ms. Huster. Unfortunately, Ms. Austin, the bus driver, is still in the hospital in a coma. Her prognosis is slightly better as she is breathing on her own and has been moved from the Intensive Care Unit at Bayonne Hospital. Ladies and gentlemen, our prayers are with Ms. Austin and her family and we wish her a speedy recovery. Now, I will read the resolution to our two courageous great School 5 teachers. If they are in the audience, would they join me here? Their principal, Mr. Borja, will join me. Please bear with me. I think this deserves a situation where I read the entire resolution.
WHEREAS, on November 6, 2007, members of the great School No. 5 sixth grade family traveled to The Liberty Science Center for an enlightened educational experience, and
WHEREAS, on their return trip home, one of the bus drivers succumbed to a massive heart attack while the bus was in motion, and
WHEREAS, Bilingual Teacher, Ms. Adalgisa Toro, leaped from her seat and into the driver’s space to successfully bring the swerving bus under control, and
WHEREAS, ESL Teacher, Ms. Joyce Huster, assisted Ms. Toro in bringing the bus to a complete stop, and
WHEREAS, the educators on the other buses, Natasha Smith, 6th Grade Math Teacher, Gayle Musnikow, 6th Grade Math Teacher, Mohammed Karim, 6th Grade Math Teacher, Kathleen Romano, 6th Grade LAL Teacher, Carol Thompson, 6th Grade LAL Teacher, and Christine Alsharif, 6th Grade LAL Teacher, immediately provided collegial assistance and support to their colleagues and the bus driver, and
3 11/20/07 Revised WHEREAS, all of the students were unharmed during this unfortunate event,
BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED, that we salute the valiant, dauntless, heroic and gallant efforts of Ms. Toro, Ms. Huster and the entire 6th Grade contingency, for their successful efforts to protect the students from serious injury by bringing the bus to a halt, and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we keep the bus driver, Ms. Sheila Austin, and her family, in our thoughts and prayers.
Dr. Glascoe: Duly noted and here is the resolution that I hope you will display proudly at the great School 5.
Navigation 101
Dr. Glascoe: We had a unique opportunity to bring a very exciting and worthwhile program to our district with the help of the Paterson Education Fund. You have heard us talk about Navigation 101 before and we are using it in our 6th grade classes. Well, from time to time we want to provide you with updates as to how well the program is going and it is certainly our hope to expand that program even through 12th grade. Without further ado, I am asking representatives from the Paterson Education Fund to come forward and give us an update.
Ms. Rosie Grant: Thank you, Dr. Glascoe. Good evening Mr. President, Commissioners, staff and audience. My name is Rosie Grant and I am Program Director of the Paterson Education Fund. Co-presenting will be Ms. Rima Bandeli, who is guidance counselor at the great School 12. We also have a student, Ms. Lyjerria Mobley, who will come to the microphone in a few minutes to add her piece about Navigation 101. The State of New Jersey passed the regulations for the Abbott Secondary Education Initiative late last year, which mandates personalization for students, it mandates that they be broken into smaller learning communities at the middle school and high school levels, and it mandates increased rigor in the classroom for middle and high school children. This goes into effect in September of 2008, but Paterson has taken a proactive role and is implementing Navigation 101 ahead of schedule, starting with the 6th grade as a pilot so that we will be ready for full implementation when the law goes into effect in September of 2008. Navigation 101 is a life skills advisory personalized curriculum. Kids participate in small advisory groups in their classrooms. It is being implemented in every 6th grade classroom in Paterson Public Schools. Over the spring of last year, 200 volunteer teachers and other professional staff members were trained as advisors and are currently leading small group advisory sessions with their students. These advisors are assigned to the 6th grade students and will stay with them throughout their middle school career. Something similar with advisory and portfolio will happen at the high school level and those students will be assigned to an advisor in the 9th grade and that advisor will stay
4 11/20/07 Revised with them throughout their high school career. Ms. Bandeli is going to talk a little bit about the topics that are covered by Navigation 101.
*Comm. Kerr and Comm. Atallo enter the meeting at 7:27 p.m.
Ms. Rima Bandeli: Good evening. Every month there is a theme and every discussion is wrapped around the theme. For example, in September we talk about setting goals. The students all worked on setting 6th grade goals. We are trying to make the students understand that you must start with small goals in order to reach your larger goal. So in September they start thinking about what they need to do now in the 6th grade to help them succeed as they move on. In October we talked about improving academically and the students were given their NJASK scores. The advisors went over the NJASK scores and explained to them exactly what the scores meant. The students also obtained their progress reports and put them in their portfolios. They are setting an academic plan so that they know what they are doing academically for the school year. In November they are planning for next year. Every year they do this so that they can think about one year at a time, rather than think too far ahead. In December they will be exploring careers. There is a survey that they will be doing to look at the 16 career clusters and where their interest seems to lie. They will do this every year in order to see if there is a difference by the time they get to the 8th grade. In January they are planning for life after high school. They will explore difference avenues of where they can be after high school. In February they talk about building community. They will put together a service activity. Every group can do their own, or the whole school can do one together. In March they talk about using money and the children will also do a budget so that they can see exactly what it means to budget their money out and have some left over. In April they prepare for their student-led conferences. Lyjerria is going to give you a glimpse of the student-led conference and this is done in May. At the end of May they will update a four-year plan. Every year they add to that four-year plan.
Ms. Lyjerria Mobley: Good evening everyone. My name is Lyjerria Mobley from School 12 and I am part of the Eagle Eye Group of Navigation 101. This is my portfolio. A portfolio is important to organize important information, to help you plan for the future, and to market yourself. There are three categories in organizing your portfolio – learner, career and citizen. Learner is for academic development, career is for career development, and citizen is for personal and social development. This is my Navigation 101 checklist. So far I have checked off annual goals and NJASK scores. We have also done our 6th grade goals. My 6th grade goals are to become a cheerleader, achieve Principal’s List, and be in the National Junior Honor Society. This is our writing assignment. It was on if we thought October was a good month for us. I wrote, “I think October has been a good month for me. This month I made the cheerleading squad. Making the cheerleading squad is something I have been waiting to do since 3rd grade.” We also got our progress reports. I had all A’s and B’s, and two C’s. These are my 5th grade NJASK scores. I received proficient in both categories – mathematics and language arts literacy. These are the three learning categories. Out of visual learner, auditory learner and kinesthetic learner, I found out that I was a kinesthetic learner.
5 11/20/07 Revised These are the learning tips for a kinesthetic learner. They help me study better. Thank you.
Ms. Grant: Thank you, Lyjerria. That was an example of what every one of our 6th grade kids will be doing this May and next May all of our kids, 6th, 7th and 8th grades. They will present individually to their advisor and parent or guardian what their goals are, who they are, what their own expectations are, what their grades are, why they have those grades, and how they will improve them, etc. So we are very excited as we work toward the student-led conference. Lyjerria has only been doing this for three months and she has that much information in her portfolio and is so confident and proud about sharing what she has done. Thanks again.
Comm. Hodges: We are all very proud of her, too.
Dr. Glascoe: Ms. Grant, is Lyjerria’s mom or dad in the audience? Please stand and be recognized. Thank you so much for sending us the very best. Thank you.
Ms. Grant: We were happy to be able to send 10 people to visit with the Franklin Pierce School District is Tacoma, Washington where the program was developed. Those people are now our Paterson trainers. They are Paterson teachers and guidance counselors who have helped to train the 200 people here and we are gearing up in January and February to train another 450 teachers as advisors so that we can implement fully at the middle school level. I think we can entertain questions, Dr. Glascoe, or if there is anything that needs clarification about the program.
Comm. Sayegh: Are there any questions? Thank you. That was very thorough.
Ms. Grant: Thank you.
Comm. Sayegh: Just as a reminder, for anyone who wishes to address the Board during the public portion the sign-in sheet is available at the podium. It will be collected within five minutes, so if you are interested in addressing us please sign in.
REPORT OF STATE DISTRICT SUPERINTENDENT
Dr. Glascoe: Comm. Sayegh, I just have one brief remark about one of our communications vehicles, our website. I want folks to know that our website receives about 20,000 visitors a week and is still growing. We seek to improve that website as much as we can. We take a lot of feedback and from time to time you will even see a suggestion box or an assessment within the website that you can fill out to give us information. But some of the things that you can look forward to is that there is a section, and this is for staff, for human resources. This is an area that is visited quite often, as you well know, with job opportunities and the like. It’s pretty good. We receive many, many applications online and in fact that is the wave of the future – online applications. There is a college bound site. This all-new page provides important information for students who are in the process of investigating college funding,
6 11/20/07 Revised admissions, scholarships and the like. There is a new athletics page. It’s a component in our education world, as you well know, but by building a page that provides schedules, information, team rosters, contact information and more we are hoping to bring more young people to our website through athletics. And we have a section for frequently asked questions – FAQs. So please visit our website. Also, there is a student gallery and this is in the works so stay tuned, but soon it will highlight the background and results of creative projects from students from all of our grades. On this web page one can review the topical background of a project and then view the results, such as a painting, a piece of sculpture, poetry and more. So the goal is to increase awareness of the many talents of our students while also presenting the useful background information regarding an educational challenge and experience. So these are the things that are in the works for our web page. As I said before, this web page is constantly being updated and improved and your comments are welcome. I want to ask Ms. Laura Constable to please stand. She is the Director of Communications and the person that drives all of the things that go into our web page. It’s a job well done with the rest of her staff. That concludes my announcements.
Comm. Hodges: Mr. President, I was hoping to hear from the Superintendent regarding the appointment of somebody in the math department, the chair of the math department. We had this discussion at the workshop.
Dr. Glascoe: Yes, we do have an acting person that has been approved.
Comm. Hodges: We have an acting person that has been approved?
Dr. Glascoe: Yes. No, I’m sorry. Excuse me, Dr. Hodges. I am thinking of another position. I’m thinking of guidance. No, we are still in the process of filling that vacancy, so we have not completed that yet.
Comm. Hodges: Where are we in that process, sir?
Dr. Glascoe: I think there’s one more interview that’s in process and then the results will be reviewed and a final selection made.
Comm. Hodges: Thank you.
REPORT OF BOARD PRESIDENT
Comm. Sayegh: I first would like to bring to the attention of the Board and members of the general public the unfortunate and untimely passing of one of our teachers at School 21. Her name was Ava Beth Moldoff and at this time I would like to ask that each and every one of you in her honor give a moment of silence.
(Moment of Silence)
7 11/20/07 Revised Comm. Sayegh: Thank you. As it has been reported and I have regrettably informed the Board, Commissioner Alonzo “Al” Moody has resigned. He is an honorable man and I’m proud to have served with him. It’s both unfair and unfortunate that he has had to resign due to what I believe is a flawed law. He has proudly served on this Board of Education for over 16 years and we will remember him for his honesty and his integrity. As I have stated publicly, advocating for children is not what he calls his career. It’s what he calls his life. We will miss Commissioner Alonzo “Al” Moody. There is also the matter of replacing him and filling the vacancy, which we will discuss later. We will strictly discuss the process and that will be a public discussion held in Other Business. For the time being, I wish Commissioner Al Moody well and he will be dearly missed. I want to take this time to once again publicly thank the committee chairwoman Comm. Waheedah Muhammad, who has certainly seized the initiative as far as policy is concerned. She just recently went to a conference and has put everything into perspective as far as what our role is as a Board of trustees. We are to be policy driven and for the first time in a long time we have been driven by policy. It’s because of the dedication and diligence of the entire policy committee – Comm. Muhammad, Comm. Hodges, and Comm. Taylor – that I am proud to announce that we have completed the first round of policies that we have been presented. The purpose of reviewing policies and making adjustments to these policies is to ensure student success. We are here for one reason and one reason only – academic achievement. So at this time I want to conclude my Board President presentation and segue into the next item on the agenda, which is the approval of policies for the first reading. I turn the meeting over to our policy committee chairwoman, Comm. Waheedah Muhammad.
APPROVE POLICIES FOR FIRST READING
Comm. Muhammad: Thank you, Mr. President. Good evening everyone. We are pleased to advise that the policy committee has reviewed 93 listed mandated policies and are submitting them tonight for first reading. There will be continual review of policy 2220-1 and also we are replacing policy 9322. More revisions will be happening, but at this time we are very, very proud to have worked diligently to get these policies in place. For anyone wishing to review what those policies are, they are on the table to my left.
Comm. Sayegh: To your left?
Comm. Muhammad: To my right, okay. At this time, I will entertain any questions or concerns about these policies from my colleagues.
Comm. Atallo: We have a resolution on the agenda here with additional policies. Are these included in the ones that are being presented tonight, policies 1220 through 1550?
Comm. Muhammad: Yes, sir.
Comm. Atallo: My question is this. On 1510, the rights of persons with handicaps or disabilities/policy on nondiscrimination, we need to address this regarding the American
8 11/20/07 Revised Disabilities Act, the ADA, because there are a number of our facilities that are not accessible by those with disabilities. That’s in clear violation of the law and we need to address that for those that are employed by the district and those who may visit – parents and/or students. One individual who is in a wheelchair was hired by the district to be a substitute teacher but told me that he cannot gain access to certain schools because he’s in a wheelchair. I know from my own firsthand experience six years ago when I slipped on the ice in the parking lot of Kennedy High School when it was icy out there and I broke my foot and was temporarily disabled. I was on crutches for three weeks and what we normally just take for granted in running up the stairs as second nature, I had to navigate stairs and it was very difficult with crutches. Those in wheelchairs have an even more difficult situation. So we need to address that because under the American Disabilities Act, the ADA, we are required to make those buildings accessible to everyone.
Comm. Muhammad: Thank you. Any other questions or concerns?
It was moved by Comm. Muhammad, seconded by Comm. Sayegh to Approve Policies for First Reading. On roll call all members voted in the affirmative. The motion carried.
PUBLIC COMMENTS
It was moved by Comm. Spagnola, seconded by Comm. Taylor that the Public Comments portion of the meeting be opened. On roll call all members voted in the affirmative. The motion carried.
Comm. Sayegh: At this time, we are going to open the floor for public comments. Please be reminded that each member of the public has three minutes to address the Board. There is also a monitor, which will indicate how much time each individual has remaining.
Mr. Charles Ferrer: Charles Ferrer, 421 East 33rd in Paterson. I have some brief concerns. Through the Chair to either Dr. Glascoe or the monitor, there are some concerns over the fact that a lot of schools, my school included, had their orders for supplies either cut or stopped over the summer. When we asked who stopped the orders or who decided not to do this some people said it was Dr. Glascoe and some people said it was Mr. Kramer. So maybe for clarification purposes we can get a direct answer as to who stopped it and why. When my overhead projector goes down and there are no bulbs because the bulb orders were cancelled I then have to go out to Staples and it costs me $21.99 plus tax to buy the bulbs. If the order was not cancelled this wouldn’t have happened. I am concerned with a lot of things that I see in the monitor’s report. I am trying to understand why there are still outstanding violations or fire violations according to this in several schools, mine included with 17 still remaining. School 16 has 20. MPACT Academy has 50 violations remaining. How long is that going to take to clear up? My other concern is your agenda speaks to three minutes per person and five minutes per organization. I am concerned with the way you are
9 11/20/07 Revised following this policy. If you are going to follow it you should follow it to the letter of the public participation and Board meetings, which states you want people to be actively involved. But now you are setting limitations. Nowhere in your policy does it say anything about after a certain period of time you are pulling the sign-in sheet. So if someone should walk in after a certain time they should still be able to sign in. It does say anything in here where you need to pull the sheet. As you can see, there are not that many people who have signed up today and things of that nature. But the sheet is not here. So it is granted that you may want to do something that is in order. But if it is going to be in order, it should be in order according to your policy. Since you are reviewing policy, maybe you need to review this one because it also speaks to 30 minutes for the public. If you have 20 people here to speak that is going to be an issue. According to your beginning statement you want the participation of the public. But if you limit it to 30 minutes, if they are not within the first 10, they don't get an opportunity. If that is not going to happen, what other forum are you going to give them? That is what you need to consider if you are going to address your policy.
Comm. Atallo: Point of order.
Comm. Sayegh: I’m sorry. That is not a point of order. That is not the proper terminology.
Comm. Atallo: That is a point of order. Are you going to answer Mr. Ferrer’s question?
Comm. Sayegh: That would be a point of clarification, or point of information.
Comm. Atallo: Are you going to answer the gentleman’s question?
Comm. Sayegh: Are you addressing me?
Comm. Atallo: Yes - you and the Superintendent.
Comm. Sayegh: All I can speak to is that everything is subject to review, but at this time we are going to proceed in the fashion that the bylaws state we should.
Comm. Atallo: I think the gentleman is entitled to an answer to his question.
Comm. Hodges: Mr. President, he also asked the question about the orders and this is something that I too have been confronted with. So there is some confusion and I actually have some concerns, which I will address after the public portion, about this very issue and some other things. But that is a question that is resonant throughout the district, what is happening to the orders for materials in the district.
Dr. Glascoe: I understand that Dr. Hodges and we will provide a full report to the Board. But to try to respond to these concerns and questions now would not do justice to the getting to the bottom of it because there has to be a full investigation from the generation of the orders, the timing of it, and all of those things. But we will provide as
10 11/20/07 Revised much information to you as we possibly can. And I know you gave me some information on some specific situations and we will follow up on that.
Comm. Hodges: But I would also like that there be a report to the community because unfortunately they are ones who are bringing this information. It may get to me but they have these questions in a number of different places.
Dr. Glascoe: That is without saying. If we are following up, we are certainly following up to the school.
Comm. Hodges: I appreciate that.
Mr. Anthony Maestrey: Good evening Board members, Dr. Glascoe, and members of the community. My name is Anthony Maestrey and I am a supervisor for the bilingual education department. On behalf of the Division of Community Services, parents, guardians, and community members, you are invited to attend the 10th Annual Parent Awareness Day program on Saturday, December 1, 2007 at Eastside High School from 8:30 to 12:30 p.m. We will be conducting workshops and presenting topics to assist parents in playing a positive role in their children’s education. We have a special guest speaker who will be there, the Honorable Michael A. Shipp, who is a judge on the federal branch. Judge Shipp is a product of our Paterson Public Schools and is a person who is very inspirational and very successful. We will be serving a continental breakfast and also childcare will be available. We are inviting not only the Board, but also members of the community to attend the 10th Annual Parent Awareness Day Workshop. I have flyers here. There are flyers on the table. This evening we were supposed to have other members from the community who were going to translate this information in Arabic and in Bengali. Unfortunately, they were not here this evening. With your permission would it be possible to translate this information into Spanish? (Mr. Maestrey spoke in Spanish) Thank you Board members. If you have any questions please contact me.
Mr. Charles Davis: Good evening Board members and Dr. Glascoe. My name is Charles Davis and I live at 778 E. 24th Street here in the City of Paterson. Dr. Glascoe and fellow Board members, last Wednesday I am sure you are aware there was another prank fire drill taking place here at John F. Kennedy High School. As a result of that there was also some violence. We as parents are nervous and we are worried about or children’s future here in this school. I have two children here, my daughter who is a senior and my son who is a freshman. My daughter has done extremely well here in her last three years in this high school. I come as a parent to speak not only for myself, but for other children here. The violence and the foolishness that is going on in this school has to stop. I spoke to the principal last Thursday along with my wife who told us that there is no kind of policy as far as the attendance. We are finding out that a major problem in the schools is that a lot of students coming to school who are causing a problem are the truants. They are missing a lot of days out of school and they are of the age where they can be dismissed from the school and as a policy there is nothing being done about it. What are you going to do to handle this problem? These students
11 11/20/07 Revised are here to learn. There are a lot of students who are getting beat up for no reason at all because of foolishness. This is a big concern here. What are the Board members and what are the Commissioners going to do about this situation? The principal can't do it all by himself. He needs the help of the Board and of all the parents here. There were a lot of parents here last Thursday that had a forum right here in this school that spoke up against this. I as a result have already decided that as of next year my son who has just come into the schools as a freshman and is doing extremely well will be removed from the school because of the violence. I don’t need a call one day saying that my son has gotten hurt at John F. Kennedy High School behind foolishness. I ask you to please look into this matter and to have concern for all your students and the parents and faculty of this school. Thank you.
Ms. Marquesha Guthrie: Good evening School Board members and members of the community. My name is Marquesha Guthrie and I am a sophomore at PANTHER Academy in Paterson. I have come tonight in support of school uniforms. I support school uniforms because it has helped improve the school climate. It has encouraged students not to worry about what other students feel about what they have on. It has also helped us worry more about our education. With that being said, I would like to thank Dr. Fulmore for encouraging us to wear our uniforms. So if we could give him a round of applause please? Thank you, Dr. Fulmore. Also, I would like to acknowledge what PANTHER has done for the community. Being president of the Interact Club I would like to address you to let you know that on December 6 we will be donating $1,000 to the New Jersey Nets Foundation of Autism. At that time 40 PANTHER students who are all on the honor roll will be able to attend a Nets game and hand over the check. I would also like to let you know that in the spring me and my fellow students are working on a project to help raise money to donate to Paterson Public Schools so we can buy more supplies for the teachers. Thank you.
Comm. Atallo: It is so sad the children have to buy the supplies.
Ms. Georgia Daniel: Good evening. My name is Georgia Daniel from Lexington Avenue, community activist, member of the Sustaining Student Success Committee, the Hillcrest Neighborhood Association, and Passaic County African American 100 Woman Plus. I would like to start off my comments by stating that I am very proud of the accomplishments of our young people this evening, particularly the implementation of the Navigation 101 career profile tool for our students. It is an excellent map that our students can use not only to plan where they are going, but also to take a look at where they have been and how they got to where they presently are. So I commend the district for implementing that strategy. I would also like to express my appreciation to Comm. Alonzo Moody on a job well done. I know he is not here this evening but I would like to express sincere congratulations. I think those here should give him another round of applause. On that note, I also look forward to hearing about the process that will be used to fill the vacancy. Hopefully, we will be very clear, unbiased, and put children first as we select another commissioner. Third, I would like to encourage all of our parents, young people, community leaders, educational leaders, and everyone in Paterson to get more involved in what is happening in our school district. The Davis
12 11/20/07 Revised Family and Ms. Guthrie expressed concerns as well as recommendations. Last Wednesday night I got home and I looked at the news at 11:00 and what did I see? I saw a picture of John F. Kennedy on the screen. The caption was “a school out of control.” I disagree with that statement and I am asking and I am begging all of our parents and anyone who is concerned about what is going on in our district to join us in planning a convoy to Trenton. We have to be very clear and very strong in expressing our desire that we take back control of our school system. Our children deserve consistent instructional education. There should not be disruptions such as fire alarms, fights, pranks, and violence to the degree that they are in our school system. There is no reason for that and we should be ashamed.
Comm. Sayegh: Ms. Daniel, please conclude your remarks.
Ms. Daniel. So I would ask that our parents join us. We have some very exciting things about to happen. For those interested please give me a call. My phone number is 973- 790-1508. Thank you.
Ms. Ashley Johnson: My name is Ashley Johnson and I attend John F. Kennedy High School. I am editor of The Torch newspaper and I work on the yearbook publishing staff. I recently recall three times e-mailing Dr. Glascoe and you never returned my email about the climate of John F. Kennedy High School. It is depressing, it is sickening, and I am personally disgusted because it is depressing. You come here for one thing only, for education, and you don’t get an education. It is sad because students here don’t want to learn. I personally feel that they should be expelled because I personally need to get out of that school and get an education to become a nurse and to better myself, and I can't do that if these students hinder me from doing that. The computers in this school are old. They are eight-year old computers. They crash every single day. I can't get out résumés. I can't surf the Internet for colleges. I can’t even describe it. It is frustrating because I am here for one thing only and that is to get my education and I can't. I want to know, especially Dr. Glascoe, what are you going to do to improve the situation at John F. Kennedy High School? That is what I want to say.
Comm. Sayegh: Dr. Glascoe, can you address that question, please?
Dr. Glascoe: We will continue to do all we can to try to make the building as safe as possible. There are some additional security measures that we are trying to put into place. We are talking with many students. We have had a couple of forums. We will have more forums. We are identifying groups and individual students who may not belong in the school and we will try to work all of that through as best as we can. We are also trying to work very closely with the teachers who are with you each and every day who can converse with you and get information about the things that are going on and the things that are not going on.
Ms. Johnson: The teachers are scared. Some of our teachers are looking for different jobs because they cannot teach in this school anymore. That incident before, my
13 11/20/07 Revised brother got hurt from that incident. When I heard there was a gunshot, I looked for my little brother and I could not find him. What is being done? I don't see improvements at all.
Ms. Quasheila Davis: Good evening and happy holidays to everyone. My name is Quasheila Davis and I am a senior at John F. Kennedy High School and I am also President of the NAACP Youth Council. Everyday I come to school safely, excited, and eager to learn and it breaks my heart that I have to come into an educational environment scared for my life. I come to school to learn and help teach my fellow peers, not to run up and down the staircase behind foolish behavior. When I see my peers cry out, “this has to stop,” it weakens my heart. John F. Kennedy is a broken home and I want to know what we must do to fix it. I am willing to help because this has to stop. This is a community school and the whole community should get involved in helping build the school back together as a whole school environment instead of piece by piece and little by little and some by some. We all need to come together as one and help build this community school back together. I mean all races, backgrounds, and cultures. We all need to come together, teachers, parents, staff, administrators, and Board members. Everyone needs to come together and help because it is sad. If you come and you walk through the hallways and you see what I see you will feel heartbroken too, especially if you send your kids here to learn and they don’t get the proper education they need. You will feel some way too. It makes you shed tears when you come to a place to learn and you are not getting anything. When a child says they come to school and they have been in school for eight to nine hours and they tell you that they have not learned anything that is sad. It is sad to me and I am a child and I come to do the same thing that they do. I got accepted to three colleges and I have not even really thought about that because I’m stuck on getting through this year. I understand you live one day at a time but you also have to plan for the future. I am done. Thank you.
Mr. Rodney James: Good evening. Many of you know me. My name is Rodney James. I also attend John F. Kennedy. We have heard the two young ladies speak. When do we come together and change things? A school is built on order. Last year when I used to close I used to always say it is a sad day to find out that the streets are more organized than the Paterson School District. It is even sadder this year. To come to school in September and not have paper, to have to take a test verbally, or have to copy from a chalkboard is sad. It is sad for the youth to have to come up here and beg and plead and come down to tears in order to be heard. Our motto is “Children First.” Whose children are being put first? I have not seen one Board member in the school off this panel except Dr. Atallo since we have had these incidents with the fire alarms. Why am I mad? Like these young ladies, my days are being spent in the back in the parking lot or across the street on the sidewalk trying to get away from everybody else because you never know what is going to happen. No, I was not here the day the gunshots happened. I was at home. I was not feeling well that day. But when I got the phone call it made me say to myself, “Are we safe?” Yes, we are an Abbott school district. But what difference does it make? What difference? It can't be answered. And I see blank faces as I look at the panel. That is what makes the students angry, that we contact
14 11/20/07 Revised those by email and by phone calls and we are still not getting an answer. But you always forget you always tell us, “You are tomorrow.” But by us being tomorrow you are going to rely on us and we are going to look back and say that man or woman sat on the Board…(end of tape) (Beginning of new tape)…when I was in school and they did not do anything. So why should I turn around and help them? I am also a youth minister and it saddens me. It saddens me to have to go home and worry about my phone ringing nonstop to 10:00 with people asking me, “Rodney, why is this going on? Why is that going on? Why isn’t such and such in the district coming to the school to see?” Why? Because obviously they are showing you that they don’t care. If they did they would have been here alongside Dr. Atallo within the last two weeks and with Ms. Jeanette Lyde who runs out every time a fire alarm goes off. The students are through. They are looking for different schools. The teachers are through. They want other jobs. Why? Because our Board members are sitting up making the money but refusing to teach those who need to be taught. Have a good night and have a blessed holiday.
Mr. Andrew Wright: Good evening. I am Andrew Wright with the Parent Leadership Alliance. I am just trying to figure our how I am going to follow this because I come up not to speak about the issues but I should be. I am here to invite the parents and the Board to our collaboration meetings on Monday. Of the three organizations that are supposed to represent the community the Parent Leadership Alliance, the Community Advisory Council, and the Multiethnic Task Force, there are only three members of those groups here tonight. They should be here listening to this because it is part of our responsibility to take care of some of this stuff as community leaders. I came up here to invite everyone to our collaborative meetings held at John F. Kennedy High School on Monday, November 26 at 6:00 p.m. in the library. We will have a more in-depth presentation on the Navigation 101 program. We should change the agenda to address the issues about what is going on here at the high school. But I am here to invite you all to the collaboration meetings on Monday, November 26 at 6:00 p.m. at the John F. Kennedy High School library. We will have an in-depth presentation on Navigation 101. So I invite all the Board members and all the members of the community. Thank you.
Ms. Irene Sterling: Good evening, my name is Irene Sterling and I am President of the Paterson Education Fund. I would like to take you to the fiscal monitor’s report for this month because there are two issues in it that I think are important, one of which has direct impact on the discussion at John F. Kennedy High School. But first I will take you to the financial one that I think is a place where both the fiscal monitor and the Board could do some advocacy work. On page four, number five, the fiscal monitor talks about the accounting software used by the district. I’d like to point out to you that in addition to Mr. Kramer’s remarks here our financial accounting package was also mentioned in the KPMG audit of the Paterson Public Schools as being significantly weak. However, I would also like to point out to you that KPMG in an audit of the State Department of Education also found their financial software and controls significantly weak. What I would like to ask the Board members and ask the fiscal monitor to do is to have a discussion with the state department about buying a financial package for everybody so that we are using one financial package across the districts that interacts with the state system and where the costs become shared and substantially reduced
15 11/20/07 Revised and we have one training component that we need to do across the districts. That would free up resources for other things. The other piece that I would like to talk about is on page ten. There are program recommendations as well as fiscal recommendations towards the creation of the 2009 budget. Number four says, “The district should provide a systematic approach to individual schools to assure that non- cognitive factors that impact learning are addressed.” That is part of what we are talking about here tonight at John F. Kennedy High School and we are talking about it in lots of other schools in the district too. It is non-cognitive and non-curricular issues that impact students’ ability to learn and to function as creative and empowered people in our society. I would like to point out to you that set of issues and products are one of the things that was funded under Abbott under supplemental programs, eventually to be turned by the state Board into something called discretionary educational aid and made optional and made hard to get. The programs that support after-school learning, that support summer learning, that put parent liaisons in schools, and that put additional guidance counselors and social workers in schools are the ones that have been under pressure and substantially reduced over and over again. That impacts the very students who are creating problems for John F. Kennedy right now who did not get the supports they needed younger in their career and we are now paying the price. So I urge you to take that recommendation under advisement and press urgently with the state to make them understand the connection between what they have taken away from us, what they need to do, and what is happening to us now. Thank you.
Comm. Sayegh: Is there a motion to close the public portion?
Mr. Ferrer: Excuse me. According to your bylaws it says no participant may speak more than once on the same topic until all others who wish to speak on that topic have been heard.
Comm. Sayegh: I also believe you have to sign in.
Mr. Ferrer: I have already signed in. I was the first one to sign in. It does not say you have to sign in more than once. It’s your policy.
Comm. Sayegh: Proceed.
Mr. Ferrer: The reason I needed to come back up here is because for several Board meetings now children and parents have been coming down here speaking about this high school. According to the ISLLC standards, which the State of New Jersey helped to put together, it states that the students must be in an environment that is safe and conducive for learning. Now, I am quite sure these children know some of the elements and some of the people who are causing this environment not to be safe and nurturing. If they know then the people who are supposed to be here in the area of security and the police officers should start to address this. We have heard too many children come before this microphone now stating they don't want to come here and that they are fearful of coming here. Now you have children to the point of tears. What is going on? This is unacceptable and it needs to be addressed. If it means that Dr. Glascoe you
16 11/20/07 Revised need to put another office here to be more visible to see what is going on to try to address it to make children feel safe, then maybe that is what needs to be done - or Dr. Rush or whoever. I was up here last year and I watched children walking around with headphones on and hats and all kinds of nonsense. One of my former students when he saw me I had my hand out already and he had to hand that over to me. These things should not be allowed. But when you don’t set a tone for what is acceptable anything goes. And now it has gotten to the point that the children are coming to you saying we need help. Something needs to be done and it needs to be done immediately. We should not have another meeting where these children have to come crying out for help. They should be at the next meeting thanking you for taking care of the problem. I am not saying we need to do a joke cart, put them up on stage and throw them out. But we know who is causing the problems in this building. If they are not here for learning and they are disrupting the learning of the other children they need to be removed, in the words of Joe Clark, “expeditiously.” Let us leave it at that. Thank you.
It was moved by Comm. Spagnola, seconded by Comm. Muhammad that the Public Comments portion of the meeting be closed. On roll call all members voted in the affirmative. The motion carried.
Comm. Muhammad: I wholeheartedly agree with you public members as far as our children go, but I want to know where the parents are of those students that are causing the problems in our district. We have to hold people accountable for things that they are accountable for. I cannot come into this building and discipline anybody’s child, but that parent is responsible for that child. The second thing I want to say is to the young man, although I’m sorry that he is gone and I don’t know who gave him his information, but this Board, as far as I know, is not a paid Board. So I don’t know who told him that we are sitting up here getting paid, but that is not true.
Comm. Spagnola: We’re not even getting fed.
Comm. Taylor: For 24/7 you’re not paid.
Comm. Muhammad: The third thing I want to say is I just gave Mr. Davis a copy of our Pupil Discipline Code of Conduct. So I don’t know who told him that there was no policy governing this district as far as code of conduct and our young people, but that’s not true. So I just want to make those three comments and to say to you that we are going to do whatever is in our power to do. I want to tell you again that we are an advisory Board and we can only do but so much. But you can do a lot because you know who those students are and you know their families. So like the young lady said – it is not just this Board. We all have to take responsibility for what’s happening in this district. Thank you very much.
Comm. Spagnola: Whether it’s true or not what we heard tonight, whether the accounts are true, whether actual conditions are true – that’s not the point here. It’s the perception and if these students believe that it’s true, then it’s true and that is what the
17 11/20/07 Revised general public feels. What we have to do is take a stand and I know what’s going to happen. Once we identify the individuals, the troublemakers and the ones that really don’t belong here, which can’t be educated and which are causing the problems, you are going to have all of a sudden the parent, the uncle or whoever coming to the meetings and complaining about their child being disciplined. What we have to do is we have to draw the line. The students that want to learn have to be given a chance to learn. The teachers have to be given a chance to teach. Really, where is all the money? They are saying they don’t even have paper. Lord knows we have enough paper up here. We can do the whole district with the amount of paper we get every week. I think we ought to look into that and we ought to find out what has happened to the supplies. Really, we have to support our teachers and our students. The ones to make the decisions are the students themselves. They know the students that don’t belong here better than anybody. That’s where we should get our information from and then we should take action as a Board and as an administration and give these kids a chance to learn. Thank you.
Comm. Taylor: It’s very easy for me to be empathetic and to cry when students are in pain. When a child comes from an elementary school to a high school that’s a different type of schooling that they are going to be involved in. They are far more independent. They are supposed to be able to socially take care of themselves and live within the rules and regulations and the procedures of the school. If they enter the building not wanting to do that, the encouragement, the persuasion and the organized effort of the professional staff should be the guiding force in the building to get the students on line. If you have what the students have just told us – a cadre of frightened teachers – the students see that the teachers are frightened. We need to look at that very carefully. If the students are seeing instructors that are frightened literally to death, what do you think happens to them? If the adults are afraid, they feel that they have no support. If something does happen they cannot go to that adult if that adult scurries into the room and runs behind a desk or goes behind a door. They can’t stand to be in the hallway. They can’t stand to be in a classroom longer than 45-50 minutes with students that they are supposed to teach. In high school you are learning how to stay in a college class. If you are going to college or vocational school, you stay in the shop area for two to three hours learning cosmetology, learning mechanical skills, learning computer skills, and learning how to do design. You stay in a lab with an instructor for two to three hours. We have to prepare children in high school. Parents, you need to tell your child to come here and follow the procedure of the school. If it is a 90-minute block, I don’t care if the teacher says they don’t want the 85-minute block. The policy of this district and the rules and procedures of this district is that the students are to be taught in that block of time. There is an organization of how you use the 85 minutes. I understood from our administration or our team of leaders that the teachers here at Kennedy have been given the instruction on how to work with that kind of teaching and learning for the students. But if adults are running around telling kids they are scared and they don’t know what he’s going to do next, I’m scared, I’m scared, I’m scared, then you have a problem here. If the professional adults who have gone to school and have a degree and sometimes two and three masters are running around talking about they are afraid, something is wrong somewhere. We need to adjust the staffing here then. If the
18 11/20/07 Revised children are telling us that their instructors are afraid in the cafeteria… That young man, the last one, is always here telling us about the riots in the cafeteria. You should come and go in the back of the cafeteria. He knows who the students are that do that kind of behavior. Some way you should develop through your student government association how to explain to the principal and vice principal who these people are, through some kind of suggestion box or some kind of way so that they are not identified. You know if you snitch there is some kind of shirt I see the kids wear that says stop snitching. The kids wear that shirt. You know what it means. You better not tell on me. I didn’t know about any shooting around the school and it might have been around the school because our people practice shooting all over town. I lay in my bed and I hear crack, crack, crack. Somebody is shooting on 10th Avenue. I get low on my bed and put a lot of pillows around me because I know that the strength of the bullets that the young people have today can come through the brick, through my glass, through the walls, and hit my children, my grandchildren and me. But the grownups in this building have to come together. Yes, you are going to have to have the parents here. You really don’t need me. I am supportive, but you need to talk to the parents and you need to have a consultant come in here because you have a lot of bullies here. In all high schools you have bullies. You have bully teachers. You have bully students. You have bullies that are highly skilled and intelligent. You have bullies at the lowest level of the learning tree. You have them all over. They come in variety. They come in many shapes and heights. You must understand what bullying is about. Some of the children here won’t go to the bathroom because they are afraid of what they might find in there and who they might find in there. So parents need to come here. Eastside, Kennedy – it has to come from the ground up, from the parents who send their children here. Mr. Davis is right. He has a right to come here and ask us to provide the safety and a healthy environment for his children. The children are standing here and they are frightened to tears. The young lady that is the President of the NAACP council here at the high school is very eloquent. The young woman spoke the way she wants to live here. Ms. Davis said she got on the computers and they crash on her and she can’t even find out about how she will do because she’s a senior. We need help from this community. We need help from the so-called professionals if they are afraid and running. If they are looking for another job, please don’t hang around here. Don’t hand around here if you are afraid to be here with our children. I am not afraid of the young man who came, Rodney James. He is quite vocal and I remember one night he came in here and he was telling us off and telling us we had to get busy and do for the kids here in this building. That was last year, too. I’m telling you this is not new for us and the parents and people in this community must come over here because I believe the children from School #27 come here when they graduate if they don’t run to private and parochial schools. They are here. There are a lot of children here. There are many, many students here in Kennedy. There are over 2,000 children here in Kennedy. There are over 1,800 in Eastside. So there are a lot of young people with different kinds of personalities, different kinds of wants and needs. But the professional staff has to step up to the plate. Everybody! The so-called security guards we have here. There has to be better training. The police department that stands around and smokes cigarettes outside need to come and organize how to work with the students. If you are assigned to a high school, you should learn how to work with teenagers, not to capture
19 11/20/07 Revised them and bang them up and mace them up. You need to learn how to have a program where you can work with teenagers because I see some of the men are turned off shifts. Some shifts they have the same four or five here, and then they will have another shift here. I want to know what kind of training they had to work in a high school besides to carry a gun to show students they can carry a gun. Guns are not the right effort for us because it frightens the brain and the nerve endings in the brain freeze up and you cannot work and learn. If you are afraid in a school – the adults and the students – you can’t learn there. This is so disheartening. There is so much sadness in this district right now. That’s more than 4,500 children that are experiencing this right now in this district. They don’t know whether they are coming or going. They don’t know whether they should come here. I said to some of the Board members that anyone who pulls an alarm here in this building should be treated as an adult and should go to some place away. They should not be permitted back into this school or any high school if you pull an alarm. You should be treated as an adult and you should be acted upon because you become a criminal. You know you frighten people that are peaceful people. You frighten people who are sick with asthma. You frighten people who have heart conditions in this building. You don’t know who they are. They may be the teachers. They may be the students. When you pull that alarm they don’t know if it’s a bomb scare or somebody shooting in the building or if there’s a real fire or something else is happening in their building. That is so frightening. I believe that the students who pull those alarms should not ever enter back into this school. I’m sorry. Put them somewhere else, and anyone else who does things to students in here to make their life miserable. They should not be in this building. I know it’s my time, but this hurts my heart. Dr. Atallo isn’t the only one who comes out to this school to watch for those fire alarms. He’s not the only one. Don’t let him tell you that.
Comm. Atallo: I didn’t say that.
Comm. Taylor: Don’t even believe that. He’s not the only one. I had hundreds of parents call me.
Comm. Atallo: Hundreds?
Comm. Taylor: Just don’t give him the benefit that he’s the only Board member because there are other ones of us here that have been up here. We have talked to the principal. We have talked to some of your teachers. We talked to some of the students. We talked to Mrs. Lyde. So it’s not only Dr. Atallo because he ain’t the only one on the Board who cares about you. I care about you. Over 60 years I’ve cared about children.
Comm. Kerr: I, too, just want to empathize with the kids who came to the podium tonight and those who have expressed a deep desire to get an education and yet they are deterred by acts of intimidation and violence. When we talk about what’s happening here, it’s a very large problem and to this problem there are many pieces that need to be looked at. We have this society and our schools are not operating in a vacuum. They are operating in a real environment and things that happen in the society somehow affect what is happening in the schools. So we need to look at the school
20 11/20/07 Revised environment. If there’s a problem inside the school, are the teachers not teaching correctly? Is discipline not being maintained correctly? We need to look at that. We also need to look at the children themselves. I know from history that kids are notorious to be pranksters and they do things that adults would frown upon. But what is happening here is more than just idle foolishness. It is a very serious thing. Kids are pulling fire alarms and these are very serious issues that need to be addressed. We may not be able to address all of the issues here in the schools because some of these problems are stemming from the home also. The controls are not being placed at home and therefore it’s all played out in our schools. Although sometimes it’s happening here, the real cause might be somewhere else and I believe that we need to get our parents involved, make sure that they understand what is happening in our schools, and see if everybody can rally around to see if we can improve the situation in our schools. At this point our kids are crying out and we must do something. We cannot just sit by and business as usual. We have to do something. I just want to address Rodney for a minute. I have heard you come to this podium many times and you have exhibited a penchant for the gallery kind of display. You said here tonight that you are a youth minister. As a youth minister let me say this. You need to be sincere in whatever you do. You need to embrace truth and honesty. Those are very, very important qualities. You know what’s happening in the school. Dr. Glascoe alone cannot solve the problems. The Board cannot solve the problems by themselves. The students are a big and very important part of the problem that we are having. If you are a youth minister, I would charge you sir to make sure that you go out there and rally the kids. Make sure that you communicate with the administration. Talk to the principal. Talk to your teachers. Make sure that whatever you can do is done to help the problem. It’s easy to cast stones, but it’s not very nice to take the hits. So we need to look at this problem as our problem and a problem that we all need to get around in order to solve. Thank you, Mr. President.
Comm. Atallo: I live in Paterson, New Jersey. Many of the people who speak at these meetings are neighbors and friends of mine. I know many of the children who grew up here and who attend the schools. I know their families. I am very saddened about what I hear when students who I know very well come up and are literally begging us to help them to get a quality education. I get calls every day. I don’t get the hundreds one of the Commissioners claim to get, but I do get dozens about what goes on at John F. Kennedy High School. Parents call me. Staff calls me. Even students call. The administration knows what’s going on. I bring it to their attention because that’s our role. I tell people to let the administration know, to bring it to their attention. It saddens me that we don’t get updates in a timely manner on these incidents of violence and issues of criminality that go on in the schools. I had to read in the paper today that there was a break-in at School 27. There was an article in the Herald News about that today. I am a Board member and we don’t know. I have to be in the Pathmark on 18th Avenue a few Saturdays back on a Saturday morning and parents were approaching me about the MRSA at School 16. They were very concerned about that. I asked how they knew about that and there was a big headline in the paper. The administration should notify us of these things. It’s embarrassing when Board members don’t know because we’re not told. But I did make an effort to come up to Kennedy High School to
21 11/20/07 Revised see what’s going on. I was invited to a meeting of an advisory group that was meeting in the building. I reported to the principal’s office and I had good conversation with Dr. Miller. Let me say this right now. Dr. Miller is working very hard. I think it was a good choice that Dr. Glascoe made and I want to state that very publicly. He is working very hard. He came in the middle of last year into the situation and he’s working very hard. I watched his administrative staff. I observed people. They are working very hard to make the school a success. The teaching staff and support staff are working very hard to make the school a success and I want to state my observations. As Board members our role is not to run the schools, but to ensure they are run well and I think we have the right people in place to run the schools. I want to state publicly that I support them in their roles. The majority of the students work very hard and they want an education to prepare for their futures, but there is a small percentage – maybe 1% or 2% - of students who are disruptive and when they commit acts of pulling false alarms and acts of violence there needs to be consequences. A lot of them laugh. They feel there aren’t consequences for those activities and we need to hold them accountable. I agree with my colleagues on the Board that we need to hold the parents and guardians accountable because if those parents and guardians are brought in they would address that very quickly. So I think that needs to be addressed. Everybody says there’s a problem, there’s a problem, what can we do. I am going to offer some suggestions. Again, it’s not the role of the Board to run the schools, but as an advisory Board I think we are free to give advice. Very quickly, I think we need a real alternate school. The school we have now is not big enough to accommodate the situation we have. Years ago, for those of us who remember, there was a School 22 in the Bunker Hill section. We need to have a school offsite, either a twilight program in the evening or during the day, but an alternate school where you take the 1% or 2% of students. That’s what it is because the majority of the students are good kids and want to get a good education. But that small percentage causes disruption for the others. That’s my observation and my opinion. If we take that 1% or 2% out of our comprehensive high schools and take them offsite and develop a real alternate school, I think that would be effective. Then it would show the students that there are consequences. They are pulled out of here and the other students who might be borderline to commit some type of act of wrongdoing would see they would be pulled out and there would be consequences for their act. I don’t believe in out-of-school suspension. I think students see that as a vacation and students who are suspended tend to be percentage-wise students who are behind in their studies anyway. So now by taking them out of school for a week or two weeks they are going to fall further behind. I don’t support that as an effective tool. I think it creates more disruption when the student comes back. I think by taking students who create problems habitually offsite would be an effective way. People look at that as an expense, but what is it costing us now in lost educational time? How many days have false alarms been pulled where Dr. Miller has no choice but to evacuate the building because God forbid there was a real fire or emergency. You can’t say it’s a prank. He’s in a tough spot and I just want to say that I respect the role he’s in and the role of the staff here and what they have. I am not quick to give compliments on things all the time, but this time this is something I have observed and I think we need to look at what is going on now. It’s not working. Again, it’s a small percentage of students doing it and in my opinion I believe they need to be removed offsite to a real alternative high school.
22 11/20/07 Revised The one we have is just too small. I don’t think it accommodates more than 50-60 students. I would defer to the administration on the actual number, but I don’t even think they have that many in there at this point in time. But I’m saying take those students offsite and say there’s a consequence. You are no longer going to be a John F. Kennedy Knight. You are going to the alternate school. Give them a shirt or jacket that says alternate school and they’ll say they don’t want to be in that place. Their friends and peers will say you’re at the alternate school. Those other kids will see it and they won’t want to be there. I’m trying to give some constructive suggestions as to what we can do. We can all say this is wrong and it’s a problem. We can throw our hands up in the air, but it’s wrong. I know these students and I have great respect for Rodney and Ashley and Mr. Davis. I know them well. It saddens me when they have to come down here and say they are entitled to a thorough and efficient education. When we come in the building we should get an education. We are not supposed to be frightened or scared. If I were a student or a parent, I would have that concern. We want to make sure that our staff is in a safe educational learning environment. Our staff and students should be in a safe environment and that’s a priority because without that education can’t go on. To do that, we need to address those who are creating the problems. I have made a constructive suggestion and I would respectfully ask the administration to consider that. I know it’s a cost factor, but I think in the long term it may be an investment in protecting the educational programs in our comprehensive high schools. We are losing too much educational time now. Teachers talk to me off the record and they are scared. It’s a concern. The students are concerned. They talk to me. Neighbors of mine attend the school and the parents ask what the Board is doing. I say we are an advisory Board but we can make suggestions to the administration. I think we need to sit down and have more community forums. I know Dr. Miller had one last week and I thought it was very positive. I caught the tail end of it. I didn’t want to get involved because it was the parents’ forum, but I did observe and he did an outstanding job. He had his staff involved with that and the parents got some answers. But that’s what we need to do. I think the students that are creating problems habitually need to be removed from the comprehensive high schools and put in an alternate school setting. If they earn merit points, or whatever that system may be, and prove that they are responsible adults they get to come back. But we just can’t have a program where there aren’t consequences. Out of school suspension is not the answer. The students lose time and they see it as a vacation. The other students don’t see it as a real punishment. That’s my concern. Again, I am very saddened and I came up here out of concern last week to see what was actually going on. I observed and that’s what I observed – a hardworking staff. You have most of the students working hard but a few students creating problems and there doesn’t seem to be consequences for those students. This is an issue we have to come together on. It doesn’t matter who came and didn’t come here. This is the problem and we have to protect our children, protect these students, respect them, and respect our staff so they have a safe working environment as well. Thank you.
Comm. Hodges: I am going to try to speak. I have a number of concerns based on the conversations tonight. I know it’s a very common and favorite refrain to say to the Board that you get paid and you aren’t doing anything. Well, we don’t get paid and
23 11/20/07 Revised we’re doing a lot more than people seem to understand, which is a little frustrating at times. I know the gentleman said he didn’t see me here, but the very first time there was a fire alarm I was up here. I spent an hour talking to Dr. Miller about the situation. That was the very first time. Now, I don’t happen to work so I have the ability to do all of that, but that’s not the issue. My being up here isn’t going to solve the problem. We have a lot of children here who have stopped thinking that they are children. And we have a lot of adults here who have decided that they are going to wash their hands on being adults. When children don’t find adults around them then they act very much like children and we are seeing that at both high schools, not just at Kennedy. My colleagues have covered this in detail and I am not going to belabor the point. I think that some of the students need to talk to their colleagues – to their own friends – and tell their friends that they are cheating them out of their education and make it clear that that should stop. You do, in fact, know them a lot better than we do. For that environment to really flourish, the adults in this building and in the other buildings in this district have to all decide that they are going to follow and enforce the rules and not just some of them. I came in here angry and I am going to be very, very clear tonight. It’s just reinforced tonight about this whole materials nonsense – what’s missing and what’s not here, we don’t have paper, we don’t have books, we don’t have pencils, etc. I have just about had it. Mr. Kramer, I am going to be very, very blunt tonight and unfortunately you are going to be the brunt of some of this. I have not recovered from the workshop. I have not recovered from the notion that the Superintendent of Schools has to report to you. I have not recovered from the fact that you are not certified as a Superintendent of Schools. I have not recovered from the fact that you don’t have any educational degrees and that the Superintendent of Schools has to report to you. That’s like me being a physician and going to a surgeon and telling him how to cut in the OR. I don’t know anybody out there who wants to put their heart underneath the knife of that surgeon with me telling him where to cut because I’m not qualified and that’s going on in this school district. I am particularly affronted by this because that happened to me as an attending in St. Joe’s Hospital. I had, and I’m going to say it very bluntly, White nurses go to White residents and ask them to approve my orders as an attending. I am not talking about 1960 or 1970. That was in the 90’s. Those residents were being trained by me and they were not in a position to approve my orders. So I know exactly how it feels and it still feels the same way today that it felt 17 years ago. I didn’t like it then and I don’t like it now. You are not doing this, but unfortunately you were sent here to do this. I can’t explain to you just how angry I am. Mr. Kramer, you are actually operating as a Superintendent of Schools so I am going to have to ask you. What math strands to do know of that you need to see that will enable you to say that a curriculum is appropriate? Let me ask you this. What aspects of whole language approach would you need to enhance or augment in order to make it comparable to phonetics? Okay, let me ask you this then, sir. Which do you like better – bilingual or emersion for limited language speakers? Okay, let me ask you this one. No, I’m not asking him. I’m asking you because you were sent here and he has to answer to you. I’m not deferring to you because you don’t defer to him, he defers to you.
Mr. Kramer: Excuse me. You are asking me a question and I’m deferring it to Dr. Glascoe. He had a hand up.
24 11/20/07 Revised
Comm. Hodges: But I don’t want to hear from him. My questions are to you because the Commissioner sent you here and put you in that position. If he has to defer to you, sir, then you should be able to answer those questions. How in the hell…
Comm. Sayegh: Please, Dr. Hodges.
Comm. Hodges: Leave me alone. I’m under control. I am under control.
Comm. Sayegh: Dr. Hodges, please.
Comm. Hodges: How on earth, sir, do you find yourself in a position to have anybody answer to you when you can’t answer those basic educational questions?
Comm. Atallo: Point of order, Mr. President.
Comm. Hodges: I’m not through, sir.
Comm. Atallo: We have an agenda. You asked for comments…
Comm. Hodges: I am giving comments.
Comm. Atallo: This has nothing to do with…
Comm. Hodges: Dr. Atallo, I’m not through.
Comm. Atallo: This is irrelevant to the point. Do it under Other Business.
Comm. Sayegh: Mr. Kramer.
Comm. Hodges: I am not through, Dr. Atallo.
Comm. Sayegh: Dr. Hodges, please.
Comm. Hodges: I will do it in a very calm and professional manner.
Comm. Sayegh: Dr. Hodges, you posed a question. I believe Mr. Kramer wishes to answer at this time.
Mr. Kramer: I deferred to Dr. Glascoe.
Comm. Sayegh: Okay, let us hear from Dr. Glascoe.
Dr. Glascoe: Dr. Hodges, the only response that I can give you at this point in time is that the situation that we are under is by law and the Commissioner has decreed that we have a State Monitor in place. The Commissioner has put out specific directives as
25 11/20/07 Revised to what has to occur. That is the only answer that I can give you at this point in time. It’s the law.
Comm. Hodges: Let me make this very clear. It is reprehensible to put a non-educator on top of a laboring educational school system. If you are interested even remotely in seeing educational improvements this is not what you do. If you want to see educational progress and if you give a damn about the 27,000 students that are here you don’t do this kind of thing. That is why you have materials missing. That is why you have these questions going on in these buildings. Even if it’s not because of direct actions of Mr. Kramer, it creates the atmosphere where this kind of nonsense can be used as a scapegoat to go on and that’s the problem. Sir, I am not attacking you personally. I am angry about the situation. I am furious with the Commissioner that would treat any human being that way, but particularly the 27,000 kids who for 16 years have struggled under a state takeover and who are now so desperately and rudely abused by this kind of thinking. This is not education and this is not educational leadership. If you do this kind of thing, you are not interested in the child back there who wants to get better or who wants to learn. You don’t care whether he learns. Not you, sir, but the State of New Jersey. Thank you, Mr. President.
Comm. Sayegh: I just want to dovetail on what Comm. Hodges said with a little less fervor. The law is flawed and what we can do is apparently lobby legislators to change the law pertaining to State Monitors so that this type of authority does not rest solely in the hands of an individual who may or may not have the credentials. As far as the students at John F. Kennedy High School are concerned, I did hear a common theme amongst participants in the public portion and amongst Board members. It will require cooperation from students, from parents, from the administrators and obviously from the Superintendent and his staff. This is obviously something that is plaguing our school here and interrupting the educational process, and I ask all students if they know of any individual or anyone that is attempting to impede the educational process in this school to please feel comfortable enough to either address it to a teacher or the principal so the appropriate actions can be taken. Parents, I recommend that the home school council or the parent organization here take the lead on this matter and make sure that the administration and everyone involved cooperates to the point where we have an environment that is conducive to educational excellence.
GENERAL BUSINESS
Items Requiring a Vote
PRESENTATION OF MINUTES
Comm. Sayegh presented the minutes of the August 22, 2007 Board Forward, the August 23, 2007 Board Forward, the October 3, 2007 Workshop Meeting, the October 16, 2007 Special Joint Meeting, and the October 17, 2007 Regular Meeting, and asked if there were any questions or comments on the minutes.
26 11/20/07 Revised It was moved by Comm. Taylor, seconded by Comm. Kerr that the minutes be accepted with any necessary corrections.
Comm. Taylor: There are some mistakes on the one for our Board Forward, so I will tell you what they are. So, that’s with corrections.
Comm. Sayegh: Okay. So you will approve with corrections. Is there any further discussion?
On roll call all members voted in the affirmative. The motion carried.
CURRICULUM AND INSTRUCTION COMMITTEE
Comm. Sayegh reported that the Curriculum and Instruction Committee met, reviewed and recommends approval for Resolution Nos. A-1 through A-17:
Resolution No. A-1
WHEREAS, the consolidated application for IDEA-B funds in the amount of $6,414,551 (Basic) and $195,264 (Preschool) is anticipated to be expended within the following categories:
IDEA-B BASIC IDEA-B PRESCHOOL 1. Instructional salaries $ -0- $ 53,107 2. Instructional supplies and services 414,834 101,137 3. Administrative support salaries 11,704 9,370 4. Benefits 2,393 28,150 5. Transportation (field trips) 5,000 2,400 6. Tuition 5,009,886 -0- 7. Equipment 7,500 -0- 8. Early Intervention Services 962,183 -0- 9. Other 1,051 1,100 $6,414,551 $195,264
WHEREAS, there are no matching funds requirement within this grant; and
WHEREAS, the Assistant Superintendent of Pupil Personnel Services will be responsible for the district complying with the terms and conditions of the grant and will make every effort to target grant funds for the academic advancement and achievement of the students and expend the funds in the most effective and efficient manner; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Public Board of Education supports the submission of the application for the funds from IDEA-B Basic in the amount of $6,414,551 and IDEA-B Preschool in the amount of $195,264.
27 11/20/07 Revised Resolution No. A-2
WHEREAS, the Paterson Public School District has received Federal IDEA-B Basic and IDEA-B Preschool Funds for students with disabilities (ages 3-21) in the amount of $6,173,793.00 and $194,272.00 respectively for FY07; and
WHEREAS, the District is required to amend the FY07 IDEA-B Basic and IDEA-B Preschool application to include the FY06 carryover funds of $1,097,919.00 for IDEA-B Basic and $57,815.00 for IDEA-B Preschool, and the carryover funds are expended in the following categories:
Instructional salaries (stipend) $ -0- $ 14,830 Instructional supplies and services 616,919 42,985 Tuition 481,000 -0- $ 1,097,919 57,815
WHEREAS, the Assistant Superintendent of Pupil Personnel Services will be responsible for the District complying with the terms and conditions of the grant and will make every effort to target grant funds for the academic advancement and achievement of the students and expend the funds in the most effective and efficient manner; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Board of Education supports the submission of the amended FY07 application to include FY06 carryover funds for a total allocation of $7,271,712.00 for IDEA-B Basic and $252,087.00 for IDEA-B Preschool.
Resolution No. A-3
The State of New Jersey under NJAC 6A:8-3.1, requires district boards of education to ensure that the district curriculum is designed and delivered to demonstrate knowledge and skills specified by the New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards; and
WHEREAS, New Jersey Quality Single Accountability Continuum (NJQSAC) stipulates that district curriculum supports student achievement of the New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards in every school for all students; and
WHEREAS, NJQSAC District Performance Review (DPR) requires the board of the education to approve written curricula that aligns with the most recent State Board approved version of the NJCCCS (2004); and
WHEREAS, the district assures that the curricula of Language Arts Secondary specifies content to be mastered for each grade and includes grade level benchmarks.
BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED, that the Paterson Public Schools approves the Language Arts Secondary curricula frameworks and courses for study for grades 9-12 for use in the district’s schools for the 2007-2008 school year or until such time as they
28 11/20/07 Revised may be modified and presented to the Paterson Board of Education for review and approval.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the anticipated cost for the implementation of this curricula would impact the 2008-2009 fiscal year and may require the district to expend approximately $1,500,000.00 from the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 school years as summarized below:
Textbooks/Leveled Libraries 465,000.00 Software/Licenses 125,000.00 Instructional Equipment 910,000.00
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the implementation of this curricular does not anticipate any additional funding for the 2010-2011 and future year’s budgets in order to maintain this curricula.
Resolution No. A-4 was pulled.
Resolution No. A-5
Approval is being requested to submit the Two Year Report Instructional Priorities Plan for the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 school years and the One Year Programmatic budget for the 2008-2009 school year to the Department of Education.
WHEREAS, the Supreme Court ordered the implementation of full day, full year preschool service for resident three and four year old children in Abbott districts; and
WHEREAS, the Operational Plan for Early Childhood Programs is part of the district’s Two Year Instructional Priorities and NCLB Plan and outlines the district’s effort to implement full day preschool services for three and four year olds in Paterson; and
WHEREAS, the Plan has ten components; Recruitment and Outreach, Curriculum and Program, Supporting English Language Learners, Inclusion, Transition, Program Evaluation, Child Assessment, Community Collaboration, Administration, Professional Development; now
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Board of Education approves the submission the Early Childhood Program Two Year Report on Instructional Priorities and the One Year Programmatic budget for the 2008-2009 school year. The total budget is $45,552,424.
Resolution No. A-6
WHEREAS, the Paterson Public Schools will administer Federal Title I Funds for three additional Supplemental Educational Service Providers: MyTutor24, a division of Coaxis Services, Inc., Passaic County Educational Services Commission, and Studentnest, Inc.
29 11/20/07 Revised
WHEREAS, Providers have been identified and will carry out the responsibilities providing Supplemental Education to all eligible students identified by the district.
WHEREAS, each individual vendor has been notified that no goods or services will be provided to the district without first receiving a fully executed purchase order; that the terms on the purchase will be honored completely; if the vendor does not agree with the terms on the purchase order; the vendor will not provide any goods or services to the district until such time a new purchase order is completed and delivered with terms the vendor will honor.
WHEREAS, the services herein were in the original budget and funding for the same are available in the account listed below.
BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Board of Education approves the contracts with the following providers: MyTutor24, a division a Coaxis Services, Inc., Passaic County Educational Services Commission, and Studentnest, Inc. which have completed the contract applicant process. Under No Child Left Behind, the maximum per student for 2007-2008 is $1,621.00.
Resolution No. A-7
WHEREAS, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, New Jersey offers an Artist In Residency Program in Theatre Arts and Scriptwriting to students of the drama and communication arts majors of Rosa L. Parks School of Fine & Performing Arts, which professional writers and actors conduct forty 90 minute sessions with the students on the campus of Rosa L. Parks School; and
WHEREAS, this master class opportunity which addresses the New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards of 1.1 – Aesthetic Awareness, 1.2 – Creation, 1.3 – Performance, 1.4 – Critique, 1.5 – Historical Value, and 1.6 – Design Skills is scheduled to begin January, 2008 and conclude in May 2008; and
WHEREAS, the total cost for these two Artist in Residency Programs is $8,442.00. These costs will be paid by Rosa L. Parks School, Account # 15-401-100-500-052-000- 0000-000; therefore
BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Public School District approves the partnership between the New Jersey Performing Arts Center and Rosa L. Parks School of Fine & Performing Arts. A professional scriptwriter and actor will provide to students in both dramatic and communication arts departments a total of 40, 90-minute master classes for our students on our campus. The Artist in Residency program is scheduled to begin January 2008 and conclude in May 2008 for a total cost of $8,442.00. These costs will be paid by Rosa L. Parks School of Fine & Performing Arts, account # 15-401-100-500- 052-000-0000-000.
30 11/20/07 Revised Resolution No. A-8
Introduction: The Paterson Public School District recognizes the need for its children to learn healthy practices regarding tobacco, alcohol and other drugs including knowledge of these substances and the ability to refuse them. Teachers, administrators, and parents need to create school climates that foster healthy relationships.
WHEREAS, the Paterson Public School District is partnering with the Princeton Center for Leadership Training (PCLT), Princeton, NJ, on a Department of Human Services sponsored program called New Jersey Peer-to-Peer (NJPTP). NJPTP is a statewide school-based prevention program designed to increase protective factors and reduce risk factors shown to impact substance use, school drop out and other problem behaviors. Through peer education and leadership development NJPTP: 1) help middle school-age students create and strengthen positive attachments to school, adults, and pro-social peer groups; 2) provides students with the knowledge and skills for refusing alcohol and other drugs; 3) encourages students to develop an interest in and focus on their futures. NJPTP is currently being implemented in four (4) schools in Paterson: #9, #15, #21, and #24.
WHEREAS, the Princeton Center for Leadership Training will host and facilitate the NJPTP Day of Learning for peer leaders at Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey, on Wednesday, November 28, 2007 from 9:00 am – 2:00pm. At this event 128 8th grade students from Schools #9, #15, #21, and #24 will learn and practice prevention outreach activities to conduct with their younger peers. Students will be provided with intense training by PCLT staff with the support of 16 school faculty members who have also been trained by PCLT.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, the Paterson Board of Education approves a one- day, leadership development retreat for 128, 8th grade students from Schools #9, #15, #21, and #24 on November 28, 2007, at the Paul Robeson Center University, Newark, NJ. Funding for bus transportation will be provided by the district through Scholastic Bus Company at an amount not to exceed $904.20 ($45.21 hr x 5 hrs = $226.05 per bus x 4 buses = $904.20). Funding for all other costs for the field trip will be provided by PCLT.
Resolution No. A-9
WHEREAS, all 11th/12th grade cognitively impaired and autistic students at S.T.A.R.S. Academy will participate in weekly structured learning experiences (SLE) as mandated in their IEP’s. These transition experiences will fulfill all of their required off-site voluntary community services in each student’s IEP.
WHEREAS, the 11th/12th grade students will participate in weekly (SLE) experiences on the following days in:
October – 1, 3, 5, 10, 15, 17, 19, 22, 24, 26, 29 and 31 – CASA, CUMAC, PCCC Daycare /PCCC Culinary, Paterson Library, Paterson Museum,
31 11/20/07 Revised Stop & Shop and ShopRite (Eva’s Village – Oct. 11) (Foundations for the Handicapped – Oct. 4, 11, 18 and 25) (Gina’s Bakery – Oct. 4, 11, 18 and 25) November – 2, 5, 7, 12, 14, 16, 19, 21, 26, 28 and 30 – CASA, CUMAC, PCCC Daycare /PCCC Culinary, Paterson Library, Paterson Museum, Stop & Shop and ShopRite (Eva’s Village – Nov. 15) (Foundations for the Handicapped – Nov. 1, 15 and 29) (Gina’s Bakery – Nov. 1, 15 and 29) December – 3, 5, 7, 10, 12, 14, 17 and 19 – CASA, CUMAC, PCCC Daycare/ PCCC Culinary, Paterson Library, Paterson Museum, Stop & Shop and ShopRite (Eva’s Village – Dec. 13) (Foundations for the Handicapped – Dec. 6 and 13) (Gina’s Bakery – Dec. 6 and 13)
WHEREAS, the following community service/partnerships in education will continue to participate in structured learning experiences with the Paterson Public Schools.
C.A.S.A. 84-86 Mill Street 973-523-5452 Paterson, NJ 07505 C.U.M.A.C. 223 Ellison Street 973-742-5518 Paterson, NJ 07509 Paterson Library 250 Broadway 973-357-3020 Paterson, NJ 07501 Paterson Museum 2 Market Street 973-321-1260 Paterson, NJ 07505 PCCC Daycare/Culinary 1 College Boulevard 973-684-5915/ Paterson, NJ 07505 973-684-6838 Shop Rite 625 Hamburg Turnpike 973-595-0079 Wayne, NJ 07470 Stop & Shop 1220 Hamburg Turnpike 973-305-1333 Wayne, NJ 07470 Eva’s Village 393 Main Street 973-523-6220 Paterson, NJ 07505 Foundations for the 30 Woodridge Terrace 973-956-1313 Handicapped Wayne, NJ 07470 Gina’s Bakery 110 Walnut Street 973-233-1010 Montclair, NJ 07042
BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Public Schools approve the continued partnerships in education with C.A.S.A., C.U.M.A.C., Paterson Library, Paterson Museum, PCCC Daycare/Culinary, ShopRite, Stop & Shop, Eva’s Village, Foundations for the Handicapped and Gina’s Bakery in order to continue to provide structured
32 11/20/07 Revised learning experiences to the cognitively impaired and autistic students at S.T.A.R.S. Academy as per their IEP.
Mandated IEP Related services for SLC Transition transportation service.
Stop & Shop – 31 days – M/W/F – per diem ($45.44) $1,408.64 Gina’s Bakery – 9 days – M/W/F – per diem ($60.58) $545.22 Foundations for the Handicapped – 9 days – M/W/F – per diem ($97.36) $876.51
Resolution No. A-10
WHEREAS, the District wishes to foster staff improvements and professional development through purchased professional services and staff workshops; and
WHEREAS, the District will be able to maintain an ongoing series of staff development workshops designed to help teachers to improve their skills in the use of character education; and
WHEREAS, the training initiatives designed by Free Teens Leadership Training will help in character education, problem solving and critical thinking skills for student improvement; now
BE IT RESOLVED, that the Board of Education approves the consultant contract with Free Teens Leadership, to provide the training and support to teachers and students for their improved skills in character education.
January 4, 7, 11 and 14, 2008 @ $0.00 cost
Resolution No. A-11
WHEREAS, the State of New Jersey awards the Paterson Public Schools IDEA-B Basic and IDEA-B Preschool funds on an annual basis & the IDEA-B Basic and IDEA-B Preschool Grant allows the funding of personnel to facilitate educational programs for students with disabilities and, the District wishes to continue employment of the staff to facilitate these programs during FY08.
BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Board of Education approves a 90-day contract with Loving Care Agency, Inc. to provide nursing services for D.S. in accordance with the student’s IEP at a cost of $40.00 per hour for a LPN not to exceed 8 hours a day or $30,000.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that in the absence of the LPN, a RN can be provided and compensated at an hourly rate of $45.00 capped with the 8 hours a day and the $30,000.
33 11/20/07 Revised Resolution No. A-12
WHEREAS, according to New Jersey Administrative Code 6A:14 the Paterson Public School District is required to place District students in an appropriate Educational facility as per their I.E.P.; and
WHEREAS, the District wishes to remain compliant with State & Federal requirements; now therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Public School District approves payment and contracts with Bergen County Special Services (The Brownstone School. NOVA North Piermont Career Campus, Transition Center at Wood Ridge, Visions, Springboard, SHIP, HIP-Union Street, HIP-Midland Park, Washington South, New Bridges, Venture Program) to provide educational services to students during the 2007-2008 school year. Out of County Tuition Fee.
Student Initials Tuition S.D., T.H., M.N., O.M., $131,100.00 K.M., A.C., C.G., R.M., D.W., A.F., K.M., J.R., S.M., J.B., C.F., S.M., C.F., J.B., S.T., J.M., J.R., K.M., J.R.
Resolution No. A-13
The Paterson Public Schools is required to provide special education services to students with disabilities in the least restrictive environment.
WHEREAS, the Division of Pupil Personnel Services has reviewed current services, Individual Education Programs, self-contained program services and Administrative Code 6A:14; and
WHEREAS, the Division of Pupil Personnel Services makes all efforts to provide special education services in the least restricted environment and within district public schools; now
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Public Schools, Division of Pupil Personnel Services wishes to create 10 new self-contained special education programs to address the needs of students requiring the services of self contained autistic, multiple disabilities, behavior disabilities and learning language disabilities. The locations of these programs are as follows:
School(s) Room Self-Contained Class Grades 2 6 Severe LLD K-2 112 Autistic K-2
34 11/20/07 Revised 30 Autistic K-2 8 217 Behavioral Disability 6-8 10 204 Behavioral Disability 3-5 215 Behavioral Disability 3-5 20 107 Multiple Disability K-2 17 Multiple Disability 2-5 210 Multiple Disability 6-8 24 (NRC) 2A219 Learning Language Disability 3-5
Resolution No. A-14
The Paterson Public Schools is required to provide special education services to students with disabilities in the least restrictive environment.
WHEREAS, the Division of Pupil Personnel Services has reviewed current services, Individual Education Programs, self-contained program services and Administrative Code 6A:14; and
WHEREAS, the Division of Pupil Personnel Services makes all efforts to provide special education services in the least restricted environment and within district public schools; now
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Public Schools, Division of Pupil Personnel Services wishes to change the program type of several special education programs to reduce the amount of transportation costs and to provide services in the neighborhood school whenever possible. The locations of these changes are as follows:
School # 4 LLD to Cog Mild Grade 7-8 School # 6 MD to LLD Grade 3-5 School # 11 Cog Mild to LLD Grade 6-8 School # 29 LLD to MD Grade 3-4 School # 30 MD to BD Grade K-2 Dale Avenue Cog Mild to Cog Moderate Grade K-2
Resolution No. A-15
WHEREAS, on March 15, 2007, the State of New Jersey adopted P.L.2007, c.53, An Act Concerning School District Accountability, also known as Assembly Bill 5 (A5); and
WHEREAS, Bill A5, N.J.S.A. 18A:11-12(3)f, requires that conferences/workshops have prior approval by a majority of the full voting membership of the board of education; and
WHEREAS, pursuant to N.J.S.A. 18A:11-12(2)s, an employee or member of the board of education who travels in violation of the school district’s policy or this section shall be required to reimburse the school district in an amount equal to three times the cost associated with attending the event; now therefore
35 11/20/07 Revised
BE IT RESOLVED, that the Board of Education approves attendance at conferences/workshops for the dates and amounts for staff and parents as attached hereto and made a part of the minutes; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the final authorization for attendance at conferences/workshops will be confirmed at the time a purchase order is issued.
Total Cost: $5,774.00
Conference/Workshop Requests October 17, 2007
Staff Member Conference Date Amount
Tamika Bolds National Coalition October 30 – $492.00 Parent, Title I Officer of ESEA Title I November 4, 2007 Parents 34th Annual Conference Rochester, New York
Ruby Cotton National Coalition October 30 – $1187.00 Parent, Vice Chairperson of ESEA Title I November 4, 2007 - Region II Parents 34th Annual Conference Rochester, New York
Mark Fischer National Coalition October 30 – $1037.00 Parent Coordinator, of ESEA Title I November 4, 2007 Parliamentarian Parents 34th Annual Conference Rochester, New York
Valerie Freeman National Coalition October 30 – $1037.00 School Secretary, of ESEA Title I November 4, 2007 Title I Chairperson Parents 34th Annual Conference Rochester, New York
Adrian Jackson National Coalition October 30 – $492.00 Parent of ESEA Title I November 4, 2007 Parents 34th Annual Conference Rochester, New York
Lydia Rivera National Coalition October 30 – $1037.00
36 11/20/07 Revised Parent (PLA)/ of ESEA Title I November 4, 2007 Parliamentarian Parents 34th Annual Conference Rochester, New York
Andrew Wright National Coalition October 30 – $492.00 Parent (PLA)/ of ESEA Title I November 4, 2007 Parliamentarian Parents 34th Annual Conference Rochester, New York
Resolution No. A-16
WHEREAS, the Paterson Board of Education is required pursuant to N.J.S.A. 18A:11- 12 to adopt policy and approve travel expenditures by district employees and board members using local, State, or Federal funds to ensure that travel is educationally necessary and fiscally prudent; and
WHEREAS, the board of education has determined theta the training and informational programs sponsored by NJSBA and set forth below are directly related to and within the scope of board members’ duties; and
WHEREAS, the board of education has determined that the training and informational programs sponsored by NJSBA and set forth below are directly related to and within the scope of the listed job title’s current responsibilities and the board’s professional development plan; and
WHEREAS, the board of education has determined that participation in the NJSBA training and informational programs requires school district travel expenditures and that this travel is critical to the instructional needs of the district and/or furthers the efficient operation of the district; and
WHEREAS, the board of education has determined that the school district travel expenditures to NJSBA programs are in compliance with State travel guidelines as established by the Department of the Treasury and within the guidelines established by the Federal Office of Management and Budget; except as superseded by conflicting provision of Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes; and
WHEREAS, the board of education finds that a mileage reimbursement rate equal to that of the federal Internal Revenue Service mileage reimbursement rate of [$0.485] per mile is a reasonable rate; and
WHEREAS, the board of education has determined that participation in the NJSBA training and informational programs are in compliance with the district policy on travel; there fore be it
37 11/20/07 Revised RESOLVED, that the board of education hereby approves the attendance of Dr. Jonathan Hodges, school board member, at the listed NJSBA training and informational programs, and the costs of attending including all registration fees, and statutorily authorized travel expenditures, provided that such expenditures are within the annual maximum travel expenditure amount and pending district funds; and, be it further
RESOLVED, that the Paterson Board of Education authorizes in advance, as required by statute, attendance at the following NJSBA training programs and informational events:
Conference Date Amount NJSBA November 2007 Delegate Assembly
Passaic County Association Meeting December 2007
NJSBA December 2007 December 1-2, 2007 $330.00 Advanced Bargaining
NJSBA December 2007 December 8, 2007 School Finance Conference
Passaic County Association Meeting January 2008
NJSBA January 2008 January 12, 2008 $65.00 One-Day New Board Member
Negotiating the Superintendent January 12, 2008 $65.00 Contract
Problem Solving/ January 12, 2008 $65.00 Decision Making
NJSBA January 2008 January 25, 2008 $75.00 School Public Relations Forum
NJSBA January 2008 January 26, 2008 $125.00 Planning for Change
Passaic County Association Meeting February 2008
38 11/20/07 Revised
NJSBA February 2008 February 23, 2008 $190.00 Analyzing and Constructing Salary Guides
Passaic County Association Meeting March 2008
NJSBA March 2008 One-Day March 1, 2008 $125.00 New Board Member Orientation
Problem Solving/ March 1, 2008 $65.00 Decision Making
Communicating Effectively March 1, 2008 $65.00
NJSBA March 2008 March 28-29, 2008 $330.00 Leadership Conference
Passaic County Association Meeting April 2008
Passaic County Association Meeting May 2008
NJSBA May 2008 One-Day May 14, 2008 $125.00 New Board Member Orientation
Parliamentary Procedures May 14, 2008 $125.00
Passaic County Association June 2008
NJSBA June 2008 Weekend June 6-8, 2008 $340.00 Orientation Conference
NJSBA June 2008 Board- June 20-21, 2008 $290.00 Superintendent Institute
NJSBA June 2008 Spring $150.00 School Law Forum Certificated Board Member Master Board Member
39 11/20/07 Revised Conducting Effective Meetings CD-Rom $58.00
Resolution No. A-17
WHEREAS, on March 15, 2007, the State of New Jersey adopted P.L.2007, c.53, An Act Concerning School District Accountability, also known as Assembly Bill 5 (A5); and
WHEREAS, Bill A5, N.J.S.A. 18A:11-12(3)f, requires that conferences/workshops have prior approval by a majority of the full voting membership of the board of education; and
WHEREAS, pursuant to N.J.S.A. 18A:11-12(2)s, an employee or member of the board of education who travels in violation of the school district’s policy or this section shall be required to reimburse the school district in an amount equal to three times the cost associated with attending the event; now therefore
BE IT RESOLVED, that the Board of Education approves attendance at conferences/workshops for the dates and amounts for staff and parents as attached hereto and made a part of the minutes; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the final authorization for attendance at conferences/workshops will be confirmed at the time a purchase order is issued.
Staff Member Conference Date Amount Zaida Padilla Roles and November 27, 2007 $134.92 Affirmative Action Officer Responsibilities of Affirmative Action Officers Piscataway, New Jersey
Ina Rubin Executive November 28, 2007 $174.00 CST Social Worker Functioning in Distracted & Disorganized Children Parsippany, New Jersey
Linda Herald NJASBO December 6, 2007 $138.80 Budget Analyst Professional Development Program Mt. Olive, New Jersey
Lakisha Kincherlow William Paterson December 6, 2007 $45.00 Science Teacher/ University Center for School No. 26 Continuing and Professional Education Wayne, New Jersey
40 11/20/07 Revised Patricia Muller Super Strategies for December 6, 2007 $216.00 Teacher/Early Learning Teaching Beginning Center Readers & Writers Newark, New Jersey
Gisela Aultmon School December 7, 2007 $105.24 Supervisor of Transportation Supervisors Transportation of New Jersey, Inc. General Meeting Columbus, New Jersey
Olga Freda New Jersey December 12 2007 $135.24 Assistant to the Director Association of April 29, 2008 Of Human Resources School Personnel Administrators Mercerville, New Jersey
Chris-Ann Forchette Bureau of December 17, 2007 $195.00 Special Ed. Teacher/ Education and Research School No. 29 Strengthen Your Students’ Reading Comprehension Parsippany, New Jersey
Renee Archer NJDOE Mandatory December 12, 2007 $50.82 Director of Elementary Meeting State Level Special Education PD: Mini Assessment Conference Dayton, New Jersey
Brenda Armstrong NJDOE Mandatory December 12, 2007 $47.72 Special Education Meeting State Level Literacy Coach PD: Mini Assessment Conference Dayton, New Jersey
Nicholas Semeniuk 60th Annual Eastern January 11-14, 2008 $660.36 Athletic Trainer/ JFK Athletics Trainers’ Association Meeting and Clinical Symposium Valley Forge, Pennsylvania
Brenda Armstrong NJDOE Mandatory January 22, 2008 $47.72 Special Education Meeting State Level Literacy Coach PD: Writing Workshop Part II Dayton, New Jersey
41 11/20/07 Revised
Brenda Armstrong NJDOE Mandatory January 28, 2008 $47.72 Special Education Meeting State Level PD Literacy Coach Dayton, New Jersey
Brenda Armstrong NJDOE Mandatory February 12, 2008 $47.72 Special Education Meeting State Level Literacy Coach PD: Differentiation Dayton, New Jersey
Luis Rojas Director of Human New Jersey February 13, 2008 $67.62 Resources Association of School Personnel Administrators Mercerville, New Jersey
Jane Kustin NJ Assoc. for Health,February 25-26, 2008 $90.00 Physical Ed. Teacher/ Physical Education, School No. 16 Recreation and Dance Annual Conf. East Brunswick, New Jersey
Brenda Armstrong NJDOE Mandatory March 5, 2008 $12.12 Special Education Training Regional Literacy Coach Follow-Up Part II: Writing Workshop East Orange, New Jersey
Arlyne Berzak Saint Barnabas April 10, 2008 $95.00 School Counselor/ Health Care System School No. 16 Livingston, New Jersey
Brenda Armstrong NJDOE Mandatory April 17, 2008 $47.72 Special Education State Level PD: Literacy Coach Writing Workshop Dayton, New Jersey
Brenda Armstrong NJDOE Mandatory April 21, 2008 $47.72 Special Education Training State Level PD Literacy Coach Dayton, New Jersey
Brenda Armstrong NJDOE Mandatory May 21, 2008 $12.12 Special Education Training Regional Literacy Coach Follow-Up Part III: Writing Workshop East Orange, New Jersey
42 11/20/07 Revised
Brenda Armstrong NJDOE Mandatory June 3, 2008 $47.72 Special Education Training State Level Literacy Coach PD: End of the Year Dayton, New Jersey
It was moved by Comm. Sayegh, seconded by Comm. Spagnola that Resolution Nos. A-1 through A-17 be adopted.
Comm. Atallo: I have a concern on A-15, ratifying the action of the Superintendent for staff and parents to attend the conference from October 30 through November 4, 2007. This is a Title I conference for parents and I support the conference and those who are going. My concern is that on these agendas we are habitually getting resolutions and we are approving them in a backdated fashion. Today’s date is November 20 and we are getting a resolution to ratify for a conference that took place October 30 through November 4. We received this at the workshop two weeks ago and it was still after the date. I just don’t understand. Can we get an explanation from the Superintendent as to why we are getting these every month to be approved after the fact? We know when these conventions, conferences, and workshops are going to occur. Why are we getting these to approve after the fact?
Dr. Glascoe: For this particular conference initially we were not going to fund it or at least not going to fund as many parents as wanted to go. The parents then came back and suggested that they would take care of their transportation if we took care of the conference. That is why it was late coming to you for the workshop, for this particular one.
Comm. Atallo: Okay. Thank you.
Comm. Hodges: I will be abstaining from A-16, now that I am under control.
Comm. Sayegh: I did not make that suggestion, sir. Are there any further questions or comments?
On roll call all members voted as follows:
Comm. Atallo: I vote yes.
Comm. Hodges: I vote yes on A-1 through A-17, with the exception of A-16, where I abstain.
Comm. Kerr: Yes and I abstain on A-16.
Comm. Muhammad: Yes.
Comm. Spagnola: Yes.
43 11/20/07 Revised
Comm. Taylor: Yes.
Comm. Sayegh: Yes.
The motion carried.
LEGAL COMMITTEE
Comm. Sayegh: There are no legal submissions. However, I want to announce a memorandum is being sent to Board members. There is a new legal chair. I have named Comm. Lawrence Spagnola as the legal committee chairperson.
FISCAL COMMITTEE
Comm. Kerr: The fiscal committee met on November 15 and I will just read into the record the minutes of the meeting. Members present were Comm. Joseph Atallo, Comm. Willa Mae Taylor, and myself. Staff was Ms. Frances Finkelstein. The fiscal committee met and the purpose of our meeting was to further review the bills scheduled for payment for the month of November, and also to examine the audit report’s findings before it’s official public presentation. This is a process that was agreed to by the auditors and the fiscal committee in order to give the committee more time for scrutiny of the budget. In addressing a question relating to the district budget’s formulation process, an issue in which the committee strongly feels should be opened up for the full participation of Board members, Ms. Finkelstein made the point that our budget is driven by the curriculum and the instructional programs and as such, anything that falls outside of the scope is being looked at for a possible adjustment. Our discussion of special education brought about one common area of agreement from committee members. That is that the district would be better served from a financial standpoint and in some instances educationally if we were able to provide greater in-district services for our students. Speaking along the lines of finances, Ms. Finkelstein suggested that a big chunk of our expense for special education is in the area of transportation. She said any move in servicing some of these children in-district would result in significant savings to the district. Concerning the audit report, Ms. Finkelstein walked the committee through the findings and recommendations in the absence of the auditors. Some of the areas captured in the findings and which recommendations were made for corrective measures included administrative practices and procedures. In this area, there were four recommendations made for improvement. Financial planning, accounting and reporting – in this area there are 20 recommendations for improvement. School purchasing program – five recommendations for improvement. School food services – five recommendations for improvement. Student body activities – four recommendations for improvement. Application for state school aid – one recommendation. Transportation – six recommendations. Facilities and capital assets – two recommendations for improvement. According to the report, there are nine areas that are still outstanding since the last audit. Asked by Comm. Atallo what was her greatest area of concern in this year’s audit, Ms. Finkelstein replied purchase orders are
44 11/20/07 Revised still an issue for her, although significant improvements have been made in this area. We reviewed the bills scheduled for payment appearing in Resolution No. C-1. With all other queries satisfactorily answered and no further business to discuss, adjournment was taken at 10:45 p.m. I need to inform the public that the fiscal committee has been working very hard over the past six months…(end of tape) (Beginning of new tape)…the finances of the district. Everything is checked to make sure that everything is above board and we are pleased of the results that we are seeing in recent times. It’s not perfect, but we are still working and we hope that as we continue to do this we will get better at it and we will be able to report better information to you.
Comm. Kerr reported that the Fiscal Committee met, reviewed, and recommends approval for Resolution Nos. C-1 through C-15:
Resolution No. C-1
BE IT RESOLVED, that the list of bills dated November, 2007 in the grand sum of $11,142,500.91 starting with check number 145622 and ending with check number 146140 to be approved for payment.
BE IT RESOLVED, that each claim or demand has been fully itemized and verified, has been duly audited as required by law in accordance with N.J.S.A. 18A:19-2.
GRAND SUM: $11,142,500.91
Resolution No. C-2
Approve transfer of funds within the 2007-2008 school year budget for the month of September 2007.
WHEREAS, the New Jersey Administrative Code 6A:23A-2.3(d)-(h) requires the Board Secretary and the Board of Education to certify that no budgetary line item account has been over-expended and that sufficient funds are available to meet the District’s financial obligations; now therefore, be it
RESOLVED, that the Board of Education approve transfer of funds within the 2007- 2008 school year budget, for the month of September 2007, so that no budgetary line item account has been over-expended and that sufficient funds are available to meet the district’s financial obligations, as requested by various budget managers, and as identified in the list of transfers attached hereto and made a part of the minutes. Furthermore, the transfers were approved by the Department of Education.
Resolution No. C-3
WHEREAS, Paterson Public Schools are required by New Jersey Administrative Code 6A:23-2.11-5(c).4(iii)-(vi) to prepare monthly Financial Statements; and
45 11/20/07 Revised WHEREAS, the School Business Administrator has prepared and presented the Board Secretary Report A-148 and the Report of the Treasurer A-149 including the cash reconciliation for the month of September 2007;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, the Paterson Public Schools acknowledge receipt of and accept the Monthly Financial Reports for September 2007;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Paterson Public Schools hereby incorporates the Monthly Financial Reports for the fiscal period ending September 2007, as part of the minutes of this meeting and note the public discussion of same for the minutes; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the School Business Administrator be directed to forward to the County Superintendent the minutes together with the Monthly Financial Reports; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that this resolution shall take effect upon its adoption.
Resolution No. C-4
WHEREAS, School Dude, a program dedicated to providing services and solutions built exclusively for educational institutions, will provide the Paterson Public School District with online tools that will help Paterson Public Schools improve the efficiency of its maintenance program, facilities use and utility (energy) use to improve the overall condition and function of all facilities.
Terms of Service: • Term: one year • Automatic invoicing will occur at the end of each term • Assistance is available online and through telephone support • Technical support is available from 8 am to 6 pm Eastern Standard Time • No sales tax or usage fees are included. • Daily tape backup of system, daily backup of data, and 24/7 server monitoring is provided in a dedicated data center environment.
Item Term Amount Maintenance Direct 2/1/08-1/31/09 $6,975 PM Direct 2/1/08-1/31/09 $2,790 Inventory Direct 2/1/08-1/31/09 $4,882.50 FS Direct 7/1/07-6/30/08 $6,975 Utility Direct 12/1/07-11/30/08 $6,725 Total Cost $28,347.50
WHERAS, the services herein were in the original budget and funding for same is available in account 11-000-262-590-625-000-0000-000;
46 11/20/07 Revised NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Public School District approve the continued services of School Dude of Raleigh, NC, for the 2007/2008 fiscal year pursuant to the terms of a Professional Service Agreement, for the annual terms noted above at the rate of $28,347.50, which includes annual fees for Maintenance Direct, PM Direct, Inventory Direct, FS Direct and Utility Direct.
Resolution No. C-5
WHEREAS, the Paterson Public Schools solicited three (3) quotes in compliance with Title 18A:18A-3 Purchasing, Contracts and Agreements not requiring advertising; and
WHEREAS, the following companies submitted written proposals: Allstate Information Management – Paterson, New Jersey American Archiving & Shredding LLC – Orange, New Jersey File Bank – Oakland, New Jersey
WHEREAS, the Paterson Public Schools enter into an agreement with Allstate Information Management, the lowest and most responsible quote, for the storage, protection and delivery of the school districts’ archived records; and
WHEREAS, Allstate Information Management’s services include but are not limited to: Initial receiving and shelving – one time charge $33,000 – Fee Waived First 500 boxes retrieved and shelved – Fee Waived Retrieval requests available 24/7/365 via internet – No Charge Review rooms with access to internet, fax machines, copy machines, and phones – No Charge Various detection and suppression systems: pre-action sprinklers, ceiling mount sprinklers, FM 200, smoke sensors, heat sensors, compartmentalization and fire and vault doors, 24 hour alarm and monitoring Vendor unique in rack sprinklers throughout the records center Bar code based tracking system enters all transactions into their database with RAID5 technology to prevent loss of data; and
WHEREAS, the Paterson Public Schools will store with Allstate Information Management the following:
10,000 (1.2 cubic foot) boxes @ $0.15 per box = 40 boxes per skid x 250 skids = Monthly Cost of $1,500;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Public Schools approve a contract for the 2007/2008 fiscal year between Allstate Information Management and Paterson Public Schools. Said Contract to included receiving and shelving of boxes retrieval requests bar code tracking and access to review rooms. PPS will store with Allstate Information Management 10,000 (1.2 cubic ft) boxes at $0.15 equals 40 boxes per skid times 250 skids. The monthly cost for the services will be $1,500.00. 07-08 cost not to exceed $12,000.
47 11/20/07 Revised
Resolution No. C-6
WHEREAS, the Paterson Public Schools enter into an agreement with ADT Security Services, Inc. for Fire Alarm Central Station Monitoring; and
WHEREAS, the services to be provided will be for the premises known as 151 Madison Ave, Paterson New Jersey (St. Anthony’s) which the district currently leases; and
WHEREAS, the services presently provided are under a contract between St. Anthony’s and ADT for which the district has been billed on a quarterly basis; and
WHEREAS, the district’s current vendor Alarm Communications Technology cannot provide these services as the equipment is proprietary in nature and would require replacement; and
WHEREAS, the equipment includes: 7412 Radionics Master Control Unit Key Pad Power Supply Battery Back-Up 6 Horns/Strobes 5 Manual Pull Stations 7 Heat Detectors 32 Smoke Detectors
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Public Schools approve a contract for the 2007/2008 fiscal year with ADT Security Service Inc. for Fire Alarm Central Station Monitoring at the premises known as 151 Madison Av. Paterson NJ (St. Anthony’s) which the District currently leases. The costs include an account set-up fee of $260.00 and annual fee of $1,946.00. Set annual fee to be billed $486.50 quarterly.
TOTAL: $2,692.50
Resolution No. C-7
WHEREAS, the Paterson Public School District has identified a need to provide transportation for Paterson, Out of District and In District schools for Special needs and Regular pupils for the 2007-2008 school year, therefore,
WHEREAS, at a bid opening held on October 11, 2007 sealed bids were received by the Transportation Department, therefore
WHEREAS, the vendor has been notified that no goods or services will be provided to the district without first receiving a fully executed purchase order; that the terms on the purchase order will be honored completely; if the vendor does not agree with the terms
48 11/20/07 Revised on the purchase order, the vendor will not provide any goods or services to the district until such time a new purchase order is completed and delivered with terms the vendor will honor, now therefore
BE IT RESOLVED, that this Board of Education ratifies the action of the Business Administrator in awarding the bid contracts to:
Route # PAM3 - Paterson Alternative Middle Starts 12/13/07 # days 122 In-district--Regular 7:55 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. NO AIDE $19,520.00 Contractor Vehicle Per Diem Aide Mileage Adj. Per Pupil Adj. Total Per Diem Trans Ed 160.00 52.00 2.00 160.00
Route # PS74 – John F. Kennedy/Panther Starts 10/25/07 # days 152 In-district—Sp. Needs 7:25/7:40 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. WC AIDE NEEDED $37,696.00 Contractor Vehicle Per Diem Aide Mileage Adj. Per Pupil Adj. Total Per Diem Murphy 199.00 49.00 2.00 248.00
Route # P12D – Dale Avenue Starts 11/28/07 # days 134 In-district--Regular Overflow #16 8:10 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. NO AIDE $18,760.00 Contractor Vehicle Per Diem Aide Mileage Adj. Per Pupil Adj. Total Per Diem Trans Ed 140.00 52.00 2.00 140.00
Route # 2K1 – Passaic County Tech Starts 10/17/07 # days 154 Out-of-district--Regular 7:24 a.m. – 2:56 p.m. NO AIDE $30,184.00 Contractor Vehicle Per Diem Aide Mileage Adj. Per Pupil Adj. Total Per Diem Trans Ed 196.00 52.00 2.00 196.00
Route # 2K2 – Passaic County Tech Starts 10/17/07 # days 154 Out-of-district--Regular 7:24 a.m. – 2:56 p.m. NO AIDE $30,184.00 Contractor Vehicle Per Diem Aide Mileage Adj. Per Pupil Adj. Total Per Diem Trans Ed 196.00 52.00 2.00 196.00
Route # PS75 – Bergen Center Starts 10/12/07 Out-of-district—Sp. Needs 8:00 a.m. – 2:15 p.m. AIDE NEEDED REJECTED-BID WAS TOO HIGH Contractor Vehicle Per Diem Aide Mileage Adj. Per Pupil Adj. Total Per Diem D&M 300.00 45.00 3.00 345.00
Route # LIB1 – Science Liberty Center 8:45 a.m. – 1:15 p.m. Estimated 180 trips (we=weekend) $30,420.00 Contractor Per Bus Cost Aide Weekend Rate Specialized Equip. Total Per Trip Murphy 169.00 65.00 169.00 ----- 169.00
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that this action is authorized by the State District Superintendent of Schools and is ratified by the Paterson Board of Education.
Account # 110002705146850000000000 Special Needs $37,696.00 Account # 110002705116850000000000 Regular $98,648.00 Account # 110002705127390000000000 Liberty Science Center $30,420.00 (Paid by Science Dept.)
Total approximate cost for the 2007-2008 school year is: $136,344.00 + $30,420.00 = $166,764.00
49 11/20/07 Revised
Resolution No. C-8
WHEREAS, the Paterson Public School District has identified a need to provide out of district transportation for special education pupils for the 2007-2008 extended and regular school year, and
WHEREAS, the Paterson Public School District has agreed to jointure with other districts for the 2007-2008 school year through the Morris County Educational Services Commission, now therefore
BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Public School District agrees to provide transportation service using the Morris County Educational Services Commissions, 520 Speedwell Avenue, Morris Plains, New Jersey 07962 as follows:
Route #CS474 Route Cost $13,200.00 7/2007 to 7/2008 Route #CV004 Route Cost $7,810.00 7/2007 to 7/2008
BE IT FUTHER RESOLVED, that this action is authorized by the State District Superintendent of Schools and is affirmed by the Paterson Board of Education.
Approximate cost for the 2007-2008 school year: $21,010.00
Resolution No. C-9
WHEREAS, the Paterson Public School District has identified a need to provide school year, out of district transportation, for special education pupils, and
WHEREAS, the Paterson Public School District has agreed to jointure with other districts through the Passaic County Educational Services Commission, 1037 Route 46 East, Suite C-201, Clifton, New Jersey 07013 and the District agrees to the terms of the contract agreement, now therefore
BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Public School District ratifies the action of the State District Superintendent in approving the contract for the 2007-2008 school year and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the total estimated cost of the jointure agreement is as follows:
Route # Destination Yearly Costs Admin. Fees Start Date EAST Eastside HS 6,063.00 181.89 10/5/07-12/21/07 9118 Briarcliff Ms/Mt Lks 3,045.00 91.35 9/07-6/08 WASH Wash. at Ridgewood 11,934.00 341.82 9/07-11/30/07 4003 Belleville Ther. 6,816.82 204.50 9/07-6/08
50 11/20/07 Revised BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that this action is authorized by the State District Superintendent of Schools and is affirmed by the Paterson Board of Education
Approximate cost for the 2007-2008 school year is as follows:
Account # 110002705186850000000000 ESC Contract Serv. $27,858.82 Account # 110002703506850000000000 ESC Adm. Fees $ 819.56
Resolution No. C-10
WHEREAS, the Paterson Public School district has identified a need to provide temporary transportation for pupils to in district schools for the 2007-2008 school year, and
WHEREAS, informal telephone quotes were received by the Transportation Department, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED, that this Board of Education ratifies the action of the State Business Administrator in awarding temporary contracts to:
Route # EHRP – HARP Academy Phys Ed. # days 39 In-district Phys Ed. 9/2007-6/2008 Wednesdays Only NO AIDE $1,404.00 Contractor Vehicle Per Diem Aide Mileage Adj. Total Per Diem D&M 36.00 ----- 3.00 36.00
Route # EP11 – Paterson Alternative Middle School # days 60 In-district Regular 9/10/2007-12/12/2007 NO AIDE $15,000.00 Contractor Vehicle Per Diem Aide Mileage Adj. Total Per Diem D&M 250.00 ----- 3.00 250.00
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the State District Superintendent authorizes this action and the action is affirmed by the Paterson Board of Education.
CONTRACTOR/ADDRESS D&M Tours, 131 Kingston Avenue, Hawthorne, NJ 07506
Total approximate cost for the 2007-2008 school year is: $16,404.00 Account # 110002705116850000000000 Regular $15,000.00 Account # 110002705126850000000000 Gym/Athletics $ 1,404.00
Resolution No. C-11
WHEREAS, the Paterson Public School district has identified a need to provide school year, out of district transportation, for special education pupils, and
51 11/20/07 Revised WHEREAS, the Paterson Public School District has agreed to jointure with other districts through the Passaic County Educational Services Commission, 1037 Route 46 East, Suite C-201, Clifton, New Jersey 07013 and the District agrees to the terms of the contract agreement, now therefore
BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Public School District ratifies the action of the State District Superintendent in approving the contract for the 2007-2008 school year and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the total estimate cost of the jointure agreement is as follows:
Route # Destination Yearly Cost Admin Fees Start Date EMA1 Ernest May Academy 11,800.00 354.00 9/4/07-11/30/07
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that this action is authorized by the State District Superintendent of Schools and is affirmed by the Paterson Board of Education
Approximate cost for the 2007-2008 school year is as follows: Account # 110002705186850000000000 ESC Contract Serv. $11,800.00 Account # 110002703506850000000000 ESC Adm. Fees $ 354.00
Resolution No. C-12
WHEREAS, the Paterson Public School District has identified a need to provide out of district transportation for special education pupils for the 2007-2008 extended and regular school year, and
WHEREAS, the Paterson Public School District has agreed to jointure with other districts for the 2007-2008 school year through the Union County Educational Services Commission, now therefore
BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Public School agrees to provide transportation service using the, Union county Educational Services Commissions, 45 Cardinal Drive, Westfield, New Jersey 07090 as follows:
Route # CS182 7/2007-7/2008 110002705186850000000000 Route Cost $10,670.00 Route # CS182 7/2007-7/2008 110002703506850000000000 Admin Fees $ 425.00
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that this action is authorized by the State District Superintendent of Schools and is affirmed by the Paterson Board of Education.
Approximate cost for the 2007-2008 school year: $11,095.00
52 11/20/07 Revised Resolution No. C-13
WHEREAS, the Paterson public School District has identified a need to provide temporary transportation for special education pupils to in district schools for the 2007- 2008 school year, and
WHEREAS, informal telephone quotes were received by the Transportation Department, new therefore
BE IT RESOLVED, that this Board of Education ratifies the action of the Business Administrator in awarding temporary contracts to:
Route # TJP1 – Panther Academy and John F. Kennedy HS # days 30 In-district Spec. Needs 9/6/2007-10/24/2007 AIDE NEEDED WCL $7,260.00 Contractor Vehicle Per Diem Aide Mileage Adj. Total Per Diem Murphy 194.00 48.00 2.00 242.00
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the State District Superintendent authorizes this action and the action is affirmed by the Paterson Board of Education.
CONTRACTOR/ADDRESS Murphy Bus Company, 45 Edison Avenue, Oakland, NJ 07436 Total approximate cost for the 2007-2008 school year is: $7,260.00
Resolution No. C-14
WHEREAS, the Paterson Public School District has identified a need to provide temporary transportation for special education pupils to in-district schools for the 2007- 2008 school year, and
WHEREAS, informal telephone quotes were received by the Transportation Department, now therefore
BE IT RESOLVED, that this Board of Education ratifies the action of the State Business Administrator in awarding temporary contracts to:
Route # TRPS – Rosa Parks HS # days 178 In-district Spec. Needs 9/12/2007-6/2008 NO AIDE $5,340.00 Contractor Vehicle Per Diem Aide Mileage Adj. Total Per Diem Scholastic 30.00 ------30.00
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the State District Superintendent authorizes this action and the action is affirmed by the Paterson Board of Education.
CONTRACTOR/ADDRESS Scholastic Bus Company, 93 Prospect Place, Hillsdale, NJ 07642 Total approximate cost for the 2007-2008 school year is: $5,340.00
53 11/20/07 Revised
Resolution No. C-15
WHEREAS, the Paterson Public School District has identified a need to provide temporary transportation for special education pupils to out of district schools for the 2007-2008 school year, and
WHEREAS, informal telephone quotes were received by the Transportation Department, now therefore
BE IT RESOLVED, that this Board of Education ratifies the action of the Business Administrator in awarding temporary contracts to:
Route # TBC6 – Learning Center for Exceptional Children # days 170 Out of District Spec. Needs 9/17/2007-6/2008 NO AIDE $1,700.00 Contractor Vehicle Per Diem Aide Mileage Adj. Total Per Diem Learning Center 10.00 ------10.00
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the State District Superintendent authorizes this action and the action is affirmed by the Paterson Board of Education
CONTRACTOR/ADDRESS Learning Center for Exceptional Children, 464 Outwater Lane, Garfield, NJ 07013 Total approximate cost for the 2007-2008 school year is: $1,700.00
It was moved by Comm. Kerr, seconded by Comm. Sayegh that Resolution Nos. C-1 through C-15 be adopted.
Comm. Atallo: Under C-1, I had a number of concerns but one of the concerns I just wanted to state on the record to the administration. Regarding our public service bills, the light bills, as I stated before, I live in Paterson. I attend a number of community events in the evening, which requires me to drive all over the city, and I pass different schools. I see some of these schools glowing in the dark. I understand we have to have entrances and egresses lit up for the fire department. That is required. But I see 2nd and 3rd floors all lit up. If we can just have a simple policy put in place through the administration that the last person to leave the building please turn off the lights that would be very simple. As we do in our homes, we can do in our public school buildings. I think we can cut down on our bills extensively because these bills run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. That’s a concern to me. On C-4, the contract for School Dude, a program that was initiated by the previous facilities director, I would like to see an update since we implemented this program initially on how efficiently it’s working and who is doing it. In theory I would imagine this should be in place through the facilities department and I’m getting feedback that some of the people have difficulty implementing the program. So I’d like to get a report on the implementation of School Dude in the Paterson School District, which is an online tool that professes to improve the efficiency of the maintenance program and facilities use and utility energy use. Through the Chair, Comm. Kerr, can we request for all the Board members an update
54 11/20/07 Revised on what we’re spending $28,000 on in addition to the other thousands of dollars we have spent on this program? Can we get an update on the program? We adopt programs and then we never know what happens. They fall into the Bermuda Triangle. So we’d like to find out where they are.
Comm. Hodges: We have had information about School Dude and some of the improvements in terms of the reduction of the work orders in the facilities minutes. They don’t appear at this month’s meeting because it was an abbreviated meeting, but we’ve had those updates in my past facilities meetings notes.
Comm. Atallo: If we could be so kind as to pass it on to the rest of us so we can have that.
Comm. Hodges: This hasn’t been released, but those minutes have been passed on a monthly basis.
Comm. Atallo: No, the updated ones on where we are. Again, it’s not the role of the Board members to administrate. If the facilities division is reporting to the facilities committee, and I assume it is, we can get a report on what they’re doing. Okay?
Comm. Hodges: I just said that they have been in the minutes in previous months, but I will talk to you offline.
Comm. Atallo: I would like to get a comprehensive for the year of what we save. We spent $28,000 on this and we’ve spent thousands before. So what is the cost savings? That we haven’t seen. There hasn’t been any report on that. My final issue is on C-7 through C-15, the awarding of transportation contracts. We were informed by the auditing firm the other evening that there needs to be a different procedure put in place on the bidding and awarding of these transportation contracts. It should not all be done in the transportation department, but should be done with other divisions of the business office, including purchasing. So for future administrative purposes I assume that those auditing recommendations will be implemented by the administration.
Comm. Kerr: Dr. Atallo, in our fiscal committee meeting actually last night that issue was brought out and the business administrator informed us that some corrective action plan would be put in place to look at some of those deficiencies.
Comm. Atallo: Very good.
Comm. Kerr: We need to just wait a few more days and I think we’ll see a plan.
Comm. Atallo: Very good. Thank you, Commissioner.
On roll call all members voted as follows:
Comm. Atallo: I abstain on C-1 and I vote yes on the remainder.
55 11/20/07 Revised
Comm. Hodges: There are some items which pertain to me on C-1, so I am going to abstain on those particular items and yes on the rest.
Comm. Kerr: Yes.
Comm. Muhammad: Yes.
Comm. Spagnola: Yes on all.
Comm. Taylor: Yes on all.
Comm. Sayegh: Yes.
The motion carried.
FACILITIES COMMITTEE
Comm. Hodges: I have a very brief facilities report. We had an abbreviated facilities meeting on November 19th. Dr. Glascoe and myself were in attendance. Ms. Muhammad was not able to attend and we lost the dean of our facilities committee, Mr. Moody, due to whim of the state. Regarding new construction, International High School is very much on schedule and should be ready for completion September of 2008. Turnover to the district should occur somewhere in the area of June. School 24 is very much on schedule with its renovations and the new addition. Turnover should occur before June. Roberto Clemente, ECC, we are still pending funding and no further information is available. It’s the same with Marshall Street. Regarding Hinchliffe Stadium, we are pending another meeting with the joint education committee, which we have to get as soon as possible. On facilities management, we are posting for chief custodians for School 24 and International High School. These buildings have some very advanced technology in place, not computers but other technology, and we are going to need skills to handle those areas. We are also interviewing for a facilities director and that position hasn’t been filled yet. Aramark Management Company has been contracted to help restructure and organize the facilities department. Obviously, there are substantial concerns about our physical plant conditions and we are taking a long look at our organization as we move forward with this school expansion and all the things we need to take care of. We usually have a monthly report on work orders, as I stated before, but we didn’t cover that in this particular meeting. At Eastside High School, the boilers are on line. However, the piping system is still awaiting the School Development Authority renovations, which could of course lead us to some further problems with the boilers down the road. At School 5, the water infiltration problem continues. We are still waiting for the SDA, who controls our capital improvement money, to move forward with the repairs needed over there. School 5 has the same situation – infiltration problems continue and we are waiting for the State School Development Authority to get funded so we can move forward with those repairs. Regarding fire code violations, there were somewhere around 1,100 violations in total
56 11/20/07 Revised detailed and about 70% of those have been abated. Of the remaining amount of fire code violations, a significant number of those require some largely long term abatement projects and a mini task force has been established to address those that may also involve some considerable redistribution of funding in order to address these issues. Chemical labs are being reviewed today and I didn’t get that update as of this time. That completes my report.
Comm. Atallo: I have a couple of questions and I have been asking my first question repeatedly. Will there be heat at Eastside High School this winter?
Comm. Hodges: Dr. Atallo, there is heat today, but I can’t promise you there’s going to be a winter. I think that the district can do what it can, given the situation that we’re in. As you know, we don’t have a capital improvement budget and we can’t order the massive funding that is required to re-pipe that entire system. We managed to get the thousands of dollars to get the new boilers in there, but the SCC, as you know, did not complete phase two and phase three of their health and safety projects, which would have brought new piping and enabled us to have a clean system in place. So we don’t have a clean system in place and we can’t guarantee that those pipes and in fact those new boilers won’t crash.
Comm. Atallo: Well, I’m very concerned about the health and safety of our entire school system, but I know the fiasco that happened in the past at Eastside High School where it was so cold that students and staff could not physically function. So we might want to look at a couple of options and I am going to recommend this to the administration. I know that Mr. Weiner from the new SDA, formerly SCC, said there is emergency money. I think we need to aggressively lobby to look at that because this is a health factor and we have staff and children in the cold.
Comm. Hodges: To address that very point, the emergency money was secured to buy the boilers. The money required to fix the piping will not be handled in an emergency budget, unless they actually go down. You can’t just in a proactive manner use emergency funding to re-pipe the entire Eastside High School. We looked into that – trust me.
Comm. Atallo: Commissioner, we can’t go winter after winter having our students and staff sitting in a freezing cold building. That is totally unacceptable and inhumane. We know the time. John F. Kennedy said the time to fix the roof is when the sun is shining. Before it gets too cold we need to fix that now. But I’m going to offer you a suggestion. We had a finance meeting last night and we went through the audit report. Chairman Kerr and Comm. Taylor were there, along with our business administrator and our state monitor. There was approximately I believe $700,000 and change sitting in unused lease purchase money that we have. I would like to ask a question through the Chair to the state monitor because he is our fiscal expert, along with our other fiscal expert Ms. Finkelstein. Collectively, I would like to ask our two experts if it’s possible to do a line item transfer, and I think it is, to move that money that hasn’t been used instead of giving it back to the state or applying it for future budget. Can we dedicate those dollars
57 11/20/07 Revised towards getting the heating system operational at Eastside High School? Is that possible? I think it is. Mr. Kramer or Ms. Finkelstein – I respect both their opinions as experts in this field.
Mr. Kramer: There is a process to allocate the $700,000 to capital projects. We have to go through the process, get the approvals, and then would be able to draw down on those funds.
Comm. Atallo: Since it’s November and the weather is getting cold now, is it possible for us to do that in an expeditious way, to use another Joe Clark word, to get together with the Superintendent and the business administrator to get this done?
Mr. Kramer: The only unknown I have for my response to this is that an Abbott district cannot use funds for allowable expenditures that usually go through the SCC, now the SDA. Boilers are one of those allowable expenditures. Therefore, our funds probably would not be approved for that type of project. But I think we need to start the process, make the request, and see what they will approve or not approve.
Comm. Atallo: With all due respect, I think we should start the process tomorrow morning at 8:00. I think we should move as fast as possible. I think we should call our legislators. Since the SDA, previously the SCC, did such a fine job in the past, not just with Paterson but district wide with the $8.6 billion that they blew…
Comm. Hodges: Don’t lose control, Doctor.
Comm. Atallo: I’m not losing control. No more caffeine for Dr. Hodges. They went through that money. We are talking about children and staff not having heat. For that amount of money, while we’re doing the heat we can also put in air conditioning. I think we can do both. I don’t think it’s funny because we use our buildings year-round.
Mr. Kramer: I’m not laughing.
Comm. Atallo: When I went to school, Mr. Kramer, and I’m a little older than you are, but when I went to school, schools were closed in June and they opened up in September. We had a couple of hot weeks in June and a couple of hot weeks in September. That’s not the case today. The educational model is year-round schools. We use those facilities year-round, so I think we can use your expertise and the people that you know in Trenton, along with our Chief School Administrator. We are a state operated district and the state should really come to our aid on this. They really fumbled the ball on so many other things with facilities and I think on this issue winter after winter our children and staff go in the icy cold and it’s inhumane. So we can do the heating system with that money and while we’re doing it, for a very small amount of money we can also put air conditioning in. This way our staff and children would have air conditioning in the warm months as well. I think that’s what’s called good planning.
58 11/20/07 Revised Comm. Hodges: Dr. Atallo, with all due respect, that issue was addressed initially when the boilers went down, which is why I know we can’t just have that emergency transfer. Additionally, you can’t do the piping while school is in place because then you’re not going to have any heat. These were the issues that were put on the table when we were trying to discuss the boiler situation when they originally went down. We explained to them that if you replace the boilers and you don’t replace all the pipes with all the rust and corrosion that’s in there you stand a chance of losing the brand new boilers. The reply was you are lucky you got the boilers.
Comm. Atallo: Well, I think they are treating us in a very cavalier fashion. I don’t want to belabor this. I am just going to say this and we’ll move on. The money is there. We went through the audit report last night. The finance committee members, our administrators, state officials and auditors all agree there is over $700,000 sitting in that account. I know the money is there because I looked at it. There is a mechanism, as the state monitor said, and I think we should explore that as soon as possible. Last winter there was no heat. The winter before there was no heat.
Comm. Hodges: Dr. Atallo, please.
Comm. Atallo: No, let me finish my point.
Comm. Hodges: You have.
Comm. Atallo: I want to commend you. When the Governor came to Paterson we addressed that issue and we did get him to move on that issue. But I don’t want to go through another winter where our children and staff are in a freezing building. It’s just wrong.
Comm. Hodges: You are absolutely right. Your next point?
Comm. Atallo: I don’t want to be dismissed.
Comm. Hodges: Dr. Atallo, you are not being dismissed. I am heartily in agreement with you. I told you I have already pursued this over and over again. This has not been something I’ve ignored. We have, as a facilities committee, gone through this and you know we did because we had this discussion here.
Comm. Atallo: Well, I’m not on the facilities committee, but I appreciate your report. Through the Chair, I would like to address this to the Superintendent. I think this is a good idea. I think this is feasible. The money is there. Mr. Superintendent, is this something we can look at?
Dr. Glascoe: No, I really don’t think so and I think Mr. Kramer is absolutely right, at least from all of the negotiations and the things that we’ve gone through. We are not going to be approved to move that money.
59 11/20/07 Revised Comm. Atallo: The money is sitting there, it’s not being used, and our buildings don’t have heat. So where’s the logic to that? I think we need to move on this thing. I really think we do. Any assistance you want from me, I would be happy to go to any meeting you want to try to persuade whatever powers that be to get heat into that building for Eastside High School. To go through another winter of freezing cold is unacceptable.
Comm. Hodges: They do have heat in the building, Dr. Atallo.
Comm. Taylor: There are other people that would like to speak, Dr. Hodges.
Comm. Atallo: But that system…
Comm. Hodges: Dr. Atallo.
Comm. Atallo: I have two more points.
Comm. Kerr: I just need to know the present status. Is it a situation that there is no heat?
Comm. Hodges: No, that is not the case right now. The only question was we were concerned about the piping long term. That’s why I put it on there at all. We are concerned long term about the piping.
Comm. Kerr: But right now we do have heat?
Comm. Hodges: Right now we do have heat.
Dr. Glascoe: We can continue this into the night.
Comm. Hodges: No, we are not going to.
Dr. Glascoe: Let me just summarize everything as best I can. Yes, the system is working now. We do have heat. But because of the antiquated piping and flow system that we have, we probably will be faced with some days when we are going to have parts of the building not being heated. At the same time, we will have water filtration problems at School 5 and at School 21. And there are other buildings that will not be heated. Yes, there will be times when there will be rats running through the offices of our facilities. So, folks, this is us and until the SDA and the state can work out a situation of bringing funding back for these capital improvement projects we’re going to be racing around and putting Bandaids on these situations. That is the brutal fact.
Comm. Atallo: How do we have rats running around and not addressing that?
Comm. Hodges: Excuse me, Dr. Atallo.
Comm. Atallo: That’s a health issue.
60 11/20/07 Revised
Comm. Hodges: I did not hear you address the Chair.
Comm. Atallo: Well, let me address the Chair.
Comm. Taylor: I remember when we had our workshop and we were told if we were chairing a piece of it that we were to go around the table and everyone have at least something to say if they wanted to. Then if possible you would let them come back for a second time and then limit it to at least one or two times that we speak so that we don’t run this thing forever. We have workshops and that’s what Cathie told us. During the workshop we should bleed everything out – blood let at that time. Anyway, I would just like to say that I know that the facilities group, our Board people, have been doing as much as they can and they have been pleading with the people who work in the district and also at the building level and also trying to do what we can with the people we hired to do what they were supposed to do in these buildings. The buildings were retrofitted with ventilators, which circulate the air in the room. Even with that some of the contracting was not done properly, so Dr. Glascoe is correct. In the winter and in the summer we will see. I know that Mr. Kramer laughed when he said air conditioning, but the older buildings have the ventilation system that moved the air around in the room. But if they don’t work you swelter. You get in there and you are hot because the air does not move because those ventilators are not working anymore. Maybe it is the pipes, Dr. Glascoe. I’m not an engineer. Thank you, Dr. Hodges and Mr. Moody, for having worked as hard as you did and the many hours you put in because I know that you were there in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening, sometimes early in the morning when some of the pipes broke, and also when there was no heat. I know that Board members were there. You and Mr. Moody have been on it.
Mr. Kramer: Just as clarification, it was a strong smile and the reason why I smiled was because we were talking about an emergency issue with the heating. If you are going to go to the state asking for an emergency and you want to try to slip in something else, it brought a smile to my face because I’m not sure if the argument will hold to bring both in at the same time.
Comm. Taylor: No, it doesn’t work.
Comm. Atallo: The Superintendent mentioned rats. That’s not an issue we have to wait for the SDA to address. That’s a health issue and we have money in the budget for extermination. That needs to be addressed. There are rats, mice and other vermin and that’s been a problem. It’s not acceptable to say you might see a day when they are running around. Any day they are running around is not acceptable. That needs to be addressed.
Dr. Glascoe: Excuse me, sir. I was not at all saying that’s not being addressed. What I am saying, and you did mention this before, is that we do have problems of that nature and they are not going to go away. We have exterminated our buildings over and over and over again. It’s the situation that we’re in with the facilities in the city. So I’m not at
61 11/20/07 Revised all saying that we’re not doing anything about it. I was just presenting to you that there are problems across this school district, not just Eastside. There are facility problems across this school district that, for me and certainly for my colleagues and parents out there, are just as critical as the one you’re talking about at Eastside.
Comm. Atallo: My other issue is this. You talked about bringing in a facilities director and you are interviewing. The individual that was there hasn’t been there for five months. I think with a district this size we need to plan better and get people on board as soon as possible. I also have concerns about Aramark and I’ll talk to you off camera because in 1990 there was a contractual issue with them and this school district that you may want to be aware of before you contract with that company. Thank you.
Comm. Hodges reported that the Facilities Committee met, reviewed, and recommends approval for Resolution No. D-1:
Resolution No. D-1
WHEREAS, the District entered into an agreement with DFH Environmental, Inc., P.O. Box 985, Dover, NJ 07801, for professional services including writing the required Remedial Action Workplan for Vapor Intrusion Monitoring, related to groundwater contamination discovered during the investigation of a discharge from an underground oil storage tank located at PS 11 which was discovered in 1997; and
WHEREAS, the Remedial Action Workplan (and Addendum as required by NJDEP) has been submitted to NJDEP by DFH Environmental; and
WHEREAS, the District has submitted the required review fee for the RAW in the amount of $1,000.00 directly to the NJDEP; and
WHEREAS, it is anticipated that the Remedial Action Workplan will be approved as amended, and that sampling activities described in the RAW will be required within a timeframe prescribed by NJDEP; and
WHEREAS, DFH Environmental, Inc. has provided the Paterson Public Schools with a proposal for the Vapor Intrusion Investigation; and now therefore
BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Public School District accepts the proposal from DFH Environmental, dated September 27, 2007, in the amount of $18,400.00, for professional services related to the Vapor Intrusion Investigation at School 11, related to groundwater contamination discovered during the investigation of a discharge from and underground storage tank. A Purchase Order will be issued upon approval of the Remedial Action Work Plan and Addendum, so that the District will be in compliance with NJDEP Schedule.
DFH Environmental Services 15 North Salem Street
62 11/20/07 Revised Dover, NJ 07801 Vendor #358174
It was moved by Comm. Sayegh, seconded by Comm. Muhammad that Resolution No. D-1 be adopted. On roll call all members voted in the affirmative. The motion carried.
Comm. Sayegh: Before we go to our personnel chairwoman, Comm. Taylor would like to reconsider her vote on an item in curriculum, Item A-16. So at this time I would like to put a motion on the floor to have Comm. Taylor reconsider her vote on A-16.
It was moved by Comm. Sayegh, seconded by Comm. Muhammad that Comm. Taylor reconsiders her vote on Resolution No. A-16.
Comm. Hodges: I don’t know if we should let her do that. She had an opportunity to vote.
Comm. Sayegh: Well, you abstain, sir.
Comm. Hodges: I don’t understand why we need to waste the Board’s time.
Comm. Atallo: Is that legally permissible?
Comm. Sayegh: Yes, it is.
Comm. Hodges: What are we doing?
Comm. Sayegh: The motion is to allow her to reconsider. Then we’ll have another motion to let her reconsider.
On roll call all members voted as follows:
Comm. Atallo: Yes.
Comm. Hodges: Against my better judgment I’ll say yes.
Comm. Kerr: Yes.
Comm. Muhammad: Yes.
Comm. Spagnola: Yes.
Comm. Taylor: Yes.
Comm. Sayegh: Yes.
63 11/20/07 Revised The motion carried.
It was moved by Comm. Sayegh, seconded by Comm. Muhammad that Comm. Taylor reconsiders her vote on Resolution No. A-16.
Comm. Sayegh: We’ll vote on it again, but you are going to have to abstain, Comm. Hodges.
Comm. Hodges: You are asking us to revote on A-16?
Comm. Sayegh: Yes, that is correct. So now she can reconsider.
Comm. Hodges: Would you just restate your motion?
Comm. Atallo: Mr. Chairman, I’d like to get an opinion from legal counsel.
Comm. Sayegh: This is perfectly legal.
Comm. Atallo: You’re not an attorney, Mr. Sayegh.
Comm. Sayegh: Well, I have consulted with them, sir.
Comm. Atallo: You have no law degree and you are not admitted to the bar.
Comm. Sayegh: I’ve consulted with them.
Comm. Atallo: I’d like to hear from a real attorney.
Comm. Sayegh: We don’t need your sarcasm. We’ll go to legal counsel, but he’s only going to reaffirm what we already know.
Comm. Atallo: Well, let’s hear it from him and he’ll validate it.
Comm. Hodges: Point of order. I think it would be beneficial to have one person speaking at a time. We have to reach the point where we stop interrupting people when they are speaking. That continues to be a problem.
Comm. Atallo: This is from the man who bangs his desk.
Comm. Hodges: I didn’t interrupt anybody. I didn’t interrupt you.
Mr. Tabenkin: All of this occurred when I took a bathroom break myself. I was taken by surprise. I don’t see why Ms. Taylor can’t simply request that her vote be recorded in the minutes as something other than… I don’t know how she voted before.
Comm. Taylor: I abstained.
64 11/20/07 Revised
Mr. Tabenkin: You can change that to an affirmative. The whole motion need not be re-voted.
Comm. Sayegh: Although we do have something stated in writing that says we have to go through that process.
Mr. Tabenkin: I have not seen that.
Comm. Atallo: Thank you, Counselor, for your legal opinion.
Comm. Sayegh: Since we already have the motion, let’s just go – not through the motions. I’m putting a motion on the floor to revote on Item A-16. Is there a second?
It was moved by Comm. Sayegh, seconded by Comm. Muhammad that Resolution No. A-16 be re-voted. On roll call all members voted as follows:
Comm. Atallo: Yes.
Comm. Hodges: I abstain on A-16.
Comm. Kerr: I abstain on A-16.
Comm. Muhammad: Yes.
Comm. Spagnola: Is this going to Atlantic City we’re talking about?
Comm. Sayegh: No.
Comm. Spagnola: Okay. Yes.
Comm. Taylor: Yes.
Comm. Sayegh: Yes.
The motion carried.
Comm. Atallo: Can I get a point of clarification? What is this convention for? What location? And what is the purpose?
Comm. Sayegh: Who are you directing your question to?
Comm. Atallo: The Chair.
Comm. Sayegh: This conference is for Comm. Hodges. Comm. Hodges is going on this conference.
65 11/20/07 Revised
Comm. Atallo: Well, what is it?
Comm. Sayegh: Comm. Hodges, do you care to…
Comm. Hodges: I’m not quite sure which one it is.
Comm. Taylor: Is it a secret?
Comm. Sayegh: A-16 – what you abstained on.
Comm. Atallo: Public dollars are being spent.
Comm. Hodges: Excuse me. A-16 was not defined. There are two conferences that I have attended. One was the conference to Atlantic City. The other is the intended conference to Washington, D.C.
Comm. Sayegh: That’s the one we are referring to.
Comm. Hodges: The Federal Relations Networking. I wasn’t sure which one of those it was.
Comm. Sayegh: Not Atlantic City – Washington.
Comm. Hodges: Washington, D.C.?
Comm. Sayegh: Yes.
Comm. Hodges: That’s why I am abstaining for that one. In essence, if you are a delegate of New Jersey School Boards Association you have the opportunity to go to Washington, D.C. to lobby your congressmen for educational issues.
Comm. Sayegh: Or congresswomen.
Comm. Hodges: Congressperson.
Comm. Spagnola: That’s going to happen when?
Comm. Hodges: February 3rd.
Comm. Spagnola: And you were picked to go?
Comm. Sayegh: He’s the chairman.
Comm. Hodges: I’m the chair of the Urban Boards.
66 11/20/07 Revised Comm. Spagnola: That’s great.
Comm. Hodges: There’s nothing…
Comm. Spagnola: No.
Comm. Atallo: Nobody said there was.
Comm. Spagnola: It wasn’t spelled out and it wasn’t clarified and everybody is jumping around on their vote. So I just wanted to get a clarification.
Items Requiring Acknowledgement of Review and Comments
PERSONNEL COMMITTEE
Comm. Taylor: We have been asked by our State Commissioner to participate with our human resources department and we had a meeting on November 6, 2007 to discuss administrative appointments, progress with NJQSAC, personnel policies, personnel Board packet and the HR website. In attendance were Comm. Alonzo Moody and Willa Mae Taylor as Chair. Excused was Comm. Waheedah Muhammad and absent was Mr. Larry Spagnola for personal reasons. We reviewed and talked about the interviewing process and we learned that it was still ongoing for a director of mathematics, acting director of guidance and principal for School 27. They may have made some choices by now because this happened November 6th. We talked about the progress of the appeal to the state to talk about gaining more points for the human resources department and some of them have been worked on – changing of titles and also talking with the county. Our human resources department is in constant contact with the county office on what they should do with the certified personnel that’s in our district and additional highly qualified persons and the titles. We talked about personnel policies and working with the Board is to clear up anything and make it so that it’s readable and we get a chart every month of any movement or anything that happens within the district. It is put in a form and it tell us what the position is, the location, the effective date, the term date, and discussion as to what’s going on. Sometimes there is a money piece with it. We received the packet and that’s what I’m talking about – the packet about personnel. Regarding the human resources website, they are working with Ms. Laura Constable, our communications person, to improve and get as much info for the public for recruitment. They do their advertisement on there for any position that comes up and any submissions of wanting a job in the district. It should be up now because that week when we met they said it was going to be up by the weekend. But if it is not, it’s still a work in progress. Mr. Chair, I was asked through the workshop time and we went over this motion. We have to read it into the record so that the state, as well as the county, know that we have looked over this information and that it is a part of our working way of doing and working with personnel in the district.
Comm. Taylor reported that the Personnel Committee met, reviewed, and recommends approval for Resolution No. F-1:
67 11/20/07 Revised
Resolution No. F-1
WHEREAS, the State District Superintendent recommends the appointments, salary adjustments, transfers, leave of absence approvals, dismissals, contract renewals of tenured and non-tenured employees; and
WHEREAS, the advisory Board of the Paterson Public School District has reviewed the recommendations of the State District Superintendent; and
WHEREAS, the advisory Board of the Paterson Board of Education has made comments as appropriate; and
WHEREAS, the advisory Board of Paterson Board of Education communicated its expectations that such recommendations are made on a timely basis and include the proposed appointment, transfer, removal or renewal of tenured and non-tenured, certificated and non-certificated personnel in compliance with contractual and/or statutory requirements; and now therefore
BE IT RESOLVED, that the advisory Board of the Paterson Board of Education acknowledges reviewing and making comments based on the personnel recommendations of the State District Superintendent adopted the November 20, 2007 Board meeting.
PERSONNEL
B.1 Motion to acknowledge that the advisory board of the Paterson Public Schools has reviewed the recommendation of the State District Superintendent and made comments as appropriate on the personnel recommendations by the Chief School Administrator including any appointments, transfers removal or renewal of certificated and non-certificated officers and employees. Further, the advisory board communicates its expectations that such recommendations are made on a timely basis and include the proposed appointment, transfer, removal or renewal of tenured and non-tenured, certificated and non-certificated personnel in compliance with contractual and/or statutory requirements. In addition, the State District Superintendent recommends the submission to the County Superintendent applications for emergent hire and the applicant's attestation that he/she has not been convicted of any disqualifying crime pursuant to the provisions of N.J.S.A. 18A: 6-7.1 et. seq., N.J.S.A. 18A: 39-17 et seq., or N.J.S.A. 18A: 6-4. 13 et. seq. A. APPOINTMENTS Name/Degree/Salary Position Loc. Eff. Date Term. Date Discussion Barnes, Andre Music Teacher EHS 12/10/2007 6/30/2008 To re-hire $58,679.00 MA Step 13
Brown, Antoinetta Math Teacher #21 10/1/2007 6/30/2008 New Hire $51,565.00 MA Step 3 Grade 7
68 11/20/07 Revised Budhram, Malinie S. Student Clerk Division of 9/1/2007 6/30/2008 at rate $9.61 Pupil Personnel per hour. Not Services to exceed $7,870.00 Carrion, Angel Physical JFK 10/9/2007 6/30/2008 New Hire $55,065.00 Ph.D. Step 1 Education Teacher Cerino, Maria C. Special #2 10/1/2007 6/30/2008 New Hire $47,165.00 BA Step 2 Education Teacher Cioletti, Jeffrey Physical PPTA 10/1/2007 6/30/2008 New Hire $46,665.00 BA Step 1 Education Teacher Cruz, Stephanie Student Worker Division of 9/24/2007 6/30/2008 at rate $7.50 Pupil Personnel per hour at Services 19.5 hours a week not to exceed $6,142.00 Dotel, Linda Part Time #24 10/17/2007 6/30/2008 not to exceed SCL/Attendance 19 1/2 hour per Officer week @ 11.50 per hour $25.00 per month travel stipend Estrada, Yesenia Student Worker STARS 9/1/2007 6/30/2008 Interns for the Academy Extended School Year Work Program at rate $7.50/hour 6 hours a week Total $180.00 Ferraris, Rosa M. Business Sports 10/1/2007 6/30/2008 New Hire $46,665.00 BA Step 1 Education Business Teacher Academy Herrera, Abdia Cafeteria #2 10/15/2007 6/30/2008 New Hire monitor $7.75/hour McKnight, Stephanie Cafeteria EWK 9/19/2007 6/30/2008 New Hire monitor $7.75/hour
Mombrum, Junior French Teacher HARP 10/9/2007 6/30/2008 New Hire $46,665.00 BA Step 1 Academy
Moran, Victoria Student Worker Office of the 10/3/2007 6/30/2008 at rate $7.50 Deputy per hour . Not Superintendent to exceed the amount of $6,000.00 B. TRANSFERS Name Position To Loc. From Loc. Effective Discussion Date
69 11/20/07 Revised Noel, Joseph Art Teacher Urban 10/1/2007 6/30/2008 New Hire $46,665.00 BA Step 1 Leadership Academy Pierre, Pruvi Student Worker Assistant 10/3/2007 6/30/2008 $7.50 per hour Superintendent x 19 1/2 = Human $146.25 Resources weekly not to Office exceed $7,605.00 Abd El Hafez, Rashad Personal Aide Department of LOA 9/19/2007 Temporarily Community reassign, from Services LOA Allen, Robert Teacher of #18 #18 9/1/2007 Internal Grade 6 Lang. Transfer Arts Apaza-Chunga, Almy Personal Aide JFK Norman S. To service Weir students as per 10/9/2007 IEP Barone, Ronald Teacher of #18 #18 9/1/2007 Internal Grade 6 Math Transfer Biscotti, Elaine Teacher of #10 #6 9/6/2007 Abolish Grade 1 position due to right sizing Brown, Clifton Personal Aide #27 #29 10/15/2007 To service students as per IEP Burgess, Alvin Teacher of #13 #13 10/15/2007 Internal Grade 6 Transfer Colon, Maria Physical JFK EHS 9/1/2007 To fill vacancy Education/Health Teacher DiGiacomo, Mark Teacher of Math #4 #4 10/1/2007 To reassign Grades 6-8 staff member due to HQT Douglas, Shaun Personal Aide #25 #24 10/15/2007 To service students as per IEP Espinal, Belkys Personal Aide #30 #2 10/9/2007 To service students as per IEP Evans, Richard Academic #13 #13 10/15/2007 Internal Support Transfer Felice, Nanette Math Coach #10 Academey of 9/1/2007 To fill vacancy Performing created by Arts Pamela Gary
Flores, Pedro Personal Aide #9 #21 10/15/2007 To service students as per IEP Fusaro, Antionette Teacher of #18 #18 9/1/2007 Internal Grade 4 Transfer Garcia, Lourdes Teacher of #18 #18 9/1/2007 Internal Grade 4 Transfer
70 11/20/07 Revised Bilingual
Garcia, Ramona Instructional #18 #18 9/1/2007 Internal Literacy Coach Transfer Gerald, Rashaun Personal Aide #8 #21 10/15/2007 To service students as per IEP Glover, Tayron Personal Aide #28 #13 10/15/2007 To service students as per IEP Harris, Carmela Academic #4 #5 10/1/2007 Internal Support Teacher Transfer Jackson, James Instructional #29 #5 9/4/2007 To service Assistant students as per IEP Kaplan, Rachyl Teacher of #18 #18 9/1/2007 Internal Grade 8 Lang. Transfer Arts Licamara, Anthony Teacher of #24 #24 9/10/2007 Internal Grade 6 Social Transfer Studies Marchese, Cynthia Academic Edward W. #15 10/15/2007 Internal Support Teacher Kilpatrick Transfer Marichal-Serrano, Ramona Teacher of #18 #18 9/1/2007 Internal Grade 8 Lang. Transfer Arts Matesic, Dino In School #26 #6 9/6/2007 Abolish Suspension position due to Teacher right sizing McCutcheon, Herbert Teacher of #15 Edward W. 10/15/2007 Internal Grade 2 Kilpatrick Transfer McDuffie, Stephanie Personal Aide #28 #25 9/10/2007 To accommodate language translation and academic support for classrooms McDuffie, Stephanie Personal Aide STARS #25 10/9/2007 Transfer Academy needed to service students per IEP McMillan, Myesha Teacher of #28 #28 9/6/2007 Internal Grade 4 Transfer B. TRANSFERS Name Position To Loc. From Loc. Effective Discussion Date Mendoza, John Personal Aide JFK Norman S. 10/9/2007 To service Weir students as per IEP Moyett, Mellissa Teacher of #18 #18 9/1/2007 Internal Grade 8 Social Transfer
71 11/20/07 Revised Studies
Mulvihill, Elissa Teacher Grade 7 #18 #18 9/1/2007 Internal Lang. Arts Transfer Nolton, Gail Teacher of #18 #18 9/1/2007 Internal Grade 6 Social Transfer Studies Paciga, Michael Middle School Norman S. #10 9/1/2007 To fill vacancy Math Teacher Weir created by Grades 6-8 Lawrence Hart Palermo, Jayme Teacher of #18 #18 9/1/2007 Internal Grade 5 Transfer Paradise, Joanne Teacher of #18 #18 9/1/2007 Vacant due to Grade 3 resignation Portelli, Lisa Literacy Coach #1 #5 10/9/2007 Vacant due to resignation Internal Raywood, Heather Grade 4 Teacher #1 #1 9/1/2007 Transfer Reading, Nancy Teacher of #18 #18 9/1/2007 Internal Grade 2 Transfer Reynoso, Arline C. General Science JFK 1/21/2008 6/30/2008 New Hire $54,565.00 MA Step 1 Teacher
Rios, Carlos TV Production JFK 9/6/2007 6/30/2008 Due to the $46,665.00 BA Step 1 Media Specialist retirement of Robert MacNeal Roberto, Richard Part Time Security 9/10/2007 6/30/2008 $51.00 per Disciplinary Services hour 19.5 Hearing Officer hours a week not to exceed $39,000.00 Robinson, Tarik J. Instructional #2 #24 10/9/2007 To service Assistant students as per IEP Rodriguez, Gloria Personal Aide Panther Norman S. 9/27/2007 Accommodatio Academy Weir n identification plan. As per students IEP Rogich, Monica Language Art #30 10/9/2007 6/30/2008 New Hire $46,665.00 BA Step 1 Teacher Grades 6-8 Romano, Kathleen Teacher of #5 #27 9/1/2007 External Grade 6 transfer due to Language Arts "rightsize" Samuels, Selena Master Teacher Department of #29 11/1/2007 To fill the Early vacancy Childhood created by Falilat Fatiregun Sayas, Rosa Instructional #21 #45 Early 9/10/2007 Transfer Assistant Learning needed to Center accommodate
72 11/20/07 Revised language translation and academic support for classrooms Scano-Hernandez, Teacher Grade 1 #10 LOA 9/1/2007 Returning from Christina Leave of Absence Sherlock, Gerald Social Studies EHS 10/8/2007 6/30/2008 New Hire $52,565.00 MA+30 Step 2 Teacher
Siepe, Craig Personal Aide JFK #18 10/9/2007 To service students as per IEP Sotelo, America Teacher Grade1 Roberto 10/15/2007 6/30/2008 New Hire $46,665.00 BA Step 1 Biligual Clemente School Staton, Sherman Personal Aide Garrett Morgan #26 10/9/2007 To service Academy students as per IEP Tavarez, Glory Lead Monitor JFK 10/17/2007 6/30/2008 New Hire @$8.30 per hour 7hours per day ($58.10) for 5 days per week ($290.50) for 40 weeks ($11, 620.00) Taylor, Geri LDTC Department of #21 10/9/2007 Transfer from Early Teacher Childhood Torres, Angel Physical EHS JFK 9/1/2007 To fill vacancy. Education/Health Teacher Cafeteria #24 New Hire Torres, Giovanna monitor 10/26/2007 6/30/2008 $7.75/hour Toturgul, Levan Special STARS 10/15/2007 6/30/2008 New Hire- $49,065.00 BA + 30 Step 1 Education Academy replacing Ruth Teacher Calatayud on an unpaid family leave B. TRANSFERS Name Position To Loc. From Loc. Effective Discussion Date White, Tanya Personal Aide #4 Alexander 10/9/2007 To service Hamilton students as per Academy IEP Yilmaz, Dorothy Teacher of #18 #18 9/1/2007 Internal Grade 8 Math Transfer C: Resignations Name Nature of Position Loc. Date Discussion Action Effective
73 11/20/07 Revised Lisa, Annette Resignation Teacher #21 9/1/2007 Rescind previous action of job abandonment Long-Green, Alice Resignation Home School Edward W. 9/6/2007 Community Kilpatrick Liaison Martinez, Maria Resignation Food Service Food Service 9/7/2007 Employee Department
Mejia, Katherine Resignation Food Service Food Service 9/7/2007 Substitute Department
Ramos, Maria Resignation Cafeteria Edward W. Monitor Kilpatrick 9/18/2007 Roberts, Patricia Resignation Instructional #30 9/1/2007 Rescind Assistant previous action of job abandonment Schillaci, Altagracia Resignation Food Service Food Service 9/13/2007 Employee Department
Valido, Christina Resignation School #4 9/24/2007 Secretary Younus, Rashida Resignation Cafeteria #5 6/29/2007 Monitor D: Retirements Name Nature of Position Loc. Date Discussion Action Effective E: Suspensions Name Nature of Position Loc. Date Discussion Action Effective F: Terminations Name Position Loc. Date Discussion Effective Alston, Shepard Personal Aide #13 9/1/2007 Job abandonment Jackson, Tia School #28 9/10/2007 Poor job Community performance Liaison Lisa, Annette Teacher #21 9/1/2007 Job abandonment Patell, Holly Teacher Alexander 9/1/2007 Job Hamilton abandonment Academy Rice, Kara Teacher #1 9/1/2007 Job abandonment Roberts, Patricia Instructional #30 9/1/2007 Job Assistant abandonment Tooley, Adrian Teacher #13 9/26/2007 Criminal History
74 11/20/07 Revised Werner, April Teacher #5 9/1/2007 Job abandonment G: Leave of Absence Name Nature of Position Loc. Return Date Discussion Action
H: Non-Renewals Name Position Salary Loc. Date Discussion Effective
I: Additional Compensation Name Program $$ Amount Date Rate Discussion Effective Abugosh, Riad Adult Evening $7,752.00 9/1/2007 $34.00/hour Adult Classes not to exceed Education $7,752.00 continuation of program. Acosta, Elizabeth Staff $60.00 9/1/2007 To Development compensate @ $10.00 per diem rate for Staff Development for 2006-2007 school year. Adorno, Gisela Adult Evening $7,752.00 9/1/2007 $34.00/hour Adult Classes not to exceed Education $7,752.00 continuation of program. Anderson, Jesse Adult Evening $7,752.00 9/1/2007 $34.00/hour Adult Classes not to exceed Education $7,752.00 continuation of program. Andriulli, Joseph Adult Evening $12,160.00 9/1/2007 $40.00/hour Adult Classes not to exceed Education $12,160.00 continuation of program. Apelman, Jodi Staff $60.00 9/1/2007 To Development compensate @ $10.00 per diem rate for Staff Development for 2006-2007 school year. Baez, Laris Staff $10.00 9/1/2007 To Development compensate @ $10.00 per diem rate for Staff Development for 2006-2007 school year.
75 11/20/07 Revised Baldanza, Teresita Adult Evening $67,479.00 9/1/2007 Adult Basic Classes Skills program Bigirimana, Alexis Adult Evening $7,752.00 9/19/2007 3 hrs/day for 2 Classes days / week continuation of program Bido, Kozeta Staff $80.00 9/1/2007 To Development compensate @ $10.00 per diem rate for Staff Development for 2006-2007 school year. Blauvelt, Richard Adult Evening $7,752.00 9/1/2007 $34.00/hour Adult Classes not to exceed Education $7,752.00 continuation of program. Bligh, Jennifer Adult Evening $7,752.00 9/1/2007 $34.00/hour Adult Classes not to exceed Education $7,752.00 continuation of program. Bolt, Lorraine Staff $60.00 9/1/2007 To Development compensate @ $10.00 per diem rate for Staff Development for 2006-2007 school year. Botti, Francis Adult Evening $9,120.00 9/1/2007 $40.00/hour Adult Classes not to exceed Education $9,120.00 continuation of program. Bria, Amelia Adult Evening $7,752.00 9/1/2007 A$34.00/hour Adult Classes not to exceed Education $7,752.00 continuation of program. Bridges, Eleanor Staff $130.00 9/1/2007 To Development compensate @ $10.00 per diem rate for Staff Development for 2006-2007 school year. Brimley, Shaquan Staff $80.00 9/1/2007 To Development compensate @ $10.00 per diem rate for Staff Development for 2006-2007 school year.
76 11/20/07 Revised Brown, Marlon Staff $70.00 9/1/2007 To Development compensate @ $10.00 per diem rate for Staff Development for 2006-2007 school year. Buday, Gulson Staff $30.00 9/1/2007 To Development compensate @ $10.00 per diem rate for Staff Development for 2006-2007 school year. Bush, Alvin Staff $20.00 9/1/2007 To Development compensate @$10.00 per diem rate for Staff Development for 2006-2007 school year. Calizaya, David Adult Evening $7,752.00 9/1/2007 $34.00/hour Adult Classes not to exceed Education $7,752.00 continuation of program. Campbell, Natana Staff $30.00 9/1/2007 To Development compensate @ $10.00 per diem rate for Staff Development for 2006-2007 school year. Cangialosi, Jaime Adult Evening $7,752.00 9/1/2007 $34.00/hour Adult Classes not to exceed Education $7,752.00 continuation of program. Capone, Rosanne Staff $680.00 8/20/2007 To Development compensate for registrations of incoming students for 2007-2008 @$34.00 per hour 8/20/07- 8/31/07 Caputo, Jennifer Staff $2,040.00 9/19/2007 Hoffman- Development LaRoche After School Program- Substitute as needed
77 11/20/07 Revised Carranza, Vilma Adult Evening $7,752.00 9/1/2007 $34.00/hour Adult Classes not to exceed Education $7,752.00 continuation of program. Cefalo, Caterina Adult Evening $14,592.00 9/1/2007 $24.00/hour Adult Classes not to exceed Education $14,592.00 continuation of program. Cefalo, Lucia Adult Evening $9,310.00 9/1/2007 $17.50/hour Adult Classes not to exceed Education $9,310.00 continuation of program Chavez, Arreli Adult Evening $7,752.00 9/1/2007 $34.00/hour Adult Classes not to exceed Education $7,752.00 continuation of program. I: Additional Compensation Name Program $$ Amount Date Rate Discussion Effective Chlupsa, Sheila Adult Evening $7,752.00 9/1/2007 $34.00/hour Adult Classes not to exceed Education $7,752.00 continuation of program. Chong, Lee Adult Evening $7,752.00 9/1/2007 $34.00/hour Adult Classes not to exceed Education $7,752.00 continuation of program. Cohen, Beverly Staff $3,094.00 9/17/2007 Breakfast Development Attendance 1/2 hour @ $34.00/hour for 182 days Colognori, Ralph Adult Evening $51,657.00 9/1/2007 New Jersey Classes Youth Corps Program Conte, Sandra Staff $680.00 8/20/2007 To Development compensate for registration of incoming students for 2007-2008 @$34.00 per hour 8/20/07- 8/31/07 Cooper, Harry Staff $50.00 9/1/2007 To Development compensate @ $10.00 per diem rate for Staff Development for 2006-2007 school year
78 11/20/07 Revised Cotto, Florita Adult Evening $7,752.00 9/1/2007 $34.00/hour Adult Classes not to exceed Education $7,752.00 continuation of program. Coy, Cheryl Adult Evening $7,752.00 9/1/2007 $34.00/hour Adult Classes not to exceed Education $7,752.00 continuation of program. Cupo, Shalayne Staff $100.00 9/1/2007 To Development compensate @ $10.00 per diem rate for Staff Development for 2006-2007 school year. Curiel, Sharol Staff $20.00 9/1/2007 To Development compensate @ $10.00 per diem rate for Staff Development for 2006-2007 school year. Daniel, Cheryl Staff $2,040.00 9/19/2007 Hoffman- Development LaRoche After School Program De Angelo, Lorraine Adult Evening $7,752.00 9/1/2007 $34.00/hour Adult Classes not to exceed Education $7,752.00 continuation of program. DeMoor, Mary Adult Evening $7,752.00 9/1/2007 $34.00/hour Adult Classes not to exceed Education $7,752.00 continuation of program. Dunn, Alphonso Adult Evening $7,752.00 9/1/2007 $34.00/hour Adult Classes not to exceed Education $7,752.00 continuation of program. Ebeid, Hamdy Ibrahim Staff $60.00 9/1/2007 To Development compensate @ $10.00 per diem rate for Staff Development for 2006-2007 school year. Engstrom, Jerry Adult Evening $7,752.00 9/1/2007 $34.00 not to Adult Classes exceed Education $7,752.00 continuation of program. Fernandez, Ada Adult Evening $9,310.00 9/1/2007 $17.50/hour Adult Classes not to exceed Education $9,310.00 continuation of
79 11/20/07 Revised program.
Fierro, Mary Adult Evening $7,652.00 9/10/2007 $7,652.00 3hrs/day for 2 Classes days/week continuation of program Fiorillo, Lucia Adult Evening $7,752.00 9/1/2007 $34.00/hour Adult Classes not to exceed Education $7,752.00 continuation of program. Fontanella, Paul Adult Evening $7,752.00 9/1/2007 $34.00/hour Adult Classes not to exceed Education $7,752.00 continuation of program. Fox, Robert After School $2,040.00 9/19/2007 Hoffman- LaRoche After School Program- Substitute as needed Gallagher, MaryAnn Registration $680.00 8/202007 To compensate for registration of incoming students for 2007-2008 @$34.00 per hour 8/20/07- 8/31/07 Giesler, Patrcia Adult Evening $7,752.00 9/1/2007 $34.00/hour Adult Classes not to exceed Education $7,752.00 continuation of program. Gonzalez, Victoria Registration $680.00 8/20/2007 To compensate for registration of incoming students for 2007-2008 @$34.00 per hour 8/20/07- 8/31/07 Greene, Tanya Adult Evening $9,120.00 9/1/2007 $40.00/hour Adult Classes not to exceed Education $9,120.00 continuation of program. Guerra-Rojas, Rosa Breakfast $2,184.00 9/1/2007 Breakfast Program 1/2hr @ $24.00/hr for 182 days Hansford, Faith Staff $30.00 9/1/2007 To Development compensate @ $10.00 per diem rate for Staff Development
80 11/20/07 Revised for 2006-2007 school year. I: Additional Compensation Name Program $$ Amount Date Rate Discussion Effective Hart, Lawrence Athletics $1,370.44 9/12/2007 Services rendered as an Assistant Football Coach from August 13, 2007-August 31, 2007 1/6 of full salary Havlusch, Maureen Adult Evening $49,165.00 9/1/2007 New Jersey Classes Youth Corps Program Henriquez, Ana Registration $680.00 8/20/2007 To compensate for registration of incoming students for 2007-2008 @$34.00 per hour 8/20/07- 8/31/07 Hoover, Nora Adult Evening $7,752.00 9/1/2007 $34.00/hour Adult Classes to exceed Education $7,752.00 continuation of program. Hoyt, Keith Staff $30.00 9/1/2007 To compensate @ Development $10.00 per diem rate for Staff Development for 2006-2007 school year. Hunt, Michael Adult Evening $7,752.00 9/1/2007 $34.00/hour Adult Classes not to exceed Education $7,752.00 continuation of program. Ibanez, Hugo Staff $30.00 9/1/2007 To Development compensate @ $10.00 per diem rate for Staff Development for 2006-2007 school year. Johnson, Ateatha Staff $30.00 9/1/2007 To Development compensate @ $10.00 per diem rate for Staff Development for 2006-2007
81 11/20/07 Revised school year.
Kajajian, Anita Adult Evening $7,752.00 9/1/2007 $34.00/hour Adult Classes not to exceed Education $7,752.00 continuation of program. Kellett, Kathleen Adult Evening $12,160.00 9/1/2007 $40.00/hour Adult Classes not to exceed Education $12,160.00 continuation of program. Kleinendorst, Perla Adult Evening $7,752.00 9/1/2007 $34.00/hour Adult Classes not to exceed Education $7,752.00 continuation of program. Korzinek, Edward Adult Evening $7,752.00 9/1/2007 $34.00/hour Adult Classes not to exceed Education $7,752.00 continuation of program. Kreitz, Nikki Adult Evening $7,752.00 9/1/2007 $34.00/hour Adult Classes not to exceed Education $7,752.00 continuation of program. Lathan, Florine After School $2,040.00 9/19/2007 Hoffman- LaRoche After School Program- Substitute as needed Llanos, Ricardo Adult Evening $7,752.00 9/1/2007 $34.00/hour Adult Classes not to exceed Education $7,752.00 continuation of program. Londono, Miguel Adult Evening $7,752.00 9/1/2007 $34.00/hour Adult Classes not to exceed Education $7,752.00 continuation of program. Lynch, Patsy Adult Evening $7,752.00 9/1/2007 $34.00/hour Adult Classes not to exceed Education $7,752.00 continuation of program. Maldonado, Ivonne Adult Evening $5,985.00 9/1/2007 $17.50/hour Adult Classes not to exceed Education $5,985.00 continuation of program. Mantiega, Eliane Chaperone $400.00 6/10/06- $400.00 Payment of 6/14/06 overnight stay in Washington DC for National History Day. Maragh, Phyllis Adult Evening $7,752.00 9/1/2007 $34.00/hour Adult Classes not to exceed Education $7,752.00 continuation of program.
82 11/20/07 Revised Marcelin, Evangeline Registration $680.00 8/20/2007 To compensate for registration of incoming students for 2007-2008 @$34.00 per hour 8/20/07- 8/31/07 I: Additional Compensation Name Program $$ Amount Date Rate Discussion Effective Mastroieni, Rosemarie Registration $680.00 8/20/2007 To compensate for registration of incoming students for 2007-2008 @$34.00 per hour 8/20/07- 8/31/07 Maultsby, Dwayne Adult Evening $7,752.00 9/1/2007 $34.00/hour Adult Classes not to exceed Education $7,752.00 continuation of program. McCann, Betty Registration $680.00 8/20/2007 To compensate for registration of incoming students for 2007-2008 @$34.00 per hour 8/20/07- 8/31/07 McCutcheon, Herbert After School $2,040.00 9/19/2007 Hoffman- LaRoche After School Program- Substitute as needed McMahon, Michael Adult Evening $7,752.00 9/1/2007 $34.00/hour Adult Classes not to exceed Education $7,752.00 continuation of program. McMahon, Michael Adult Evening $48,665.00 9/1/2007 $48,665.00 New Jersey Classes Youth Corps Program Mulhern, Frank Grant $2,040.00 10/1/2007- Perform grant 5/31/2008 related activities outside of school hours $34.00/hour x 5 hours x 12
83 11/20/07 Revised weeks
Nomafo, Eric Staff $50.00 9/1/2007 To Development compensate @ $10.00 per diem rate for Staff Development for 2006-2007 school year. Nunez, Alexandra Staff $50.00 9/1/2007 To compensate @ Development $10.00 per diem rate for Staff Development for 2006-2007 school year. Ortega, Eugenia Adult Evening $64,479.00 9/1/2007 Adult Basic Classes Skills program Papienuk, Lisa After School $2,040.00 9/19/2007 Hoffman- LaRoche After School Program- Substitute as needed Parkes, Sharon Staff $100.00 9/1/2007 To Development compensate @ $10.00 per diem rate for Staff Development for 2006-2007 school year. Pender, Raymond Adult Evening $7,296.00 9/1/2007 $24.00/hour Adult Classes not to exceed Education $7,296.00 continuation of program. Pender, Raymond Adult Evening $7,296.00 9/1/2007 $24.00/hour Adult Classes not to exceed Education $7,296.00 continuation of program. Increase hour to cover vacancy. Pender, Raymond Adult Evening $7,296.00 9/1/2007 $24.00/hour Adult Classes not to exceed Education $7,296.00 continuation of program. Increase hours to cover vacancy. Pender, Raymond Adult Evening $49,614.00 9/1/2007 New Jersey Classes Youth Corps Program Pender, Raymond Adult Evening $7,296.00 9/1/2007 $24.00/hour New Jersey Classes not to exceed Youth Corps $7,296.00 Program
84 11/20/07 Revised Perrotta-Blasi, MaryAnn Grant $2,040.00 10/1/2007 Perform grant related activities outside of school hours $34.00/hour x 5 hours x 12 weeks Perrotta, Maryanne New Teacher $68.00 9/6/2007 To Orientation compensate presenter at New Teacher Orientaton Workshop Piombino, James Adult Evening $7,752.00 9/1/2007 $34.00/hour Adult Classes not to exceed Education $7,752.00 continuation of program. Pop, Lourdes Breakfast $3,094.00 9/1/2007 Breakfast Program 1/2 hr @$34.00 for 182 day Popoola, Annah Staff $20.00 9/1/2007 To compensate Development @ $10.00 per diem rate for Staff Develop- ment for 2006- 2007 school year. Profet, Alejandro Adult Evening $7,752.00 9/1/2007 $34.00/hour Adult Classes not to exceed Education $7,752.00 continuation of program. Ravelo, Yolanda Adult Evening $7,752.00 9/1/2007 $34.00/hour Adult Classes not to exceed Education $7,752.00 continuation of program. Reed, Eugene Staff $30.00 9/1/2007 To Development compensate @ $10.00 per diem rate for Staff Development for 2006-2007 I: Additional Compensation Name Program $$ Amount Date Rate Discussion Effective Reilly, Kenneth Adult Evening $7,752.00 9/1/2007 $34.00/hour Adult Classes not to exceed Education $7,752.00 continuation of program. Reilly, Kenneth Adult Evening $50,265.00 9/1/2007 New Jersey Classes Youth Corps Program
85 11/20/07 Revised Rivera, Jose Adult Evening $7,752.00 9/1/2007 $34.00/hour Adult Classes not to exceed Education $7,752.00 continuation of program. Rizzo, John Adult Evening $47,831.00 9/1/2007 New Jersey Classes Youth Corps Program Robles, Giselle Staff $60.00 9/1/2007 To Development compensate @ $10.00 per diem rate for Staff Development for 2006-2007 school year. Romero, Liz Staff $20.00 9/1/2007 To Development compensate @ $10.00 per diem rate for Staff Development for 2006-2007 school year. Ruiz, Selemny Chaperone $400.00 6/10/2007- Payment of 6/14/2007 overnight stay in Washington DC for National History Day. Rumsby, Kathleen Adult Evening $20,672.00 9/1/2007 $34.00/hour Adult Classes not to exceed Education $20,672.00 continuation of program. Rumsby, Kathleen Adult Evening $20,672.00 9/1/2007 $34.00/hour Adult Classes not to exceed Education $20,672.00 continuation of program. Increase hour to cover vacancy. Rumsby, Kathleen Adult Evening $20,672.00 9/1/2007 $34.00/hour Adult Education Classes not to exceed continuation of program. Increase $20,672.00 hour to cover vacancy. Russell, Tsahai Staff $90.00 9/1/2007 To Development compensate @ $10.00 per diem rate for Staff Development for 2006-2007 school year Salcedo, Clara Staff $10.00 9/1/2007 To Development compensate @ $10.00 per diem rate for
86 11/20/07 Revised Staff Development for 2006-2007 school year. Salti, Dana Staff $20.00 9/1/2007 To Development compensate @ $10.00 per diem rate for Staff Development for 2006-2007 school year. Sanchez, Rosario Adult Evening $5,320.00 9/1/2007 $17.50/hour Adult Classes not to exceed Education $5,320.00 continuation of program. Sanchez, Rosario Adult Evening $30,979.00 9/1/2007 New Jersey Classes Youth Corps Program Sanchez, Wilma Adult Evening $7,752.00 9/1/2007 $34.00/hour Adult Classes not to exceed Education $7,752.00 continuation of program. Sanchez-Tejeda, Rosa Staff $40.00 9/1/2007 To Development compensate @ $10.00 per diem rate for Staff Development for 2006-2007 school year. Schwartz, Francis Adult Evening $51,665.00 9/1/2007 Adult Basic Classes Skills program Segura, Rosario Appoint $20.00 9/1/2007 To compensate @ $10.00 per diem rate for Staff Development for 2006-2007 school year. Shedler, Mary Lou Registration $680.00 8/20/2007 To compensate for registration of incoming students for 2007-2008 @$34.00 per hour 8/20/07- 8/31/07 Shiviskis, Sandra Registration $680.00 8/20/2007 To compensate for registration of incoming students for
87 11/20/07 Revised 2007-2008 @$34.00 per hour 8/20/07- 8/31/07 Simeus, Marie Registration $680.00 8/20/2007 To compensate for registration of incoming students for 2007-2008 @$34.00 per hour 8/20/07- 8/31/07 Sklar, Phyllis Adult Evening $7,752.00 9/1/2007 $34.00/hour Adult Classes not to exceed Education $7,752.00 continuation of program. Strand, Lawanda Staff $10.00 9/1/2007 To Development compensate @ $10.00 per diem rate for Staff Development for 2006-2007 school year Sullivan-Mangrum, Julia Staff $90.00 9/1/2007 To Development compensate @ $10.00 per diem rate for Staff Development for 2006-2007 school year Suzano, Marianna Adult Evening $91,361.00 9/1/2007 Adult Basic Classes Skills program I: Additional Compensation Name Program $$ Amount Date Rate Discussion Effective Tahan, Patricia After School $2,040.00 9/19/2007 Hoffman- LaRoche After School Program- Substitute as needed Tamayo, Rhina Staff $20.00 9/1/2007 To Development compensate @ $10.00 per diem rate for Staff Development for 2006-2007 school year Taveras, Maria Staff $70.00 9/1/2007 To Development compensate @
88 11/20/07 Revised $10.00 per diem rate for Staff Development for 2006-2007 school year Tavarez, Rhina Grant $2,500.00 9/1/2004 Superintendent 's Grant Math Program 2004- 2005 Tavarez, Rhina Grant $2,500.00 9/1/2005 Superintendent 's Grant Math Program 2005- 2006 Thomas, Beverly Staff $70.00 9/1/2007 To Development compensate @ $10.00 per diem rate for Staff Development for 2006-2007 school year Toomey, Christopher Adult Evening $7,752.00 9/1/2007 $34.00/hour Adult Classes not to exceed Education $7,752.00 continuation of program. Tulloch, Joan Staff $70.00 9/1/2007 To Development compensate @ $10.00 per diem rate for Staff Development for 2006-2007 school year Tulloch, Paulette Staff $40.00 9/1/2007 To Development compensate @ $10.00 per diem rate for Staff Development for 2006-2007 school year Uter, Patricia Staff $10.00 9/1/2007 To Development compensate @ $10.00 per diem rate for Staff Development for 2006-2007 shool year. Valentin, Jennifer Adult Evening $50,065.00 9/12/2007 Adult Basic Classes Skills program Valenzano, Patricia Adult Evening $7,752.00 9/1/2007 $34.00/hour Adult Classes not to exceed Education $7,752.00 continuation of
89 11/20/07 Revised program.
Varano, Dolores New Teacher $68.00 9/6/2007 To Orientation compensate presenter at New Teacher Orientaton Workshop Vasquez, Mireya Staff $60.00 9/1/2007 To Development compensate @ $10.00 per diem rate for Staff Development for 2006-2007 school year Veleber, Linda Adult Evening $7,752.00 9/10/2007 2hrs/day-3 Classes days/week Verrone, Anna Breakfast $3,094.00 9/1/2007 Breakfast Program 1/2 x 17 x 182 1/2 hr @34.00/hr for 182 days Vilas, Jacinta Adult Evening $95,261.00 9/1/2007 Adult Basic Classes Skills program Vilas, Candido Adult Evening $7,752.00 9/1/2007 $34.00/hour Adult Classes not to exceed Education $7,752.00 continuation of program. West, Donald Adult Evening $14,592.00 9/1/2007 $34.00/hour New Jersey Classes not to exceed Youth Corps $14,592.00 Program Wickman, Sharyn After School $2,040.00 9/19/2007 Hoffman- LaRoche After School Program- Substitute as needed Wilson, Tobiann Staff $60.00 9/1/12007 To Development compensate @ $10.00 per diem rate for Staff Development for 2006-2007 school year Zoeller, Lorraine Adult Evening $7,752.00 9/1/2007 $34.00/hour Adult Classes not to exceed Education $7,752.00 continuation of program. Zoeller, Lorraine Adult Evening $49,165.00 9/1/2007 New Jersey Classes Youth Corps Program
90 11/20/07 Revised J: Other Name Nature of Action $$ Amount Date Discussion Effective Abanto, Mercedes Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Abril, Carmen Retro-pay $479.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Acosta, Juana Retro-pay $216.32 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Agresta, Mary Retro-pay $248.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement J: Other Name Nature of Action $$ Amount Date Discussion Effective Aguilar, Jeanette Retro-pay $586.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Alcalde, Nancy Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Alcantara, Luisa Retro-pay $248.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Allen, Charlene Incentive Back Teacher $1,250.00 Buy Back 10 days @$125.00 Amer, Nimeh Retro-pay $51,565.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Ardis, Vincent Settlement $51,565.00 6/30/2008 Settlement of Superior Court Litigation Argumaniz, Yolanda Retro-pay $12.90 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Arnoa, Tomas Retro-pay $97.37 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Arrieta, Lourdes Retro-pay $97.37 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Arroyo, Wanda Retro-pay $586.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Bannister, Bessie Retro-pay $586.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Bannister, Terry Retro-pay $479.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Barca, Maria Retro-pay $248.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Battimelli, Caterina Retro-pay $479.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Beco, Carmen Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Belliard, Rosa Retro-pay $248.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Benitez, Isabel Retro-pay $248.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement
91 11/20/07 Revised Benson, Ora Retro-pay $586.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Berberena, Norma Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Berrio, Doris Retro-pay $23.04 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Bess, Rosa Retro-pay $479.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Bethea, Rita Retro-pay $586.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Beyroutey, Elaine Retro-pay $479.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Blount, Laura Retro-pay $479.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Blue, Gwendolyn Retro-pay $248.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Bolden, Lottie Retro-pay $479.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Brito, Rosa M. Retro-pay $586.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Brown, Bertha Retro-pay $479.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Bruno, Barbara Retro-pay $479.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Bryant, Julia Retro-pay $517.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Cahuana, Milagros Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement
J: Other Name Nature of Action $$ Amount Date Discussion Effective Calfayan, Merissa Correction $50,565.00 6/30/2008 Correction of date of hire Camacho, Luz Retro-pay $479.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Celestin, Gladys Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Cepero, Ofelia Retro-pay $248.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Chavieri, Carolina Retro-pay $97.37 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Chavis, Annie M. Retro-pay $368.14 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Chavis, Bettie Retro-pay $479.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement
92 11/20/07 Revised Ciuppa, Joseph Restore increment $128,170.00 7/1/2007 Settlement +$2,600.00 agreement for district his salary for longevity + the 2007-2008 $3,300.00 PPA,CMA30 admin longevity = $134,070.00
Clark, Martha Retro-pay $517.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Class, Janet Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Collado, Elizabeth Retro-pay $248.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Collazo, Maria C. Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Colon, Nereida Retro-pay $5.46 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Conforti, Gesualda Retro-pay $586.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Cooks, Joan Retro-pay $479.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Cortes, Carmen Retro-pay $12.90 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Cox, Holly Carmen Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2004 Contract Settlement Cruz, Maria Retro-pay $586.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Dance, Willie Retro-pay $248.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Daughtry, Mary Retro-pay $479.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Davalos, Juana Retro-pay $248.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Davis, Mary Retro-pay $517.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement De Coba, Martha Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Del Sardo, Emma Retro-pay $586.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Delgado, Margarita Retro-pay $12.90 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Delgado, Maria Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Demir, Vesile Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Diaz, Adalgiza Retro-pay $586.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement
93 11/20/07 Revised Diaz, Isaura Retro-pay $248.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement
J: Other Name Nature of Action $$ Amount Date Discussion Effective Didio, Mirella Retro-pay $12.90 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Dimichino, Lisa Retro-pay $248.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Ditaranto, Antonia Retro-pay $479.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Dizenzo, Oliva Retro-pay $479.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Dumas, Sherry Retro-pay $479.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Edwards, Hazel Retro-pay $479.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Ellis, Frances Retro-pay $248.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Exum, Marilyn Retro-pay $479.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Ferguson, Eva Retro-pay $479.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Fernandez, Miladys Retro-pay $368.14 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Ferradans, Estela Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Figueroa, Linda Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Flandera. Linda Retro-pay $248.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Floyd, Joyce Retro-pay $479.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Foreman, Bertha Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Formentin, Maria Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Gamarra, Beatriz R. Retro-pay $248.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Gamble, Elaine Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Garcia, Esther Retro-pay $586.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Gelir,Fatma Retro-pay $517.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Giannella, Joanna Retro-pay $248.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement
94 11/20/07 Revised Glenn, Aletta Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Gonzalez, Darlene Retro-pay $479.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Greuter, Robert Accumulated days Director $6,789.75 Process payment for accumulated days vacation
Grimes, Selma Retro-pay $479.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Gutierrez, Paulina Retro-pay $97.37 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Guzman, Benito Incentive Back $400.00 9/1/2005 Perfect Attendance Guzman, Susana B. Retro-pay $479.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Hall, Lena Retro-pay $479.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Haywood, Dollina Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement
J: Other Name Nature of Action $$ Amount Date Discussion Effective Hermon, Bernice Retro-pay $248.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Hernandez, Carmen M. Retro-pay $248.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Heyman, Pauline Retro-pay $479.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Hickmon, Rosa Retro-pay $479.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Hidalgo, Mercedes Retro-pay $479.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Hopkins, Crystal Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Howard, Debbie Retro-pay $517.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Ingraffia, Olga Retro-pay $586.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Irrizarri, Agripina Retro-pay $368.14 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Jackson, Tina Retro-pay $586.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Jarido, Rachel Retro-pay $586.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Johnson, Sarah Retro-pay $248.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement
95 11/20/07 Revised Kearney, Josephine Retro-pay $20.97 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement King, Barbara Retro-pay $479.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Kirby, Louise Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Kishko, Mary Retro-pay $479.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Lagos, Maria Cristina Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Lagos, Rosero, Aracely Retro-pay $517.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Lawton, Eva Mae Retro-pay $479.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Legette, Daisy M. Retro-pay $368.14 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Leggett, Nan Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Lemon, Annette Retro-pay $248.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Lewis, Christopher Title change NA 9/27/2007 Change title for Sr. Systems programmer to reflect the appropriate job description of the current duties performed on a daily basis. Liguori, Julissa Status change $48,165.00 9/20/2007 Change Status from Emergency Perm. Sub to Teacher
Lobosco, Josephine Retro-pay $586.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement J: Other Name Nature of Action $$ Amount Date Discussion Effective Lockhart, Shirley Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Lowery, Annie Retro-pay $479.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Ludena, Carmen Retro-pay $248.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Lugo, Carmen Retro-pay $479.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Maine-Jones, Connie Retro-pay $586.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement
96 11/20/07 Revised Manzo, Judy Appoint $450.00 9/26/2007 PEA Grievance Settlement Agreement Alternate Route Mentoring Program Marraccini, Ruth Retro-pay $517.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Martinez, Maria Retro-pay $248.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Mayes, Albertha Retro-pay $216.32 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Mazur Jr., Joseph J Incentive Back $1,250.00 9/26/2007 Buy Back 10 days @$125.00 McCrae, Tawana K. Retro-pay $248.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement McDaniel, Curlyphine Retro-pay $586.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement McDaniel, Tammy Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement McDowell, Barbara Retro-pay $97.37 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement McGuire, Carrie Lee Retro-pay $479.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement McKinnon, Rosa Retro-pay $248.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement McKinnon, Timothy Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement McPherson, Latoya Retro-pay $97.37 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement McPherson, Nadine Retro-pay $479.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement McPherson, Sandra Retro-pay $586.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement McPherson, Sonia Retro-pay $517.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Medina, Alicia Retro-pay $248.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Medina, Ana L. Retro-pay $392.08 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Medina, Eugenia Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Medina,Valentina Retro-pay $586.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Medley, Brenda Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement
97 11/20/07 Revised Mendez, Victoria Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Meyer, Claudia Retro-pay $479.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Miranda, Maria Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement .. J: Other Name Nature of Action $$ Amount Date Discussion Effective Molina, Patricia E. Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Montalvo, Mildred Appoint $112.50 9/25/2007 PEA Grievance Settlement Agreement Montanez, Aglae Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Morales, Rosa Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Morrison, Robin Retro-pay $586.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Nativo, Anna Retro-pay $248.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Olivo, Marilyn Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2004 Contract Settlement Ortiz, Josefina Retro-pay $5.46 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Pacheco, Wanda Retro-pay $97.37 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Pareja, Gladys Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Parker, Annie Retro-pay $479.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Pearson, Ozalee Retro-pay $248.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Pedroza, Obeyda Retro-pay $479.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Pelham, Robin Status change $49,365.00 10/2/2007 Change status from Permanent Substitute to Teacher
Pelosi, Domenica Retro-pay $479.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Perez, Francisca Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Perez, Idalia Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement
98 11/20/07 Revised Perez, Rosa M. Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Perez-Matos, Rosmeris Retro-pay $479.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Perlaza, Carmen Retro-pay $479.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Petgrave-Tate,Vivian Retro-pay $479.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Petrazzuolo, Vincenza Retro-pay $586.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Pichardo, Omaira Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Pierri, Carol Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Pierson, Yakima Retro-pay $248.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Pomales, Aracelis Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Pomales, Rosa Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Popovich, Patricia Compensated $448.64 9/27/2007 Retired- To be compensated for accumulated (1) sick day
J: Other Name Nature of Action $$ Amount Date Discussion Effective Pryor, Gladys Retro-pay $586.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Pulgarin, Carmen Retro-pay $368.14 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Quiles, Petrona Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Radice, Ana Correction N/A 6/30/2008 Correction of date of Hire Ramirez, Carmela Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Ramos, Vilma Retro-pay $479.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Reece, Mary Retro-pay $479.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Rios, Maria Retro-pay $12.90 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Rivera, Carola Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Robinson, Mark Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement
99 11/20/07 Revised Roche, Nancy Retro-pay $248.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Rodriguez, Adela Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Rodriguez, Margarita Retro-pay $5.46 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Rodriguez, Ysabel Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Rosa, Yolanda Retro-pay $586.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Rosado, Marleny Retro-pay $216.32 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Rosado, Nelida Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Rosario, Alba Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Rosario, Belkis Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Rosario, Hilda Retro-pay $12.90 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Roseboro, Mille Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Roseboro, Sonia Retro-pay $97.37 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Rubina, Isabel Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Russo, Orazia Retro-pay $586.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Saez, Sylvia Retro-pay $479.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Salce, Maria Retro-pay $248.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Saleem Jr. Jihad Title change N/A 9/27/2007 Change title for Sr. Systems programmer to reflects the appropriate job description of the current duties perfrom on a daily basis. J: Other Name Nature of Action $$ Amount Date Discussion Effective Salmond, Maggie Retro-pay $248.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Sanchez, Lucy Retro-pay $586.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement
100 11/20/07 Revised Sayas, Rosa Rescind Action N/A 10/9/2007 Rescind action to transfer. Is to remain at Early Learning Center
Schillaci, Altagracia Retro-pay $5.46 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Shepperson-Wells, Retro-pay $586.00 9/1/2005 Contract Delores Settlement Silva, Teresa Retro-pay $479.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Simmons, Joann Retro-pay $248.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Slater, Teresa Retro-pay $479.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Smith, Joan Retro-pay $517.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Sosa, Juana Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Speroni, Patrice Settlement $550.00 9/26/2007 PEA Greivance Settlement Agreement Alternate Route Mentoring Program Spina, Luisa Retro-pay $479.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Stampone, Margherita Retro-pay $479.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Stevanoski, Grozda Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Stubbs, Mattie Mae Retro-pay $248.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Sykes, Shirley Retro-pay $248.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Tavarez, Brenda Retro-pay $216.32 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement
Tirado, Ana Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2004 Contract Settlement Torres, Hilda Retro-pay $517.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Torres, Nelly Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Townes, Barbara Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement
101 11/20/07 Revised Vasquez, Julia Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Vega, Lillian Retro-pay $248.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Velez, Aida Luz Retro-pay $97.37 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Velez, Luz Retro-pay $586.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Verdina, Nicole Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Vergara, Madeline Retro-pay $586.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement J: Other Name Nature of Action $$ Amount Date Discussion Effective Vidal, Cecilia Retro-pay $97.37 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Vindeed, Geraldine Retro-pay $586.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Vitale, Alba Retro-pay $479.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement
Warren, Wanda R. Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Wash, Fannie Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Wheeler, Shirley Retro-pay $479.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Williams, Hattie P. Retro-pay $182.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Williams, Vivian Retro-pay Contract $517.00 9/1/2005 Settlement Wilson, Betty Retro-pay $586.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Wilson, Maureen Retro-pay $479.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Wilson, Rosetta A. Buy Back Incentive $4,878.85 9/24/2007 Vacation days 10 Wilson-Hicks, Lillie Retro-pay $517.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Wright, Julia Retro-pay $479.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement Yasin, Krista Restore $55,065.00 10/1/2007 Increments settlement of PEA Grievance No. 06-49 Yungaicela, Zoila Retro-pay $248.00 9/1/2005 Contract Settlement
Thinking Reader $6,800.00 9/29/2007 To hire 50 Training Program Language Arts
102 11/20/07 Revised Teachers for Saturday Program for 4 hours per day @$34.00 per hour x 4 hours Set up account $44,000.00 7/12/2007 $110.00/day 11.000.240.105.690.089 for School Secretaries
K: Position Control Nature of Action Position Loc. Date Discussion Effective
To create (2) PC numbers HSTW Site Coordinators High Schools 10/1/2007 Grant related activities outside of school hours. To re-assigned PC# 5225 Severe LLD From EHS to 9/4/2007 Re classfiy #2 PC# 5225. Severe Language Learning Disabilities Program To creat a PC# 6698 Part Time Disciplinary Security 9/1/2007 Hearing Officer Services
To create PC#6904 Student Placement Department of 9/1/2007 Abolish Analyst Community PC#5067to Services fund new position @$52,489.00 To create (2) PC numbers Guidance Counselors Adult High 9/1/2007 Evening Adult School High School Program L: Substitutes Discuss Name/Salary Position Location Eff. Date Term. Date ion Acosta, Janice $110.00 Substitute Teacher District 10/15/2007 6/30/2008 Per Diem Baez, Estanislao $110.00 Substitute Teacher District 10/15/2007 6/30/2008 Per Diem Beato-Brito, Sobeida A. Substitute Teacher District 10/15/2007 6/30/2008 Per $110.00 Diem
Bilto, Riel $110.00 Substitute Teacher District 10/15/2007 6/30/2008 Per Diem Black, Shane $110.00 Substitute Teacher District 10/15/2007 6/30/2008 Per Diem Blount, Latita $110.00 Substitute Teacher District 10/15/2007 6/30/2008 Per Diem
103 11/20/07 Revised Brown, Lisa $110.00 Substitute Teacher District 10/15/2007 6/30/2008 Per Diem Castillo, Roxana $110.00 Substitute Teacher District 10/15/2007 6/30/2008 Per Diem Cockfield, Barbara Substitute Teacher District 10/15/2007 6/30/2008 Per $110.00 Diem De Pierola, Violeta Substitute Teacher District 10/15/2007 6/30/2008 Per $110.00 Diem Douglas, Nicola $110.00 Substitute Teacher District 10/15/2007 6/30/2008 Per Diem Faruque, Jubeda $110.00 Substitute Teacher District 10/15/2007 6/30/2008 Per Diem Feizi, Shahram $110.00 Substitute Teacher District 10/15/2007 6/30/2008 Per Diem Fernandez, Glenn $110.00 Substitute Teacher District 10/15/2007 6/30/2008 Per Diem Fletcher, Stefani $110.00 Substitute Teacher District 10/15/2007 6/30/2008 Per Diem Freeman, Heidi $110.00 Substitute Teacher District Per 10/15/2007 6/30/2008 Diem Grant, Chantel Substitute Teacher District Per $110.00 10/15/2007 6/30/2008 Diem Javier, Ann Hilda- Café Subsitute Café District 10/15/2007 6/30/2008 Per Diem Leslie-Vanblarcom, Subsitute café District 10/15/2007 6/30/2008 Per Jennifer Diem
Malik, Muhammod $110.00 Substitute Teacher District 10/15/2007 6/30/2008 Per Diem
Martinez, Janisse $110.00 Substitute Teacher District Per 10/15/2007 6/30/2008 Diem Miah, Shahid Substitite Teacher District Per $110.00 10/15/2007 6/30/2008 Diem Miyasato, Elena $110.00 Substitute Teacher District 10/15/2007 6/30/2008 Per Diem Martinez, Janisse Substitute Teacher District 10/15/2007 6/30/2008 Per Diem Nelson, Ray P.$110.00 Substitute Teacher District 10/15/2007 6/30/2008 Per Diem Padule, Daniel $110.00 Substitute Teacher District 10/15/2007 6/30/2008 Per Diem Nelson, Ray P. Substitute Teacher District 10/15/2007 6/30/2008 Per Diem Perez, Evelyn $110.00 Substitute Teacher District 10/15/2007 6/30/2008 Per Diem Peterson, Bettye $110.00 Substitute Teacher District 10/15/2007 6/30/2008 Per Diem
104 11/20/07 Revised Rivera, Eddie $110.00 Substitutie Teacher District 10/22/2007 6/30/2008 Per Diem Rivera, Raymond $110.00 Substitute Teacher District 10/15/2007 6/30/2008 Per Diem Robinson, Joseph $110.00 Substitutie Teacher District 10/22/2007 6/30/2008 Per Diem Silva, Juan $110.00 Substitute Teacher District 10/15/2007 6/30/2008 Per Diem Smith, Rosalynd $110.00 Substitute Teacher District 10/15/2007 6/30/2008 Per Diem Smith, Sandra $110.00 Substitute Teacher District 10/15/2007 6/30/2008 Per Diem Williams, Jasmine $110.00 Substitute Teacher District 10/15/2007 6/30/2008 Per Diem Witherspoon, Donese Substitute Teacher District 10/15/2007 6/30/2008 Per $110.00 Diem M: RESCIND ACTIONS
Discuss Name/Salary Position Location Eff. Date Term. Date ion Rescind Norman S. resignati Mejia, Leonor Cafeteria monitor Weir 9/17/2007 6/30/2008 on Tooley, Adrian Teacher #13 9/26/2007 6/30/2008 Charges have been amende d no longer a disqualif ying matter.
Comm. Taylor: My motion is to acknowledge that the Advisory Board of the Paterson Public Schools has reviewed the recommendations of the State District Superintendent and made comments as appropriate on the personnel recommendations by the Chief School Administrator, including any appointments, transfers, removals or renewals of certificated and non-certificated officers and employees. Further, the Advisory Board communicates its expectations that such recommendations are made on a timely basis and include the proposed appointment, transfer, removal or renewal of tenured and non-tenured, certified and non-certified personnel in compliance with contractual and/or statutory requirements. In addition, the State District Superintendent recommends the submission to the County Superintendent applications for emergent hiring and the applicants attestation that he or she has not been convicted of any disqualifying crime pursuant to the provisions of NJSA18A:6-7.1 et. seq., NJSA18A:39-17 et. seq., or NJSA18A:6-4.13 et. seq.
It was moved by Comm. Taylor, seconded by Comm. Sayegh that Resolution No. F-1 be adopted.
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Comm. Atallo: I am not comfortable with that and I’ll tell you why. I reviewed those personnel appointments and recommendations. I have a number of comments, but I can’t make them in this forum because we can’t discuss personnel in a public forum. It has to be done in executive session and if we are going to discuss individuals we have to provide them with a Rice notice. I can’t make comments on personnel, so that resolution to me is highly inappropriate and ineffective and illegal. We can’t make personnel comments in public. We just can’t. It has to be done in executive session, which we are not in. We are in a public session and if we were to go into executive session to discuss it we would have to provide Rice notices to anyone we will be discussing.
Comm. Hodges: I will again reiterate it was my concern over personnel issues which sparked the concern with the fiscal monitor because I do understand that all personnel issues have to be referred through the fiscal monitor. What troubles me is I can understand if it’s a question of whether or not we have the funding to pay for the position, but when I asked for the criteria that the fiscal monitor was using to make his decisions regarding whether or not we could have someone in a variety of positions, I never received an answer about criteria. So I have to wonder what it is that the fiscal monitor is doing in the personnel area. I am not aiming this as a personal attack on the fiscal monitor. I really am not. I am attacking the fiscal monitor as an entity being in this district and the way it was done. That’s what I am attacking. I will never level a personal attack at anybody in public because I don’t think that’s appropriate, but I do think that the way this is being handled is inappropriate and very subject to attack. That’s what my concern is. I have my concerns in that area primarily.
Comm. Kerr: I just want to say my little piece on the appointment that was approved by this Superintendent and the fact that it is sitting on the state monitor’s desk. I questioned the issue in our workshop, but I think it is necessary that I make mention of it again because it’s a very, very serious issue. I think it’s something that can affect the way we take care of the education of our children here in this district. We are in need of people to fill those positions. Those positions need to be filled. The Superintendent has vetted those qualified people and he has made recommendations and we are still without having those people employed to fill those positions. Again, I don’t want it to seem like it’s a personal attack on the state monitor, but I just need to make the point that as a Commissioner I regard it as a very serious issue, an issue that needs to be taken care of quickly. Thank you.
Mr. Kramer: I think you are referring to the three positions and I just want to make sure the Board is aware that the guidance and the principal of 27 have been approved.
Comm. Taylor: We did this on the 6th. The guidance and the principal, is it a director of guidance?
Mr. Kramer: Yes, acting director and acting principal.
106 11/20/07 Revised Comm. Hodges: I know those positions were reviewed. I would like to again know the criteria that the fiscal monitor used to approve those positions.
Comm. Taylor: At our meeting we had our Assistant Superintendent Ms. Eileen Shafer and Mr. Rojas.
Comm. Hodges: Madam Chair…
Comm. Taylor: I hear you. Let me finish my sentence so that you can understand what happened here. Again, not all these names that we have here… They showed us what they had done already and I know that some of our Board members take issue with that. But this is a procedure for us to follow as we go along. It can be adjusted and also our comments about the names of the personnel, as you say, must go into executive session. I know the procedure is that Dr. Glascoe and his team of educators and supervisors and directors, his leadership team, sits with him and they go over and then they do the interview, along with Assistant Superintendent Eileen Shafer and Mr. Rojas and their team of people. There is another way and that’s something we can all talk about, but this is a procedure for us to put into action tonight. The other part of it we can discuss in workshop or in executive session.
Comm. Hodges: Madam Chair, my question was a very specific one. If the fiscal monitor is reviewing personnel and he is reviewing them for something other than fiscal reasons, I want to know what criteria he used to make his judgment about whether or not they were appropriate. That’s all I’m asking.
Comm. Taylor: Are you asking whether he is looking at it as far as the money tagged onto the position?
Comm. Hodges: That’s not what my understanding is. That was not the case, Madam President. That’s why I want to know what criteria was used to say that these things were appropriate.
Comm. Taylor: That’s two things, Dr. Hodges. We are talking about the procedure that we are going to use in order to have this in place for our personnel. The other is, after the leadership team makes a decision about personnel to fit a position that they need and then it passes on to Mr. Kramer, it has to get his okay. You are asking the question, what kind of things does he ask in order to make it okay, since the educators have said this is what they need in this department.
Comm. Hodges: My question at workshop was clearly answered that the holdup had nothing to do with the fiscal ability for the district to pay for the positions. Since that was the case, then what on earth was being reviewed if it wasn’t the monetary appropriateness of the positions and what criteria he used to make his judgment, which I think is a valid question?
107 11/20/07 Revised Comm. Atallo: My first issue I want to raise about these appointments is that I’m not questioning people’s credentials on these administrative appointments. What I’m questioning is the educational soundness of the administration since we are going to essentially have three experienced vice principals out of one comprehensive high school in November. I don’t think that’s educationally sound.
Comm. Taylor: Those are positions. You are talking about positions now and that’s not what we’re discussing now. We are discussing personnel and the motion on how we are to proceed in order to move and put people in place. That’s what this is.
Comm. Atallo: Let me comment on that because Board members can say it’s not a personal attack…
Comm. Taylor: Do you have this?
Comm. Atallo: Yes. What I’m talking about is this. There have been a number of potshots taken at the state monitor about his credentials and his certification. These are not issues that we discuss at a public meeting. If you want to discuss personnel issues the Board goes into an executive session. I don’t think the Board really is in a legal position. They can question things, but the law is very clear on the role on the state monitor.
Comm. Taylor: No, I’m not discussing the role of the monitor.
Comm. Atallo: I’m saying this is the law and if you don’t like the law you can work to change the law.
Comm. Taylor: All we want to do now is to find out the procedure this Board will go forward with in order to activate our personnel to hire and to have people in place.
Comm. Atallo: We can’t comment on personnel items in a public forum.
Comm. Taylor: No, you can’t. This is a procedure.
On roll call all members voted as follows:
Comm. Atallo: It’s a flawed resolution. I vote no. It’s legally incorrect.
Comm. Hodges: Yes.
Comm. Kerr: Yes.
Comm. Muhammad: Yes.
Comm. Spagnola: I missed the meeting. I don’t understand what’s going on here with this resolution. I have to abstain.
108 11/20/07 Revised
Comm. Taylor: Yes.
Comm. Sayegh: Yes.
The motion carried.
OTHER
08-A224. Approved accepting the resignation of George Sarnoff as special consultant to the district’s business office for the development of the budget structure consistent with N.J.A.C. 6A:10 and ensuring that the district’s 2008-2009 budget and related supporting documentation is in compliance with this legislation, as of October 19, 2007.
08-A225. Approved retaining Sheila Conroy as special consultant to the district’s business office for the development of the budget structure consistent with N.J.A.C. 6A:10 and ensuring that the district’s 2008-2009 budget and related supporting documentation is in compliance with this legislation, through March 2008, at a fee of $500 per day, not to exceed $40,000.00.
08-A226. Approved amending the agreement with Michael Krause as Labor Relations Consultant to assist in the preparation for negotiations, for the 2007-2008 school year, at an amount not to exceed $50,000.00.
08-A227. Approved agreement with Evaluation Solutions to evaluate the effectiveness of the Alexander Hamilton Fellows: Creating Expertise in American History Project, during the second year performance period, beginning October 2007 through August 2008, at an amount not to exceed $30,000.00.
08-A228. Approved consultant contract with Consulting Services Associates (CSA) to provide formative and summative evaluation services for the Paterson Community Learning Centers Program, beginning December 3, 2007 through June 30, 2008, at an amount not to exceed $20,000.00.
08-A229. Approved agreement with Utterly Global, LLC to provide two turn-key training sessions to two groups of thirty-five school-based Affirmative Action Representatives on harassment, bullying, intimidation and hazing, on December 14, 2007, at an amount not to exceed $2,500.00.
08-A230. Approved consultant contract with West Bergen Mental Healthcare & Center for Children & Youth to provide five in-service training sessions for S.T.A.R.S. Academy staff on autism awareness, at a rate of $150.00 per session, not to exceed $750.00.
OTHER BUSINESS
Comm. Sayegh: Before we go to Board Comments, we did state earlier that we would speak to the vacant position and the process of potentially filling that position.
109 11/20/07 Revised According to the law, we have 65 days after the vacancy has been declared to fill the vacant Board position. In the event that we are unable to do so in that time period, the County Superintendent will be able to appoint an individual to finish out the remainder of that term.
Comm. Taylor: 60 days?
Comm. Sayegh: We have 65 days.
Dr. Glascoe: When does the clock start?
Comm. Sayegh: The clock starts on the date in which Comm. Moody officially resigned from the Board.
Comm. Spagnola: Is that business days?
Comm. Sayegh: That would include business days.
Comm. Spagnola: Business days would only be five days. No, it’s calendar days. Okay.
Comm. Atallo: Point of clarification. I know Mr. Sayegh likes to get legal opinions. Can we hear from legal counsel? What is the law on this, so we do this in a proper, legally correct way?
Mr. Tabenkin: The statute clearly indicates that the Board must act within 65 days following the occurrence of the vacancy, 65 calendar days. Failure to act by the Board within that period of time allows the County Superintendent to make an appointment. The statute also indicates that a majority vote of the entire remaining Board is required to fill the vacancy, which means you’ll need the approval of five Board members. Beyond that, the statute is silent in terms of how you develop a pool of people from whom to pick.
Comm. Sayegh: Thank you. I have asked Ms. Cheryl Williams to prepare for each and every one of us bylaws pertaining to vacancies, information from New Jersey School Boards Association, and there is also a precedence within this district pertaining to a vacancy. As you can see, it is clearly outlined. I, for one, would not want 65 days to expire without appointing an individual to this Board. I believe it’s our decision to make, not the County Superintendent’s decision to make.
Mr. Kramer: I just want some clarification so that we know 65 days and this is going to be a weird statement...
Comm. Taylor: Two months and five days.
110 11/20/07 Revised Mr. Kramer: I understand that. Here’s my question for legal counsel. The letter, if I recall, said effective immediately. The letter was dated November 1st. Dr. Hodges attended the November 7th…
Comm. Sayegh: No, it’s Comm. Moody.
Mr. Kramer: Who did I say?
Comm. Sayegh: Maybe you want Hodges to resign. That’s a Freudian slip if I ever heard one. Mr. Kramer, you are out of control.
Comm. Hodges: You have no such luck.
Comm. Atallo: We’re making a motion accepting Dr. Hodges’ resignation. Do we have a second?
Comm. Sayegh: Please proceed, Mr. Kramer. It’s Comm. Moody for the record.
Mr. Kramer: Yes, and I do want to say, Comm. Hodges, that was not personal. If the letter was dated November 1st and it was effective immediately, it was provided to the administration at the last Board meeting, which was November 7th, which really means the date doesn’t carry but for purposes of any type of issues that might come up from anywhere, what would be the actual date that the 65 days start from?
Mr. Tabenkin: I don’t believe the 65 days can begin to run on the date of the letter since it was not submitted to the Board. It was in effect an unexpressed intention at that point. So my sense is that the 65 days would run from the time it was submitted and received by the district.
Mr. Kramer: That would be November 7th then, right?
Comm. Sayegh: No, it wasn’t November 7th. I believe it was the date I stated earlier, which was November 14th that we received it. He did present me with a draft letter November 1st, but that was a draft letter.
Comm. Spagnola: Was there a time stamp?
Comm. Sayegh: Yes.
Comm. Spagnola: Okay, then that’s it. Whatever the time stamp says.
Comm. Sayegh: Which I believe is November 14th.
Mr. Tabenkin: It was November 13th.
Comm. Spagnola: You stamped it when?
111 11/20/07 Revised
Mr. Kramer: November 12th it stated, I understand. I’m just trying to do this so that when we go through the process we pay attention to the 65 days.
Comm. Spagnola: I think she said November 12th.
Comm. Sayegh: So we have 65 days from the time it was stamped. What I am going to recommend the Board does in order to avoid the County Superintendent from filling this position because we are quite capable of doing it ourselves that we proceed with posting this vacancy as early as tomorrow and within 10 days give every interested individual an opportunity to submit a resume, to be collected in 10 days time. Let’s indicate Friday the posting would be available, which would be the 23rd of November, and we would give interested individuals until December 3rd, which would be that Monday, to submit applications.
Comm. Spagnola: Actually, this Friday is a workday.
Comm. Sayegh: Yes, it is. The Governor took it away.
Comm. Spagnola: He’ll be in. I would think that in all honesty I would start the posting from the Monday after Thanksgiving and 10 days from there.
Comm. Sayegh: So you are recommending we do it that Monday, which would actually give an individual, if we say December 10th, two weeks?
Comm. Spagnola: Yes.
Comm. Muhammad: I don’t think we should… I’m just not… This is such a vital issue to me that we need to move as quickly as possible to do this. So I don’t see where we need to wait until Monday to do it. Why?
Comm. Spagnola: Why don’t we do it tonight?
Comm. Sayegh: We need 48 hours.
Comm. Muhammad: You said tomorrow.
Comm. Spagnola: We’ll post tomorrow then.
Comm. Muhammad: That’s what he said, right?
Comm. Sayegh: Yes, that’s what I was recommending. Any further discussion?
Comm. Spagnola: What’s going to be the requirements?
Comm. Sayegh: There are state requirements and qualifications.
112 11/20/07 Revised
Comm. Spagnola: Just the requirement that you have to be 21 years of age.
Comm. Sayegh: Be able to read and write, hold citizenship, one year’s residency in the school district, have no interest in any contract with or claim against the Board, not hold office as Mayor or member of the municipal governing body, and being able to vote.
Comm. Kerr: And be able to love Comm. Atallo.
Comm. Sayegh: So it is agreed that we’ll post as early as tomorrow?
Comm. Spagnola: What’s the age? 18?
Comm. Sayegh: Yes. And be registered to vote.
Comm. Spagnola: We’ll look for a student.
Comm. Sayegh: If they’re 18. So we are agreed?
Comm. Taylor: What is it now?
Comm. Sayegh: We will post tomorrow for this position and all interested individuals have 10 days, until Monday, December 3rd, as the deadline.
Comm. Taylor: Monday, December 3rd is the deadline?
Comm. Sayegh: Yes.
Comm. Atallo: Point of clarification. Once the applications are in… We’ve done this before. First of all, I think it would probably be a good idea that we contact the Commissioner’s office because in the past it’s been done several different ways under different Commissioners. Some Commissioners have allowed the seat to stay vacant through the next April election. That’s happened. Other have arbitrarily picked Board members and said this is your new Board member, hello. That’s happened. I prefer the other option, which the majority agrees with, of having the applicants come in. But once that, in fact, has occurred, how do we plan to do it? Are we going to have a special meeting and then call the meeting to order and then go into caucus to have interviews?
Comm. Sayegh: Yes, we can do that.
Comm. Hodges: Dr. Atallo, I would contact Commissioner Davy, except for the fact that she doesn’t bother to answer us. She doesn’t bother to address the Board at all. So I see no need to accord her that kind of respect when she does not respect this district or this community. That’s number one. Number two… Dr. Atallo, if I may continue without your interruption…
113 11/20/07 Revised Comm. Atallo: Go ahead and then I’ll respond.
Comm. Hodges: The other situation is that her conduct here, which has prompted my distress earlier, has been reprehensible. I’m not going to give her the opportunity. She certainly has the authority to do whatever she wants to do, but I’m not going to ask her to do anything because I don’t respect the things that she does. If the law is stated out, why do I need to get this person who has shown a wanton disregard for this community and this district and, of course, this Board to ask her thoughts on anything? (End of tape) (Beginning of new tape)…the law is clear, we have a method, I think that we should move forward, I see absolutely no reason to reach out to Commissioner Davy, and I don’t think you would get an answer even if you do.
Comm. Muhammad: I agree with Dr. Hodges.
Comm. Sayegh: For the record, I do as well.
Comm. Atallo: We are a state operated district and I think we are required to notify the Commissioner. I’m sure she’s aware at this point, but to notify the Commissioner’s office there is in fact a vacancy and at least ask their view on how we should proceed.
Comm. Sayegh: She is aware of the vacancy. I sent a memorandum to her and you received it as well. She has not responded.
Comm. Atallo: I got your memorandum.
Comm. Sayegh: That was over a week ago.
Comm. Atallo: Did she respond to your memorandum?
Comm. Sayegh: She has not responded.
Comm. Taylor: That’s what I’m saying. I read a letter that was addressed to Commissioner Davy telling her about the position. So if there’s no response our person, Mr. Mark Kramer, will just gently pick up his telephone and let her know after tonight’s meeting so that she will be more than aware of this position. But we’ve done this before. We’ve had people leave our Board and we’ve done it before. We know how to do it. She doesn’t have to tell us how to do it. We have all our paperwork and Ms. Waheedah Muhammad has taught us a lot. Thank you. We know how to do this.
Comm. Hodges: I wouldn’t even trouble Mr. Kramer with calling her for anything.
Comm. Sayegh: She’s been informed.
Comm. Hodges: If you are going to do anything, Mr. Sayegh, perhaps you should send her a map of the city and the way to get here.
114 11/20/07 Revised Comm. Sayegh: Okay, I’m going to close discussion. I do sense that there is a consensus, so tomorrow we will post this position. Thank you very much.
Board Member Comments
Comm. Atallo: The comment I wanted to say is that we covered a lot of ground about how concerned we are about what’s going on at the high school here at Kennedy, about the heat at Eastside, and about some of the other issues. But what I wanted to say was what I saw, and people can deny it, was personal attacks on the fiscal monitor who is an employee of the state operated school district, assigned by the Commissioner to oversee the actions. The law is very clear. We don’t have to like the law. We have to respect the law and follow the law. That’s our system. If we don’t like it, the beauty of our legal system is that there are mechanisms within the law to change and amend laws we don’t like. If we pull out of the parking lot tonight and go to the corner and there’s a red light, by law we are required to stop at the red light. That is the law. If you don’t like the red light we can petition to change the city ordinance about the red light. But tonight that is the law and that is the red light. There is a state monitor. The state monitor is fully certified by the State of New Jersey and the Department of Education to carry out his duties. There was a statute passed by the state legislature and signed by the Governor approving this. To attack someone’s credentials in a public arena and their motivations is wrong and inappropriate. If the Board wanted to go into executive session to discuss it, I believe you would have to give a Rice notice. I am not a legal expert on 18:A and the law, but you would have to give a Rice notice to anyone who is working in the state operated district that we advise as advisory members. Then if you wanted to we could have it discussed. But to have it in a public arena is wrong. Questioning people’s credentials and motivations, this is not the forum to do that in. This has been adopted. The time to address it was when there was a long period of debate on the state monitor. I raised issues about it at the time. I don't know whether other Board members did. I spoke to state legislators at the time regarding the provisions in that. There are a lot of teeth to the position. It is a very strong potent appointment no matter who is in that position. If you read the statute it is very clear. It’s right there as to what the duties and the authority of that position is. But that is the law today. If you don’t like it you can address it. But that is the law today and we need to respect it. I don’t believe in making personal attacks and questioning motivations and credentials in a public arena such as at a public Board meeting on television. It’s just wrong. Thank you.
Comm. Hodges: I am so sorry. I can't believe what I just heard. If only Dr. Duroy could have heard what was just said about how you don’t believe in attacking credentials in a public arena. That’s absurd. I am not even going to dwell on that. Once I regain my composure from that hypocrisy I am simply going to say this. I asked reasonable and sound educational questions about how you are making your judgments. That is not an attack on somebody’s credentials. I didn’t even discuss anybody’s integrity or character. I made it very clear I was not attacking Mr. Kramer. I was asking for the criteria he used to make his judgments. That is a sound and reasonable question, I don’t care where you are and I don’t care who he is. If the Commissioner were here I
115 11/20/07 Revised would ask her the same thing. That is very appropriate. I did not ask him about the quality of his job effort. I did not do that. I simply asked how he made his decisions in my school district where I live. And I will continue to ask people those questions. But more importantly, the Commissioner of Education down in Atlantic City in October held a critical issues lecture and what she stated very clearly is that in a few years the State of New Jersey will be strengthening and making more rigorous their core content curriculum standards because they want students to be college-ready and work-ready. She clearly stated that 80% of the jobs that children will have in 10 years don’t currently exist. So we have to prepare students to perform at levels in areas of work, which don’t currently have a job description. So you have to teach children how to think. And if we are not looking at our curriculum and crafting strategies which are in advance of that, which is why I challenged some of the curriculum earlier, the importance is tomorrow math and science is big. China is producing 500,000 engineers a year. They are not students. They are engineers. And we are not coming anywhere close to that. We usually have about in the order of 2 million students in the nation and they are producing 500,000 engineers. So we are going to have to get serious about promoting rigor and addressing some very critical issues, not the least of which is behavior both in our classrooms here at Kennedy and Eastside High School. I will again say Mr. Kramer I will continue to ask those questions. I think they are valid and fair and they are in no way personal. They are not directed necessarily at you but at the Commissioner of Education and I think you understand that. Thank you very much.
Comm. Kerr: I must say I am very concerned about the safety of our children, in particular at Kennedy here and also at Eastside High School. I believe in recent times there have been a rash of undue situations that are occurring both here at Eastside and we need to get a handle on the problem. We need to get our parents on board, getting them to help in the control of their children. Ultimately, schools are for learning. It is supposed to be an environment that is protected and it seems like that is not the case. So I would appeal to the administration and to the parents to try to work a little closer together and make sure that your children whenever they leave the home they leave the home to come to school and to work. On the fiscal audit report, last night we met with the auditors from the auditing firm that is taking care of our district's audit. We walked through the audit that they have prepared for this year and in a real way the audit was considered to be one of our better audits. So we are making improvements and we are on the right track. We just need to adopt some of the corrective action plans that will be given to us and make sure that the areas of weaknesses are shored up and we remain consistent with whatever we do there. I must say a word about Comm. Moody. I will certainly miss his presence on this Board. Nobody in this district can question his heart for children and his love for children. You may not agree with him in everything he does, but there is no way we can question his love and his desire to see our kids grow and develop into solid human beings. I think the policy that signaled his demise from this Board is a flawed one. It’s a bad policy. I believe sooner or later it will start consuming not only this Board, but it will hit outside of this Board into this entire state. So I would recommend that we not push that policy aside but look at it again and make sure that the policy is working in a way that it does not victimize people who want to contribute to the development of the district in which they live. I cannot see for the life
116 11/20/07 Revised of me why this policy was not better thought out. It is a bad policy and I would recommend to this Board that we look into this policy and review it and make recommendations to the state. It is going to take away a lot of the young people who can make positive contributions to this district just because they may have a relative that is employed to some leadership position in this district. Mr. President, I thank you and I thank the Board.
Comm. Taylor: I would just like to say thank you to Dr. Glascoe for the letter and correction that you provided to this Board and to the State Commissioner for an understanding of the current and former LEP results for the AYP assessment. Dr. Atallo raised it and he seemed to imply that we were trying to do something wrong. But I am so glad you gave us the information so that we understood it a little better. I think I understood it from the beginning. But I would like to thank Mr. Kramer for giving us his report before Board time. It was quite comprehensive. I went over some of the things you talked about in here and thank you again for your monitor’s report. Thank you so much. I would like to thank the principals and the teachers and everyone who cooperated with us this time. Last time when we met we had only received 3,305 missing lunch applications and as of this date we have 2,072. We had 543 come in since last month. Keep them coming in. We still have 2,762. That means money. Last night we went over how much money we get per lunch for free and reduced and paid. Also, principals are allowed if they see that a student needs help or is living alone or is living with family members. They can come and talk to the principal and the principal can work out a plan for them. Please see your principal because this is money. We have had to pay back $4 million out of our budget for the lunch program. It looks like we are going to be in a deficit again this year. I would like to make sure that I invite parents to come to the parents and guardians on Saturday, December 1. Do not stay home because we need our parents now. At this point, I would like to say to you that Mr. Moody and I have known each other for a very long time, maybe 40 of his 50 years. I don't know how old he is, but Alonzo has been a steady force for children at risk and for children who like each other and want to do better. He has been pummeled by this Board and by Dr. Atallo and a few other people for a long time on this Board. The state put together a nepotism act and I was trying to explain to Mr. Moody that I don’t care what Dr. Atallo says about his family having jobs in the district, it is not a good thing. Don’t leave the Board. But he said, “Ms. Taylor, I have got to give room to my family to grow. I will leave this position so that I don’t have to speak to or answer to or be insulted because my family wants to work for this district.” I think we have lost a very important person to this Board. But I will tell you this much. It may be to this Board but Mr. Moody will continue to work in this community, as I have known him almost all his life. I am so sorry that people on this Board have been cruel and inhuman to him in the background and in the neighborhoods saying terrible things. I think it is wrong to say to somebody you are not worth anything and you are only here to get jobs for your family. I am so glad most of my family are either dead or out of Paterson. I would not want to go through something like this again. This is cruel and inhuman. Mr. Moody, Godspeed to you and your family because you have done more than a lot of people in this district will ever do, even many of us on this Board. Because I know you have been out there at 2:00 o’clock, 3:00 o’clock in the morning and sometimes stayed around in the
117 11/20/07 Revised jailhouse with children until we could get some resolution to what was going on with them. We have lost a good person here but I know he is not going to stop. He will continue until he drops dead taking care of children in this community. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Comm. Spagnola: We have had students come forward and ask for help here and this bothers me - their perception of their school, their future, and their education. It is very important that we work together to address the problems in our high schools and in our grammar schools. I read somewhere that the schools are the mirror of your society. What is happening in the schools is happening in this city. The way to address it in certain ways is the streets, the home, and peer interaction. We have to work with these kids. We have to identify the ones who are causing the problems and we have to take action. It might be brutal and it might be a situation where they might have to leave the school and we will find another place for them. But we can't take away the education from the children who want to learn. They have to come first and that is something we have to understand. Now I would like to address my friend Al. We went to school together and I have known him my entire life and during my professional career as a policeman. At 2:00 and 3:00 o’clock in the morning I used to see him out there because I used to be out there doing the same thing. We were taking care of the kids. It is not going to change. Are people brutal? Sure they are. They are jealous, petty, and intolerant. You are not going to change people. We can only change ourselves. Other people are going to be other people. You just have to be able to look at yourself in the mirror. And Al, I am going to tell you right now, there is going to be no problem with you looking at yourself in the mirror because you know you are right. And I think it is commendable that your children want to work and give back to this city because that is what we need. It’s a shame that being part of an organization and being on a Board limits your children’s future. That in itself is definitely wrong. So, to the people out there and to Al, Happy Thanksgiving. Have a safe one. I’ll see you on the street, Al.
Comm. Muhammad: I, too, want to say to those young people that we do hear you and we understand your pain. I don't know what blank stare you got from me or any other member of this Board, but I can tell you our heart felt what you were feeling. We, as parents, know our children, so I say to those parents out there who know your children are the ones who are causing the problems in this district that I am holding you accountable for that. Until we look at each other in the face and say the truth we will continue to hurt our children. As Councilman Davis often says, children don’t question decisions of adults, they suffer from them. So our children are suffering because of decisions that we have made to not be parents. I say to you, you are going to have to answer one day for what you know is the problem. I say to my friend Alonzo Moody and your distinguished honorable family, I know that you will continue to do what you have always done. We should be ashamed of ourselves to even allow a person of your character to leave us without a fight. I am going to tell you, had it been me, you would have had to take me off this Board. I am not walking away just because someone says this is what it is. It is not fair, but you will continue to call on your god that you know you serve and you will continue to be the person that you have always been and it has nothing to do with sitting on this Board. Thank you and god bless.
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Comm. Sayegh: On this Thanksgiving holiday I am thankful to have a friend in Comm. Al Moody. I voted for him in April and I would vote for him every April if I had the opportunity because we would be hard-pressed to find someone with Mr. Moody’s integrity and character. So by saying that, I would like to wish all in the audience, all watching at home, my Board members, and all of you who celebrate Thanksgiving a safe and a happy holiday.
It was moved by Comm. Sayegh, seconded by Comm. Muhammad that the meeting be adjourned. On roll call all members voted in the affirmative. The motion carried.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:42 p.m.
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