MINUTES OF THE PATERSON BOARD OF EDUCATION REGULAR MEETING July 17, 2002 - 7:00 p.m. Rosa Parks High School Presiding: Comm. Juan Santiago, President Present: Commissioner William L. Librera Dr. Edwin Duroy, State District Superintendent Jack Gillman, Esq., General Counsel Comm. Leslie Agard-Jones Comm. Jonathan Hodges Comm. Joseph Atallo Comm. William McDowell, Vice President Comm. Chauncey Brown Comm. Alonzo Moody Comm. Anthony Davis Absent: Comm. Anna Maria Vancheri The Salute to the Flag was led by School No. 15 Quiz Bowl Champions. Comm. Brown 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 July 17, 2002 at 7:00 p.m. Rosa Parks High School 413 12th 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 North Jersey Herald & News, The Record, El Diario, the Italian Voice, and Al-Zaman. Page 1 7/17/02 PRESENTATION OF MINUTES Comm. Santiago presented the minutes of the June 12, 2002 Regular Meeting, and asked if there were any questions or comments on the minutes. It was moved by Comm. Moody, seconded by Comm. McDowell that the minutes be accepted with any necessary corrections. Comm. Hodges: Is it appropriate here to point out… There was mention in the minutes about the home school council bylaws and it was stated that it was okay for staff members to be a part of the home school council which is, in fact, quite correct. However, it further says that staff members may not serve on the executive board. Dr. Duroy: Are you commenting on what appears in the minutes, or the minutes themselves? We would like to first vote on the minutes and then I would ask that you bring that up subsequently at the appropriate time. Comm. Hodges: Okay. Dr. Duroy: Technically, we would like to formally swear in Commissioner Jones. I don’t believe that you were formally sworn in, or were you? Comm. Jones: Some time ago when I started serving as ex-officio I was sworn in. I don’t know if I need to be sworn in again. Dr. Duroy: That’s acceptable. Very good, you can stay. On roll call all members voted in the affirmative. The motion carried. INTRODUCTION OF COMMISSIONER WILLIAM L. LIBRERA Dr. Duroy: I will basically forego my monthly review of activities as this evening we have a very special meeting for us here in the Paterson School District. We are honored to have with us the Commissioner of Education, Commissioner Librera. I have been here for five years and have worked with four Commissioners but I don’t think that I have had the opportunity to have a Commissioner attend a meeting as we have this evening. It is very special to the extent that the discussion that is going to take place this evening is relative to the district’s progress toward local control. There has been publicity certainly within the last 30 to 60 days discussing this particular issue as it relates to not just Paterson, but Jersey City and Newark. This evening what will take place is a discussion. The Commissioner forwarded through my office an outline of proposed plans and implementations that will be going into effect shortly and has asked that we have input and perhaps a dialogue between the Board and the Commissioner. I am going to turn it over to the Commissioner and he will be able to go into details as far as the discussion that will take place. I can assure you that even this evening’s discussion is not the end of the process. We are not at local control as of yet. We still have a way to go but it is really encouraging, in my opinion, to be able to get to the Page 2 7/17/02 stage where we can, in fact, have these very pertinent discussions. At this point, I want to turn it over to Commissioner Librera. Comm. Moody: Dr. Duroy and Mr. President, on our agenda tonight we have a presentation to Quiz Bowl winners and I don’t think that some of the students are going to be here that long. We certainly would like to showcase some of our students to the Commissioner and I don’t know how long the presentation is going to be but I think they will probably be leaving soon. Dr. Duroy: There are two presentations that will take place after this particular item. We have a very interesting presentation and certainly the students’ presentation is the most interesting but the dropout rate discussion will follow after that. However, I have asked the Commissioner to please take front stage on this agenda unless there are other thoughts on the part of the Commissioner. I think we should proceed. Commissioner Librera: May I suggest that one way to do this is for me to make my presentation for us to discuss this and for me to sit in the audience and observe the presentation with the students because I would very much like to see that. Comm. Moody: Thank you. Commissioner Librera: Thank you Dr. Duroy, President Santiago, and members of the Board. I appreciate this opportunity to come this evening, and to present to you our plan, and to explain to you why our plan exists in the form that it does, and to respond to your questions with the hopes of all of us having a common understanding as to how we are going to proceed. One of the things that I requested of each of the state-operated superintendents was that I meet with the three respective Boards of Education as soon as possible. Of course, as soon as possible, since this was presented to the State Board on June 19, was the first opportunity that we could arrange for this in July. It is important for the members of the community to understand why we are proceeding this way. One of the conditions is that I also, in my meeting with President Santiago as well as in my conversations with Dr. Duroy, want to come back to a community meeting where we would do the same thing with the community that I am going to do this evening. I believe that there is more time that is necessary for the community to be aware and to have their opportunity so that this is really an opportunity where all members of the community do have a chance to come. In each case, I am coming back in September to each of the three state-operated districts to respond to the community’s questions and for them to hear the same thing. Because we do have members of the community here this evening and the ground rules that I requested do not give them an opportunity to ask questions, what we have are people from the State Department of Education who are here today with sheets of paper that we can give to members of the community who have questions. If they write the questions and put their address on that sheet of paper, we will answer the question and send it to them within a week as a way of having the community not have to wait until September, those people who are here tonight. Those people are going to be in the audience so if you have an interest in doing that, please raise your hand and they will give you a sheet of paper. We just ask you to make sure that your address is clear so that we do have a place where we can send this. The purpose this evening is for me to talk to the Board to explain what has Page 3 7/17/02 happened and why we are proceeding the way that we are. There is some background that is important and I will start with that. Many of you are familiar with that so I will not spend as much time in the background as somebody might need to have if they weren’t aware of the circumstances of state-operated districts and why. Before I go into that, I am pleased to announce that with me tonight are members of the staff of the Department of Education, beginning with the gentleman who is seated immediately to the left of President Santiago. That is Assistant Commissioner Gordon MacInnes and his responsibility is Abbott schools. He joined the Department about the same time that I did, which means about six months ago. Mr. MacInnes, for those of you who don’t know, had an illustrious career in public service, most recently working for Citizens for Better Schools in Newark. I think he is probably the most prepared and the most knowledgeable about Abbott decisions of anyone I know who has been actively involved in New Jersey governance and New Jersey service. We are pleased to be able to have somebody with a background and with the understanding that he has. As you know, we have consolidated all Abbott functions into one division because it is a very complicated matter, the decision is complicated, and we feel it ought to be headed by someone with the kind of expertise that he has.
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