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MINUTES OF THE PATERSON BOARD OF EDUCATION REGULAR MEETING

June 11, 2003 - 7:00 p.m.

Rosa Parks High School Presiding: Comm. William McDowell, President Present: Dr. Edwin Duroy, State District Superintendent Mr. Gregory Johnson, General Counsel Comm. Leslie Agard-Jones Comm. Librada Sanchez Comm. Joseph Atallo Comm. Juan Santiago Comm. Donald Generals Comm. Andre Sayegh Comm. Jonathan Hodges Comm. Willa Mae Taylor Comm. William Kline Comm. Anna Maria Vancheri Comm. Alonzo Moody Absent: Comm. Chauncey Brown, Vice President The Salute to the Flag was led by Comm. McDowell. 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 June 11, 2003 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.

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PRESENTATION OF MINUTES Comm. McDowell presented the minutes of the May 19, 2003 Workshop Meeting and the May 21, 2003 Regular Meeting, and asked if there were any questions or comments on the minutes. It was moved by Comm. Moody, seconded by Comm. Santiago that the minutes be accepted with any necessary corrections. On roll call all members voted in the affirmative, except Comm. Hodges and Comm. Santiago who abstained. The motion carried. *Comm. Vancheri enters the meeting. Comm. Taylor: Mr. President, is it possible for us to get some more lighting in here? Comm. McDowell: I believe so. At this point, our first presentation will be presented by Comm. Santiago. Comm. Atallo: Mr. President, sitting to the right of the Superintendent you have Mr. Gregory Johnson, who is an attorney. Mr. Gregory Johnson is not the Board attorney. Mr. Gregory Johnson has represented one Board member against other Board members here in adversarial litigation. It is totally inappropriate and a conflict of interest for Mr. Johnson to be sitting here in that role. He has never been appointed or approved to be Board Counsel and he is sitting there inappropriately. It is unethical and inappropriate for Mr. Johnson to be sitting on this panel tonight and I am requesting that he be removed at this point in time. We feel very uncomfortable with it and we want to go on record as saying that he cannot represent this Board of Education while he is litigating against individual Board members in an adversarial manner. We are very uncomfortable with it. It is clearly unethical on his part to be here and clearly a conflict of interest. You cannot serve two masters. Comm. McDowell: Thank you for your comment. Comm. Atallo: It is not a comment. I am making a motion to have him removed at this point in time. I put a motion that Mr. Johnson be asked to step aside off the panel. He is not the Board attorney and it is inappropriate for him to be here. Comm. Hodges: Mr. Chairman, if he continues here, I don’t know how much longer I am going to be able to sit up here. Comm. Atallo: There is not going to be a meeting tonight. Comm. Hodges: This is going to be a major problem. If this person is going to litigate against members of this Board, you cannot ask him at the same time to advise us on matters concerning this Board. You cannot ask me to ask this man anything. That is not fair.

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Dr. Duroy: Mr. Chairman, I have instructed Mr. Johnson, who has serviced the district for close to ten years, to be present. As the Board is aware, I have appointed Mr. Johnson as co-counsel effective July. Comm. Atallo: It’s illegal. Your appointment is illegal. The State Department of Education advises that your appointment would be illegal. Dr. Duroy: It is not illegal. Comm. Atallo: You don’t have the authority to do that. It is personnel. Dr. Duroy: It is absolutely appropriate and that is how we are going to proceed. Comm. Santiago: One person at a time. Comm. Atallo: He is not serving here now. Comm. McDowell: At this time, we are going to proceed with the meeting with Mr. Johnson as legal counsel. Comm. Hodges: You appoint him as of July. This is not July. This is June, sir. Dr. Duroy: I have the authority to ask Mr. Johnson to serve as counsel this evening and that is what I have done. Comm. McDowell: At this time, we will have a presentation by Comm. Santiago. Comm. Santiago: Ladies and gentlemen, I am requesting a moment of silence for a well respected individual on the School Board and his mom, Comm. Moody. His mother passed away and I am requesting a moment of silence at this time. Thank you. May she rest in peace, Comm. Moody. Comm. Kline: Mr. President, I think the audience deserves an explanation for the position that Comm. Atallo and Comm. Hodges have taken, and that I concur with. Mr. Johnson was the attorney who represented one Board member who made charges against another Board member. Those charges were not approved. The Superintendent is now asking those same Board members who had charges made against them and who may still have charges pending to have confidence in the person that is sitting before us tonight. I am sure many of you have heard the comment that you can’t serve two masters. There are a number of attorneys that could have been selected for this evening’s meeting in view of the fact that there are concerns about the attorney who is here not only this evening, but also perhaps otherwise. It would seem to me that the proper thing for our Superintendent to do would have been to assign an attorney who would have been able to serve the Board. Comm. Hodges: The entire Board.

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Comm. Kline: State law, and I can’t quote the statute, says the attorney is the Board’s attorney. The attorney is not the Superintendent’s attorney. The attorney is the Board’s attorney. The Superintendent may recommend anyone he wants to but it is the Board’s attorney and the Board has the right and the authority to be concerned and accept whether or not this person can truly represent them. In addition, it would seem to me that an attorney who is representing opposite factions or persons who are Board members would see that there is a conflict to sit in a point where he might have to answer or make judgments upon recommendations that Board members who he does not theoretically represent… Comm. McDowell: Comm. Kline, the attorney is representing in those particular instances the Board defending infractions in processes of the Board. Comm. Atallo: No, there is no resolution by the Board… Comm. McDowell: In that case, until we can… Comm. Kline: Excuse me, Mr. President and Comm. Atallo. Had there been a resolution presented to the Board and voted upon which authorized the attorney in question, Mr. Johnson, to represent one Board member over another, then that would have been a decision of the Board, while I would have questioned it. Inasmuch as that did not happen, Mr. President, then you can’t sit there and tell us that the attorney in question represents the Board. He may have represented an individual Board member but he does not represent this Board. We have a number of very crucial decisions to make tonight, one of which will decide what kind of representation we are going to have to try to save $50 million. It is very essential that we have the kind of representation that will be able to defend this district so that hopefully we will be able to win that case, thereby providing many of the things that our children and staff need to fulfill the responsibilities mandated by the State, our district, and the federal government. This is not a simple issue that someone is trying to make it to be. Comm. McDowell: I will call a point of order at this point and I will take it upon myself to allow this meeting to go on. I will not get into the various ethics complaints that were brought forth but I will state that in the instance you are alluding to, the individual was sitting as President of the Board and those items have been sent up for review. As far as an ethical conflict, it is unclear at this point and I am going to continue with the meeting. Thank you for your comments. We will review that issue. I was hoping that if there was some deep problem with counsel that we would have brought some of these issues up in our workshop. Comm. Taylor: We did. Comm. Atallo: We did but you went home. Comm. Hodges: You left and we stayed there and voiced our concerns. Comm. Kline: You went home, Mr. President. I am not saying that you didn’t have a legitimate reason to go but we took the time to stay there and address all the issues.

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Comm. McDowell: At this time, we are going to proceed with the meeting. Comm. Kline: Mr. President, you can’t stop a motion – Robert’s Rules. I make a motion that the Superintendent, for the balance of this meeting, provide legal services by someone else other than the gentleman who has been suggested for tonight. Comm. Taylor: Second. Dr. Duroy: That is not an acceptable motion. It should be ruled out of order. I have already made the decision that I have asked counsel to be present and we should proceed with the agenda. Comm. Atallo: There is a motion on the floor and it has been seconded. Call for a roll call vote. Dr. Duroy, you are not an attorney to make rulings and the guy sitting next to you… Comm. McDowell: I am not going to allow this to take place at this point. If I may, and this will fall upon my head, we will proceed with the meeting. Comm. Taylor: Mr. President, it is not just your head. It is all of us. When we found out the other night that the lawyers belong to the state operated Superintendent, then we understood that. Anytime we needed legal information we had to get our own lawyer as Board members. We understood from Dr. Duroy the other night that the lawyers you always see up here by him are his lawyers that he directs and supervises. They are by law his but now when we need legal advice we need to have someone here for us to ask and be advised as a Board. Dr. Duroy has his but we do not have ours. Comm. McDowell: I understand your point but legal counsel is here to represent this entire body. Comm. Hodges: But he can’t. Comm. Atallo: It is conflicting. Comm. McDowell: Excuse me, this is not conflicting. Your issues are with individual complaints that have been forged and you are posing that there is a conflict with the representation of legal as representing the Board and the conflicts with your individual actions against the Board. Comm. Atallo: You are acknowledging that Mr. Johnson is representing Comm. Santiago as an individual. Comm. McDowell: At this time, I am not going to allow the legal grandstanding and we are going to continue with the meeting. Comm. Santiago: Why do you have to mention my name? Why don’t you just shut up?

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Comm. Atallo: Who are you telling me to shut up, you ignorant fool. Comm. Santiago: Why do you have to mention my name, porky? You are a joke. Comm. McDowell: If we cannot have order… At this time, we are going to ask that Silk City Academy come forward with their presentation. PRESENTATIONS AND COMMUNICATIONS Sister Mary Teresa Orbegozo: Good evening to everyone. We are going to have a wonderful ten minutes so take a deep breath and let’s… Dr. Duroy: Listen, gentlemen. We are going to move the agenda. Please give the correct order. Comm. Atallo: We can’t have an agenda when the attorney is in conflict. Dr. Duroy: Yes, we can. Comm. Atallo: You are wrong, Dr. Duroy. Comm. McDowell: Excuse me, I have the floor. If you have a complaint with reference to any of my decisions, I am sure you know what to do. At this point, we will continue with the agenda. Sister Teresa, you now have the floor. Sister Mary Teresa: I kindly ask the Board members and everybody on the stage to move side-by-side so that we can see the program. Thank you very much. We have a presentation. Good evening to everyone. My name is Sister Mary Teresa, Principal of the Silk City Academy. I am proud to present Silk City 2000 Academy Senior Portfolios. In the academy, portfolios are used to measure a student’s progress in a variety of ways, the skills acquired and a student’s best work. Students analyze their growth in the area of skills. You are going to see a typical portfolio in the life of a senior in the Silk City 2000 Academy. These students are Microsoft certified and available for jobs. The presenters are three seniors, David Maldonado, Ernest Mack, and David Jacobs. Daniel Maldonado is serving as technician. I thank you for having us. Mr. David Maldonado: Good evening, my name is David Maldonado and I am proud to present Silk City 2000 Academy Senior Portfolios. You are about to view examples of the contents of our senior portfolios. Each senior from Silk City will be taking this valuable tool of work and accomplishments with them out into the world. As you will now see, it is an extremely impressive product of our undertakings. The first page of our senior portfolio is a letter of recommendation from our principal, Sister Mary Teresa Orbegozo. Next comes our personal statement that describes our backgrounds, obstacles in life, accomplishments, and goals for the future. Next comes our individualized resume with all of our accomplishments and computer certification. This is mine here. Here are our certifications in all manners of computers. You will be given a brief description of these certifications at the end of the presentation. The next pages of our senior portfolios are letters of recommendation from our teacher commending us

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on our special gifts and talents. In our actual portfolio, we have two teacher recommendations. Here you see evaluations from community service where we volunteer at various elementary schools, City Hall, the YMCA, and St. Joseph’s Hospital. We get rated on our professionalism, quality and quantity of work, appearance, attitude, working relationships, and dependability. Here is Ernest Mack to show us the second part of our senior portfolio. Mr. Ernest Mack: Good evening, my name is Ernest Mack and you will now view some of our accomplishments in research, writing, art and computer creative works, plus many other endeavors. This research paper is done in Modern Language Association of America. You can see it includes a header with page numbers and a work-sided page. The next two pages show a professional newsletter with a page using a border and bulleted list and a table using a draw tool. Next is a cover letter that will attach a resume. Here you see a form created in Microsoft Word to be published on the Internet. There are text fills and drop down lists that can be filled on the web. Here are my personalized business cards designed in Microsoft Publisher. In Microsoft Excel you see a spreadsheet that is quite involved. It includes a quarterly report with many statistics. This Excel spreadsheet includes formulas which we developed to figure out mortgages and here are some of the actual formulas developed. Here you will see a Power Point presentation about getting a college scholarship by one of our classmates, Lilliano Ortiz. We must do research and consider financial aid. We should start early in our junior year. We should consider merit scholarships in academics and our talents, and private sources like local organizations. Additional information is always available and here are a few sites on the web. In Microsoft Access, a database management system, we see a report generated from tables and a student master form created with the Form Wizard. It includes a sub-report in OLE, Object Linking and Embedding. These pictures you see here are embedded. In the last of our portfolio books, you will view a few desktop publishing examples seen here. Here is an example of a candy bar label created from scratch and properly sized to wrap around a typical Hershey bar. This is a bottle label designed in Adobe Illustrator. Studio backdrops and lightning effects were done in Adobe Photo Shop. This exercise in Adobe Photo Shop uses selection tools to cut out pieces of our own digital photos and put it into a new background. This is my new Mount Rushmore. David Jacobs and myself are in the middle. Now here is David Jacobs to explain those valuable certifications we students are becoming certified in. Mr. David Jacobs: Hello, my name is David Jacobs and I will quickly explain these three vital certifications for use to successfully compete in today’s and tomorrow’s technological world. First is the IC3 certification, which is Certiports Internet and Computing Core Certification. Certiport is a well-known company that manages Microsoft Office Specialist certification programs. It offers us the opportunity to demonstrate our computer and Internet literacy and it reflects a global standard that accurately validates our skills and productivity. The first of the IC3 tests is the computing fundamentals where we must show knowledge of computer hardware, computer software, and operating systems. Next is the key applications where we must do analysis on common program functions, spreadsheet functions, and word processing functions. The last of the three tests is living online where we must learn about computing in society, electronic mail, networks in the Internet, and using the Internet

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properly and safely. By the way, this is mine. After successfully completing the IC3 certification, we obtain a more involved and in-depth certification by becoming Microsoft Office Specialists. This certification is the primary certification for desktop application, a globally recognized standard for demonstrating desktop skills with the Microsoft Office suite of business productivity - Microsoft Word, Excel, Power Point, Access and Outlook. Next we have the A+ Computer Repair Program. This program helps students understand what is happening behind the scenes of the computer. Why A+? Like millions of other computer users, students like me have used computers to play games, explore the Internet, and write papers. Many of us perform these applications without understanding exactly what goes on behind the computer case or monitor screen. We are curious about becoming more than a user but a master of our machine. The A+ Certification Computer Repair Program is for us. In conclusion, we offer three exceptional certification programs – Internet and Computing Core Certification, the IC3, Microsoft Office Specialist, the MOS, and the A+ Certification Computer Repair Program. We are becoming certified in these programs and will become better prepared for our future. Here are a few photos of us celebrating our certifications. By the way, I would like to thank Sister and the teachers at the Silk City 2000 Academy. Here as we walk down the hallway, as this door opens up you will see the certifications in our hallway in Silk City Academy. We are also available for work. Dr. Duroy: Thank you very much. I want to extend another recognition to Silk City Academy. They present every year in June and they did an outstanding job one more time. REPORT OF STATE DISTRICT SUPERINTENDENT Dr. Duroy: I would like to just basically make some comments about some of the activities the district has undertaken this past month. I had an opportunity, as we do every year, to recognize the outstanding teachers from all the individual schools. We were part of what they call County Roundtable and Governor’s Teacher Recognition Program. The district continues to collaborate with a foundation from the West Coast by the name of Stupski Family Foundation. This foundation has extended recognition to the district and is committed to working with us on leadership issues. Many of you may have known the former chancellor of New York City, Dr. Rudolph Crew. He works for the Stupski Foundation and will be assisting us in some of the endeavors. Annually we recognize Syracuse University for the effort that they extend our students here in the community of Paterson. We announced the other day that we have 18 students, undergraduate and summer program students, participating at Syracuse University at the cost of Syracuse University. They make a commitment that, in my opinion, is up to $1 million to the students of Paterson and we extend the recognition and kudos to Syracuse University. This past week I filed a budget appeal on behalf of the district appropriately in court to appeal the budget cuts recommended by the State Department of Education. We are proceeding with the appeal. The other evening the Board in discussion recommended that we consider special counsel and I am announcing tonight that we are proceeding with that particular arrangement. I hope to notify the Board by Friday as we have begun some discussions to move in that direction. We are also calling on the Education Law Center to assist us in that particular effort. As I indicated at the last meeting, we held a groundbreaking ceremony for the Panther Academy and I

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indicated that we were looking to have a groundbreaking ceremony in June for Roberto Clemente. That has been delayed just one month and we will have the groundbreaking for Roberto Clemente during the month of July. We will announce that once we know the exact date. Today I had an opportunity to discuss one of our next projects, the construction of a new Medical Arts High School for this community. We have had for many years the HARP Academy, which is Health and Related Professions Academy. The State Department accepted the recommendation about a year and a half ago that we could build a school for approximately 300 students. We are negotiating with Barnert Hospital for the site. I believe the State will announce next month the appointment of an architect and we are proceeding. In the discussion, the timeline is such that we need close to 30 months to accomplish the particular goal and so we are hoping that by September 2006 we will have constructed and completed the new Medical Arts High School for the community of Paterson. That concludes my presentation. REPORT OF PRESIDENT Comm. McDowell: I will keep my comments brief. I just want to congratulate all the graduates that have completed their course of work and will be moving on to exciting and new levels of education. Those in Saturday and special programs, I congratulate you and I wish you good luck and God speed. I would just like to also say that I hope everyone has a great and safe summer. Just as a quick reflection, there was a basketball team that was loaded with superstars and people who could bring an A game at any point. Because that team was unable to come together and work cohesively as a well functioning machine, many of those individuals had great years, broke many records, received many individual rewards, but the team failed to win a single championship. Going forward, given our obstacles and disagreements, hopefully we can look forward to doing our best to clear up any disagreements and make sure we get our views out in an appropriate time so that the little time we have to improve the condition of our community is put to the best use. I hope we can work on that and I will also work on that myself. At this time, we will move into our public comment portion. Three minutes for individuals and five minutes for organizations. I would ask that if you are representing an organization, please state that organization and your role because time is of the essence. We at times have individuals who will represent an organization when they really have individual comments. If you are truly representing an organization, I ask that you clearly state your organization and your role in that organization so that we can respect those that have something to say behind you. PUBLIC COMMENTS Mr. Leo Renaud: My name is Leo Renaud and I was really upset with what was going on here earlier. I don’t think it was following the agenda and I think the conversation should have been taken care of sometime today or yesterday. If you had a problem with the counsel, it should have been brought up before this meeting and not at it. I left a letter and a copy of an article from the newspaper with each and every one of you. I hope you read it and I hope you can make something out of it. I am not here to condemn anybody. I am not here to hurt anybody. But I am here to say that if you are going to say things and accuse people of stuff, you should have facts in your hands and

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you should not abuse your privileges. If you are on that Board just so that you can destroy the work of this committee and the school counsel, then you should get off of it. The children are not being helped by your attitudes. I don’t know why some of you just keep harping and trying to destroy Dr. Duroy. He is going to be here for three years and most of everybody that associates closely with him, the teachers and the principals and people in the schools, like what he is doing. Most of the people who have children in the schools see what he is doing and they like it. I don’t know what you three guys… Two of you are my friends but you are offbeat coming into a meeting… You are not the three musketeers and you are not the three wise men so don’t think that. When you leave here you will be looking like three blind mice. You are doing a bad job. If you don’t like being on the Board and doing right, get off of it. Comm. McDowell: I am not going to try to be a referee or talk too much but let us be courteous to those who are commenting and speaking. I am not attempting to be rude but I am going to try to expedite as much as possible. I want you to really get out what you have to say and get the information you need but when the buzzer rings, please finish your comments quickly so that we can move the agenda. Ms. Bahiah Abdrabboh: Good evening, my name is Bahiah Abdrabboh, Assistant Director at the Language Enrichment Program with the Islamic Center of Passaic County in Paterson. At the previous Board meeting, we presented an appeal in reference to our proposal for Board sponsored funding of the Language and Culture Enrichment Program to be implemented at the Islamic Center of Passaic County in Paterson. I present to you this evening a petition of over 500 members of the community in support of this appeal. Due to the time constraints, I will be representing those who have joined us this evening. Those of you who are here tonight in support of this matter, please rise. It is vital that we enrich our children with the edification beyond which they are receiving in their core curricula. As a result of the negative stigma Arab Americans receive, it is imperative that we provide our children with a better understanding and appreciation of their culture, customs, and language, and how it ties into today’s society. Once again, we truly appreciate your time and attention in this matter. We sincerely hope you will continue to strongly consider our proposal and request. We will continue to be tenacious and persist in this matter. We, the Arab American community, constitute a vast majority of the population here in Paterson. Thus, it is crucial that you grant us our request in order that we provide our children equal and open opportunities as is evident with the myriad of services offered to other groups here in Paterson. Again, thank you but before I step down we would like Comm. Atallo and Comm. Hodges to comment as we have been maintaining a consistent communication with them. Thank you. Comm. Atallo: We received a letter from your organization, the Islamic Center of Passaic County, on May 9, 2003. Have you received a response to this letter? Ms. Abdrabboh: Yes. Comm. Atallo: And you sent a subsequent letter since then, haven’t you? Ms. Abdrabboh: Yes.

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Comm. Atallo: And you have a petition of how many people? Ms. Abdrabboh: Over 500 signatures. Comm. Atallo: Are those Paterson residents? Ms. Abdrabboh: Yes, they are Paterson parents. Comm. Atallo: I would think in light of the fact that we have those kind of numbers that it would at least merit a meeting with the administration to consider this program. I think just to turn it down flat would be inappropriate if you have 500 people. As the community grows and with every ethnic group that has come to Paterson, and Paterson has always been a city of diversity, which has made it a rich city, I think they should be acknowledged and brought into the mainstream. I would request very respectfully that the administration meet with the representatives from the Islamic Center of Passaic County, in light of the fact that they do have a petition of over 500 Paterson parents, to talk about the program. Also, since we do have a very successful program at School No. 9, and I was in attendance Saturday at the program, I think you should also meet with the individuals from the Arab American Civic League through Dr. Awadallah to meet with them and see what they are doing. As the community grows, I think it would merit that we have more programs and be sensitive and responsive to all ethnic groups, and be respectful of all groups. I think the administration should respond to this. I am asking that the Superintendent set up a meeting and I would ask you, Bahiah, to contact us to let us know when the meeting occurs. If it is appropriate, we will sit in on that meeting and move all groups together to advance this project. Dr. Duroy: I did have an opportunity to visit the program last month on a Saturday and it is well attended. But as I indicated last month, the district is in an appeal for additional funds and that is something I believe we need to try to resolve so we can look at our budget from a broader perspective. Again, on the agenda we have the continuation of the other program at School No. 9 and I also was in attendance this past Saturday. They are well attended and there is a lot of support in the community. Again, the issue boils down to our ability to fund and expand the program. I believe that at the point when we can resolve the appeal hopefully in our favor, then we will be able to move forward and consider this particular program. It really is not a matter of questioning the program as I indicated when I was there. At this point, it is a matter of funding. Comm. Atallo: When you have 500 parents asking for a program, we budget and fund what we want to budget and fund. We set budgetary priorities and when 500 parents speak out about a program, I think we should be sensitive and responsive to that. We look forward to meeting with you. Comm. McDowell: Just note that the young lady in the Absolute is the last… Comm. Kline: I think we need to resolve the matter of the public opportunity to speak at this meeting. It is not a prerogative of the administration. It is not the prerogative of the President, the Superintendent, or anyone else to set a limit on public participation. That

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is the new law. The citizens of this city elected representatives and unless all of the citizens who have a reason to make public statements make those public statements, then we who sit here and who have been elected by law will not really have the benefit of knowledge of their concerns. Most of us are willing to stay here until 1:00 a.m. I just came back from a State School Boards Association conference and in our discussions it was made very clear that most of the Boards meet until the business is done and that audience participation is no problem. Whether the meeting ends early or late, it is up to the Board members as of their oath to serve to be willing to sit here as long as parents want to speak. Comm. McDowell: Comm. Kline, thank you for your comments and what you have said is definitely true. What I alluded to was that the young lady in the Absolute uniform was the last one on line with the exception of someone who may be holding a spot for someone who doesn’t wish to stand. What I wanted to identify is who wanted to speak and as you can see, after I made that particular comment we have another maybe ten or so people. My comments were not towards restricting anyone from speaking. Even though your comments are true, please don’t misunderstand my statement. Comm. Kline: We received a letter from… Comm. McDowell: Comm. Kline, I understand that what you have to say is important but I would like to move with the public portion. I don’t want to get into a long discussion about this. Comm. Kline: The reason why it is very important that the community know the positions that are being taken is because the Board members received a letter from another Commissioner requesting that we cut down on the time that the public is allowed to speak. So it is not just a matter of what you think. There is at least one person who is trying to limit the amount of time that the public has to speak and as long as I sit on this Board, I am going to fight for the rights of the public to speak. Comm. McDowell: Just to end it with my comments, some of the discussion was around the fact that the agenda calls for a 30-minute public portion session. That is a short time and we never actually hold to 30 minutes. The discussion was centered around how we should adjust that so that we can get the best buck out of the time we have. The last time we went past 12:00. As Comm. Kline alluded to, we decided to let the public speak and to hold to the three and five minute rule. We are asking that if you are from an organization, that you state your organization and your role. We are not trying to limit anyone. Mr. Donald Lynch: Good evening Board members, my name is Donald Lynch, Paterson, New Jersey. First, to Comm. Moody, you have my great sympathy for the loss of your mother. I do understand because I lost mine not too long ago. I am here tonight to speak on C-7 again. I hope my comments at the last meeting were taken very seriously about the benefits, which I can’t do without. I hope that all you Board members understand where I am coming from because benefits are one of the greatest things that a person can have. Medication is very expensive. I hope you take my comments under consideration. We do need benefits, regardless…(end of tape)

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(Beginning of new tape)…but I do know what I have now. I know that for a fact so I would rather keep what I have right now than lose it. I hope you understand where I am coming from and that when you vote on C-7 that you do take all of us, the workers in the schools, into consideration and put yourself in our position. Would you rather be out of benefits for three months or have the benefits continue on, which I can’t afford to be without for three months. Every 30 days I have to have a prescription filled. If I am out three months, I hope I can come to one of you guys and have my prescription filled but I know that is not possible. All jokes aside, please take my comments and think about them deeply and make the right decision. Thank you. Ms. Robin Pelham: Good evening, my name is Robin Pelham and I am president of the parent team for Panther Academy. Tonight I stand before you to voice some concerns that the parents have with reference to the Panther Academy. One of the biggest problems that we are facing today is environmental and physical changes that are not for the good of the students. When questions are asked in reference to the building or the staffing at Panther Academy, we are getting the run around. We are not getting a straightforward answer. Before Easter vacation, April 23, 2003, we received a letter from Ms. Rivera, who is the principal at Panther Academy, and the letter states that they had to alter the classroom assignments for instruction for one week. Well, today is June 11 and the students are two classes in one classroom. They originally were placed on the first and third floors, which they are now all grouped and clustered together on the third floor. Two classes are meeting in one classroom. Exams are coming up in a week and a half. How are you going to accommodate these children and give them a comfortable environment for them to take their exams? We are seeing the administrator and staff go head to head with each other, as I am seeing tonight, in front of students sitting in the audience. These are the same types of action we are seeing with the students at Panther Academy. It is to the point that 25% of the children no longer want to attend the academy because of the duties of the administrator, as well as the concerns of the parents. The administrator has so much clout over everything that goes on in that building. I sent a flyer to the school last Wednesday announcing a parent team meeting but it did not go out because the administrator stated nothing leaves that building without her permission. Even with the substitute principal being in the building, the information did not go home until Monday night. What kind of turn out did we have? Zero! I also have a concern with the bathroom. We were told that this bathroom on the first floor would be finished today. From what we were told at our parent team meeting last night, there has been a hold put on the bathroom construction because of a certificate of occupancy. How would you feel if your children were in a building with limited bathroom privileges and because there is not a bathroom on all three floors that they can use, they are limited to the one or two bathrooms located on the third floor of the building? I spoke to several people in reference to this problem and I still get the run around. It is not a good thing. We cannot tell our children that we want the best for them when we are not supplying them with a safe and healthy environment. Children also received bus tickets because they are out of district from different areas. There were three parents at the meeting last night that have been paying $45 a month for bus tickets. Why? Because the bus tickets are locked up in the principal’s office and no one can issue bus tickets to them. Initially, when the kids came from Wanaque down to Temple Street, the kids were picked up from Passaic County Community College, taken over to Temple Street, and brought back to Passaic County Community College. They

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were able to get home from that location. Now they are at Don Bosco on Union Boulevard and we have kids coming all the way from Michigan Avenue. $45 is a lot for a parent to pay for bus tickets, especially when they say that when you are out of the area by 2 1/2 miles the Board of Education should supply transportation. Our children have been told they are taking alpha classes. Are they going to get credit for alpha courses? Are we telling our parents, as you introduce them to Panther Academy, that they are getting alpha courses and then when these children get ready to graduate two and three years down the road, they are not the alpha courses that you are telling us? Back to the administrator, Panther Academy had three certified teachers in the building with administrative certification. Not one of those teachers was offered the opportunity to be the administrator in that building. When an administrator was appointed for Panther Academy, the place began to crumble. We are going out on a sour note. In September of 2003, we would like to go back on a happy note. We want to go back knowing that you Board members are listening to our concerns, are going to look into our concerns, and will help us make Panther Academy what it is supposed to be. I am sorry the time has stopped for me but I have two more issues that I think I should discuss because they are of importance to us parents. In September of 2003, there are a total of 57 new students going into Panther Academy as ninth graders. There is a vacancy of six positions – math, chemistry, English, technology, a guidance counselor, and fine and performing arts. There is a vacancy. The executive board members of the Panther Academy parent team would like to know how we can get the training that we need to sit on the board for hiring requirements. We feel as parents that we can sit, just like you can, and judge those people that are going to come in the door and educate our children. There are entirely too many teachers on staff that are there just for the paycheck. The only reason why I am bringing this to your attention is because I grew up in the Paterson School District. I am attending Kean University at this present time. I heard Comm. Atallo make a comment about a lawyer sitting on your Board and a conflict of interest. I have a problem with that as well because this is my senior year and I have permission from Kean University to do my student teaching in my building. I have been moved out of my classroom without pay and then told to go to another building and miss graduation because they did it after I had already started eight weeks of my student teaching. I feel that I have been shortcut knowing he can sit on the Board and I lost a paycheck and lost time from my position. Anybody that knows me from Norman S. Weir knows that I give 150% and I didn’t get that when I asked the Board why I had to be moved after getting the proper documentation from Kean University and my administrator. Last, but not least, my other concern is that every year for the last three or four years we have had our Easter break a week before Easter. We have families and we have children that attend PCT, as well as the Paterson district. You are asking us to split our family vacation. One week we are home with the kids from the Paterson district and one week we have to find some place to send our kids that go to Passaic County Tech. Why don’t we use our heads? Easter is a family time. Bring back our spring break at the time of Easter vacation. Thank you. Comm. McDowell: We will contact your home school council and set up a meeting to look at the concerns of the parents and staff. Dr. Duroy will briefly comment on the personnel issue.

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Dr. Duroy: There were a number of issues that you raised and we will follow up through you as home school council president. There are concerns that I am aware of as well regarding some personnel actions and we need to do a follow up. We will see if we can arrange to have a meeting early next week. Ms. Pelham: We would appreciate that because when we have asked any questions, there has been such a long time to get that turn around to get something going. Dr. Duroy: I am sure that you have been in communications with Dr. Sico who works very closely with the academies and will be present at the meeting. Ms. Noemi Jimenez: Good evening Dr. Duroy, Mr. President, and Board members. My name is Noemi Jimenez and my daughter is a junior at Montclair State University Pre-Collegiate Teaching Academy. I want to thank Dr. Sico for providing our science lab, Comm. Santiago for being instrumental in getting our intercom system, and Comm. Hodges and Comm. Atallo for attending our first meeting. You were invited and you took the time out of your schedule when you really didn’t have to. I thank you. I also want to thank both of you for your hard work and persistence in getting the community involved with the fight pertaining to the Abbott funding. I would like to see more Board members attending the City Council meetings and our City Council members attending more Board meetings. For this I thank Councilman Davis for his presence at every Board meeting. I want to thank you for your encouragement and assistance in making it clear to the Board that our Montclair students have the right to express their feelings. Comm. Santiago, I am happy that you are taking part in our children’s recreation. I am glad that you are a part of a new football team for our Paterson children. Ms. Taliaferro, as a parent I thank you for your presence at the curfew meeting held by the City. I was very surprised that more Board members weren’t present. I was equally proud to see so many accomplishments throughout various high schools at the last meeting. We have the tools and we have to keep working together for budget parity and safe facilities for our children. Parents as taxpayers, voters and US citizens have the right to come to the podium and express feelings. If we require assistance from a district employee, such as Ms. Taliaferro or a member of the community, we have the right to call on whomever we please. Whether the matter takes three years, one day or a month, we should always be encouraged to fight the fight and not give up when it comes to our children’s education and well being. I encourage parents to come if your issues are not resolved in one day, three years or a month. Teachers and parents are all encouraged to come. We should all be prepared for the good the bad and the ugly, and the Board members should not be surprised at anything since they each serve on committees. They see the paperwork and they see the contracts. We are all aware that they are fully aware of what is going on and what is taking place in our schools. So please do not act surprised. In order to lead our Paterson students toward educational excellence, we must have an educational vision that promotes district focus, integrity and respect, encouraging better learning, educational teamwork, responsibility and accountability. I am looking forward to the district collaboration with the community. I would like to see the results. To Dr. Duroy and the Board members, I trust that this school year has been a lesson learned and although Montclair has improved, we hope that everything will be completed by the fall. As it stands now, according to the information I received today, you are making efforts to keep this building for our Montclair students and your staff is

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working to take care of the violations. But it seems as though we are in limbo and we do not know if we will have a building for September. I want to know if we are going to have a building for September. I also want to tell the Board that a house divided falls but a house united can accomplish plenty. Dr. Duroy: On the issue of 137 Ellison Street, we are still working with the City to resolve some of our issues, as well as the County. We have to move forward with some paperwork with the County. In the meantime, we are also looking very closely at the timeline because we are at the beginning of June and we need to know. I am hoping that before the end of the month we can make that decision. Ms. Jimenez: So are we going to know if our students have a building in September? Dr. Duroy: Yes, I believe by the end of the month you will be notified. Comm. Santiago: I just want you to know that it is not just me. All the Board members are pretty much concerned about the schools. Perhaps some Board members have jobs and it is uneasy for them to take off. I don’t just speak up for me. I think that everybody’s heart is in the right place when it comes to the children of the City of Paterson. I also want you to know that I thank you for giving me the opportunity to believe in me and know that I am doing this football team for the children. I never showed it to you but I want you to be one of the first, and the community here, to see this for our children. The goal is to take children off the streets and put them into a nice, safe, clean, healthy environment. I want you and the community to see the football helmet that I created for our children in the City of Paterson. Ms. Jimenez: Comm. Moody, my sympathies and prayers are with you and your family. Comm. Moody: Thank you. Comm. McDowell: Thank you, Ms. Jimenez, for your hard work. Mr. Victor: Good evening, my name is Victor and I am representing the parents of School No. 2. I am here to thank you for petitioning the State for the air conditioning, which is needed in School No. 2 for health and learning reasons. We really need it and we heard the petition was made. We really appreciate that something was done quickly - a letter was submitted by the Paterson Public School Business Administrator, Mike Azzara. The School No. 2 home school council will appreciate a written communication from the State Department of Education specifying the timeline for completion and who at the State level will be responsible for that. We just want some real papers telling us that it is going to be done, when it is going to be done, and who is the person to tell us what is going on. We have that letter but nobody is responsible for it. There isn’t even a signature there. Dr. Duroy: The appeal was submitted to the State and the State did write back indicating that it has been accepted. It was not just for School No. 2. I believe ten schools were in question. When we recently had a committee ask them about the timeline, they were a little more vague quite frankly. They indicated that it is part of the

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next phase. In other words, once they complete the health and safety issues, then they can move on to the next stage of planning and construction. All we were told is that it is part of the next phase. Mr. Victor: They are really going to do it but can we have some kind of letter telling us the steps they are taking and the person who is working on it? It can be a contract or whatever telling us something with the signature of a person who is responsible. Time will pass and people will change in their positions. Maybe three years from now there will be another person working in there and they will say they didn’t promise us anything. If we had that letter, it would have to be done and we would be very comfortable. You already made the petition but we would be more comfortable if we had something concrete and real. That is all we want. Thank you for making the petition and we look forward to obtaining that letter. We appreciate you have done something for us. Thank you. Sister Joanne: Good evening Mr. President, Dr. Duroy and members of the Board. My name is Sister Joanne and I am Principal of Blessed Sacrament School in the Riverside section of Paterson. I come before you this evening representing the children in the non-public school that receive their Title I services through a third party contract. It has been brought to our attention that this has been on your table for discussion and will probably end up in your July meeting. I am here today to tell you that the third party contractor that services our children we have been working with for over 20 years. Originally it was Educational Inroads and it is now for the past five years called Sylvan. There seems to be some concern that our children are not Paterson residents but they are. Their parents do pay taxes. The services that are provided by Sylvan under Title I have been excellent. If you feel that you need more input from the people that receive these services, I am sure our public school liaison, Brenda Patterson, would be more than happy to arrange a meeting between any of the Board members and the administrators of the non-public school. We would be happy to explain to you that if something is working very well we wish you wouldn’t have to fix it if it is not broken. If you need more information on this, I am sure we would be more than happy to meet with you. Thank you and God bless. Dr. Jonathan Hodges: Dr. Jonathan Hodges, citizen of Paterson. I am here tonight to speak as a member of the community, not as a Board member. People have asked me in the street and on the phone why I am so angry. What you continue to see is my frustration over what is happening to Paterson’s children. I have to sit up there and watch parent after parent come down here and complain about how they have been mistreated or their children neglected, abused or otherwise under-served in our schools. Last month there was a parade of parents complaining and we had the show of the Superintendent directing each parent to this person or that person or the other to get their problems addressed. What should have happened, and I guarantee you it didn’t, was the very next day that Superintendent should have called in his staff and instructed them to get into those schools to find out what is wrong and get it fixed. That is what should have happened. If you can’t get in there and fix those schools, then we thank you for your services but we are going to find somebody who can. That is what should have happened. Instead, we have a show of parents being sent here and there when the systemic problems are never ever addressed. That is what the problem is. We

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don’t address the causes of these parents’ problems. That is why I am angry. Those problems affect those children. Before he received his appointment, Dr. Duroy had a series of meetings on gangs. Do you remember that? We had meetings and subcommittee meetings on gangs. The instant the vote occurred for the contract, the meetings stopped. We haven’t had a single one since. I guess the problem went away. Dr. Hodges, where are your solutions? It is easy to sit there and complain. Where are your solutions? Well, I have provided them. I met with the Superintendent back in January about concerns about Eastside High School not for the first time, not for the third time, and not for the fifth time. I discussed my concerns but I also when asked presented a list of concerns. I have yet to hear anything about solutions, even the ones that I presented. I haven’t heard anything about those and I certainly haven’t heard anything about his solutions. I am talking as a member of a number of committees and organizations. Comm. McDowell: Which one? Dr. Hodges: PEF for one. I brought a banking program to the Superintendent. I had two banks that I was working with in order to bring savings accounts to every single student in the Paterson system. I also was trying to get one of the banks to run a student-run bank in the high school. That was over a year and a half ago. The people have moved on, the relationships are gone, and our students still don’t have savings accounts. You can go across the river and find the exact same thing happening in Fair Lawn, Hawthorne, and wherever. If our children learn about saving and investment and credit, then they can become homeowners one day and become part of the economic bedrock of this country. It is important but we don’t get that here and you don’t hear about those things. That is why I am angry. Now we are back at square one. The Board, at least five of its members, sits there and lets this continue unabated. Mr. President, you have uttered a lot of platitudes about cooperation and togetherness. Yet when it came to living up to those words, as your first act you excluded members of this Board from committee chairmanships. Comm. Kline, a former teacher, principal, assistant superintendent, Board President, and City Council President, didn’t merit a chairmanship. Comm. Atallo, who has a Ph.D. in educational finance and is a two-term Board member, didn’t merit a chairmanship. Comm. Taylor, a principal with over 20 years experience, didn’t merit a chairmanship. I, alone, was named curriculum chairman but looking at the people who are chairmen, perhaps we are all too over qualified. Those people who didn’t get chairmanships happen to be people who voted against you, Mr. President. Perhaps you will find that it is easier to voice platitudes then to actually live up to them. In conclusion, I am not here to cause friction. I didn’t come here to fight and battle people and argue and scream. I came here to see better schools. That is what I came here for. Not to be told to shut up and not to be told that I can’t speak out. I came here to raise the standards and to deliver education for our children, the people who live in this town. That is why I am here. If you see me angry, then understand it is because it is not being done. Despite everything I say and what you hear up here, there doesn’t seem to be five votes to get it done. Thank you for your kind attention. Comm. Sayegh: Mr. President, I have a comment.

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Comm. McDowell: We are going to move on with the agenda. Comm. Sayegh: May I just comment on something that Comm. Hodges stated? Comm. McDowell: Next speaker, please. Comm. Sayegh: Sir, I have a comment. The public is speaking, Mr. Chairman. Comm. McDowell: Go right ahead, Comm. Sayegh. Comm. Sayegh: Comm. Hodges, with regards to your comments on Eastside High School, a month ago Comm. Moody and I met with Dr. Duroy and we brought to his attention some of the concerns we had. We were given assurances and Dr. Duroy we will hold you accountable to follow up and come through on making good on the promises you made to us in that meeting. Thank you. Ms. Esther Eason: Hello, my name is Esther Eason and I am the president of the home school council. I gave everybody papers but I haven’t heard anything from it. Are parents supposed to be involved with their children in the school system? Comm. Taylor: What school? Ms. Eason: School No. 13. Are the parents supposed to be involved with those children at School No. 13 or are they to just leave them there for the principal and vice principal to do what they want to do? They never attend the home school council meetings. We put up flyers and everything but they never attend the meeting. But they keep picking and picking. I see parents on the street every day. I talk to these parents because these parents know I am there every day. I have been through poison with my children. I came here before about the same problem. What is the problem? They don’t even care about the children. The kids are getting beat up. You can’t leave your kids at school anymore. I refuse to leave my five asthmatic kids in that school. It is terrible. I am trying to keep the peace because fighting in the street and arguing in the school is not right. This is all I am asking. Are the parents allowed to be in their children’s education? Comm. McDowell: Of course. Ms. Eason: Nobody came to School No. 13 because I am there to see who is really caring. Am I the only one really caring about the kids at School No. 13? I came with papers from the parents. I have signatures. I didn’t give the signatures the last time I was here because I had a feeling the paperwork was going in the garbage. So I kept it in my book. Whatever the parents want to do now, go ahead because it is not fair. It is not fair for the vice principal and the principal to do what they want to do. Councilman Anthony Davis: Good evening, Anthony Davis, City of Paterson. I need you all to listen to what I am getting ready to say. I am asking you to stop writing and let me have your attention. I was glad to hear Dr. Duroy say that they filed the appeal for the Abbott funding and that you are also looking for outside help because we, as a

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community, were not comfortable with our current attorneys. I am glad to see that you are looking for outside help from the Law Center. So I don’t need to talk about that. If by chance we do lose, I do know where you can save some money and we are starting with the person who is in charge of the academies and who walks around here on a cell phone all the time. The parents and students are seeing this and he is showing no respect for this community. That is number one where you can start. I see on A-11 that tonight you plan on approving the calendar year. It was brought to my attention that one of the items on there you want to slowly honor just that ethnic group. Let me be clear in what I am saying. I, for one, know who I am and whose I am. I have no problem with this diverse city we live in. I commend everyone for celebrating their culture and their ethnicity. But for an item to be on there where you are saying one ethnic group is going to be celebrated or have a day, that is not fair. That is called exclusion of everyone else because I am sure in this diverse community that we live in every other ethnic group would like to have a day off, too. I didn’t see the calendar. I just heard about it. So I am hoping it is not true. I don’t need to go into what ethnic group we are talking about. I just hope it is not true. We had five childhood centers to close down and one of them I am familiar with very well. There were five Black early childhood programs that closed and they were replaced with four Hispanic owners. If this is true, I would like for you to look into it. When we talk about diversity, we need diversity in everything. If it is true, I would like to know why five Black early childhood programs were closed and replaced with four Hispanic ones. I would like to know that. I am not here to argue. I am here to work with everyone. I don’t care about who loves me or who don’t love me. I have enough friends, friends coming out of the woodwork. I am here for my City. This is my City and these are my kids. I love them and I think everyone should show the passion, care and love that some individuals and Board members show for this City and our children. These are our children. If we don’t teach them, then who will? Last month I noticed you had two attorneys on the Board time. I couldn’t understand that and I see one now. I am presuming that you are the new attorney, Mr. Johnson. What happened to Hanly? What is going on now with the current situation? You can save that for later. I just wanted to know why two attorneys were on the Board last month, which should not have been because I am sure we had to pay them both. My condolences go to the Moody family and also my condolences go to the Moore family. A childhood friend of mine lost their mother and I want to extend my deepest sympathy. Also, to the family of the young lady who committed suicide last Saturday by jumping into the Passaic River, I extend my condolences. Happy Birthday to Jocelyn Jones. Thank you all. Dr. Duroy: Councilman, I will follow up and we will have a meeting on some of those issues. I will reach out to your office. Councilman Davis: Also, can we look into those meetings about the gangs that Comm. Hodges mentioned and all those committee meetings that we have had? Ms. Yvonne Zuidema: Good evening ladies and gentlemen of the Board, my name is Yvonne Zuidema and I represent United Way of Passaic County, which is located here in Paterson. I come to you tonight to let you know that there are a number of resources and services that are available to teachers and students. We have started working with a number of schools in Paterson and we just wanted to let you know what is available and that we are excited to be working with you. For schoolteachers, we have offered an

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inservice workshop on using volunteers in schools. We have also provided office furniture and teacher’s lounge furniture to eleven schools here. We worked with teachers at three schools to conduct an art project related to Earth Day and provided the art supplies associated with that that were then kept at the schools. We have also been doing for one year, and will do again this fall, a commemorative bookmark marking the events of September 11. Last year we were able to distribute 10,000 of those to students to help the teachers help young students remember what happened on that day. We also have a couple of exciting programs that are happening at Eastside and Kennedy High Schools for students who are interested in going on to college providing them with mentors and assistance to get ready for college. In addition to that, we also have a help line available for students and families where they can call to get information about health and human services in Paterson and Passaic County. It is available simply by dialing three digits, 211, from any telephone. An information packet was distributed to you in a white envelope like this and it includes information that I just described to you. Again, we are happy to be working with you and if we can provide additional assistance to you and your students, please don’t hesitate to call. Thank you. Mr. Rod Robertson: Good evening, my name is Rod Robertson and I am here on behalf of the Passaic County Public Employees Campaign, of which I am the campaign manager. I just wanted to share with you a few insights to the campaign. It is the only formal workplace solicitation allowed for public employees. The campaign is organized under a steering committee under state law here in the county. We have had a good relationship with the school district in the past and the employees have participated. However, in the past three or four years, we have not run an active campaign and we would very much like to do that again. I have some information that I will leave with you that is last year’s campaign literature. What the campaign provides is an opportunity for your employees and yourselves as public employees to support organizations and causes that you would like to support. You can do that through payroll deduction. All I would ask is that at some point in the future the administration would provide me with a primary contact that I can use to implement the campaign with the schools and provide some education to the teachers and faculty. Thank you very much. Ms. Delores Hill: Good evening, my name is Delores Hill and I am employed at School No. 21 in Paterson. I work in the cafeteria and I am also the home school council president. My concern is the children. We are talking about our kids’ education but what I saw here tonight, and this is my second time coming here to the Board meeting, we have to learn not to attack each other. There were children in here tonight and the way that you conducted yourselves was just like a little kindergarten kid. To say to your Board member shut up, we don’t even teach our kindergarten kids to say shut up. That was really out of text. School No. 21 has a lot of problems. When you talk about gangs and all this stuff that you are talking about, ask yourself why the gangs are out there. This same system puts them through the system without a proper education. That is why they are out there. You sit and talk about them, but are you out there trying to get them off the corner and showing them a better way and that they can get the education they did not receive when they come out of school. I have a culture group that I brought into School No. 21 and my culture group is called Universal Culture Dances. We are a mixed group. I have Spanish kids and I have Jamaican kids. You name it – we have it. This is what it is all about. It is not about your degrees and all of that because it doesn’t

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take degrees to deal with children. All it takes is love, compassion, understanding, and listening to them. At School No. 21 we have a fifth grade teacher that shouldn’t even be a teacher. The kids are all over the place doing whatever they want and saying whatever they want and she is walking around like this. We have teachers that deal with our kids on this level. When they hand them something, they hand it like they are scared to touch them. We have diversity in School No. 21 and we hope in September to clean it out. We are asking for your support to clean it out. We vote you in there and we want to see some actions. I don’t see any of your faces coming into School No. 21 to see what is going on. None of you! I had approached Dr. Duroy at one time and I think it was in front of the Board of Education building. I didn’t know who he was but I heard somebody speak his name. I told him that he needed to come to School No. 21 and see what is going on in there but I have not seen him yet. Comm. Atallo is a good man and he is concerned about our children. But I am asking how many of you up there are really concerned about our kids, or are you concerned about your little positions and your paychecks? If you are really concerned about our children then you would give us teachers in our school that are concerned about our kids and that will teach them properly. I have a secretary in my group that is coming out of Eastside High School, graduating, getting a diploma, and can’t even spell. How is that possible? For a long time you have been pushing our kids through the system – just pushing them through. But I know the name of the game. You push them through and where are they going to go? They are going to go to the corners because they can’t even fill out an application. Education doesn’t just start in the school. Education starts in the jails and on the streets. How many of you are out there finding out what is going on and why these gangs are out there? You have your drug dealers out there but remember one thing. Our kids don’t have drug factories. Our kids don’t have gun factories. But they are bought from higher-ups and put in our community for us to destroy and kill one another. Are you really concerned? It is time for you to stop this little personal thing that you have because it is not about you. It is about our children. To the academy principal, at the last meeting there was a problem about a kid wearing a uniform. It is not mandatory for our children to wear uniforms and if a parent doesn’t want her kid to wear a uniform, then so be it because it is her choice. But you don’t punish a kid and stop him from going to a trip because he doesn’t have a uniform. Ms. Anna Taliaferro represents us parents. You said not to touch your little nest egg but I am telling you not to touch Ms. Taliaferro because she is on the battlefield. How many faces in here were in Trenton fighting for this Abbott program? I didn’t see any of you. The only one I saw was Comm. Hodges. At the parents conference I saw Comm. Atallo. I saw Councilman Davis but where were you? Now you are complaining about Ms. Taliaferro but she is on the battlefield. She is out there working. I went with her on that trip because I am concerned. But I was very disappointed when I didn’t see your faces out there. If you can take time to go to a dance or campaign meeting, I am sure that you can take time to be in this battle with us. You sit here and battle each other and you have your personal things with each other. Leave that alone because that has no concern with us. We are concerned about our children’s education. If they can get what they have in Wayne and Fair Lawn and Hawthorne, our urban kids need it too. You keep hollering about 911 but let me tell you something. Our children live 911 every single day. No offense to the officers that are here but the ones that drive around the city know what is going on but are not doing anything about it. Why? Because the jailhouse has become a big money business. You are not really concerned about our children. You knew that the gangs

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were starting before it even got to this point but you let it go to that point so that you could fill up the new jails that you have. Lock down the jails and educate our kids. Comm. Sayegh: I was just recently assigned School No. 21 and I met with Mr. Tirri a few weeks ago. I had every intention of attending your meeting last night but it was cancelled. Right now I will give you a business card and you can contact me at any time. Ms. Hill: You can come to us on the 18th at 6:00. Comm. Sayegh: I will also give you a business card. Ms. Tamika Bolds-Wilson: Good evening, my name is Tamika Bolds-Wilson and I stand before you tonight very bitter but informed as well. Six months ago, I would not have known how to approach you but due to the conference that Ms. Anna Taliaferro and her staff conducted this year and that I attended, I am now informed, prepared, and empowered. Tonight I am just hearing about someone trying to remove Ms. Taliaferro. I hope it is just a myth because Ms. Taliaferro, if God is for you who can be against you? Also, they don’t want to see any smoke in the city. I have a lot of issues and concerns concerning my children’s school, School No. 1. First of all, I went to my school principal and informed her of a situation concerning my child. My daughter was called a thug and she is a seven-year-old child. She doesn’t know what a thug is. She came home and asked me and my husband. Also, I was told I was a pain in the ass. I also brought that to her attention. When children disrespect school policies, they are reprimanded. They sign this little district thing. What happens to teachers who disrespect their own policies? Are they being held accountable for it? I have not yet received a letter regarding these concerns and issues. However, when you go to the school your child is being unfairly targeted. The parents are being called God. I am not God but I am human and I do have feelings. When I talked to my school principal, she waved her hand at me. That is very disrespectful. In other words, she is telling me she doesn’t have my concerns or my child’s education best at hand. Also, Dr. Duroy, this question is to you. I was informed by my school principal that you gave her special permission to use the Fast Forward Program in spite of the Intervention Tutor Program, which deals with comprehension. The LEAP program has been scientifically research-based and it has been proven that it does work and progress has been made. Regarding this new plan in progress, how do we say it works for children? Has it been scientifically research-based? Who came to terms to agree…(end of tape) (Beginning of new tape)…telling me she can’t read, how can she adapt to a computer? I want to also talk about the parent involvement policy. We have a school management team and according to the school principal, she has her school policies that she relates to. Who is supposed to teach parents about assessments for their children? I received this assessment but all you put was just numbers and graphics. What does this say? Parents are supposed to know about district policies but when you go to the school to ask for the district policies, it is not there. You go to the Board of Education and it is not there. Where do you go? Enough is enough of stealing kid’s education. This principal not only steals parents’ joy but she steals kids’ education and enough is enough. We have played bingo with her far too long. These issues have been addressed with Dr. Fulmore and he has been made aware of all this. I am here tonight because I need

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answers and I want answers. It is not too many days I can go in this school and know what is going on and you keep brushing me aside. I am not going to be held accountable for what happens any longer because the next time I am disrespected, I will also be disrespecting someone back. Enough is enough. Comm. Santiago: What school? Ms. Bolds-Wilson: School No. 1. I need to know this from you, Dr. Duroy. You took away our intervention program but what are you going to give the kids now that are still below? We have 19 children out of 41 reading below grade level. Is it the children having the problem, or is it the teachers? When I asked to see the certification of the teachers in October, I still have yet to receive and see these items. Why can’t I see these? Are they certified to teach reading? According to the law, I should have received that when I asked for it. I need some answers. I don’t need anybody tongue-tied now. You were doing your little arguing when we were sitting here waiting for you. I need some answers so when I go back to my school I can know what I have to tell my principal so she can stop telling me her school policy. I want to know the district policy. According to the Nickleby law, what is being done in place of this program that she implemented? According to Dr. Timmons, this is her program. She was informed that this was in place but she didn’t know that a lot of children were still not receiving the intervention reading program, which our children are suffering from. Do you mean to tell me a child can read but she is not able to comprehend what she is reading? What do we do with that? Where do we go? Dr. Duroy: I will attempt to answer what I can but let me say that you definitely need to follow up with the assistant superintendent. Regarding some of the issues that you raised about the Fast Forward Program versus the LEAP Program, the district has made a commitment relative to the LEAP Program that includes the one-to-one. Right now that is one of the concerns we have relative to the budget and that is one of the concerns that we are pursuing in court. Again, we want to make sure that we do have the necessary personnel. The LEAP Program was introduced two years ago. It was a program that I initiated in the district. We were not mandated by any law for the LEAP Program. We feel that it is a very strong program, so much so that School No. 1, in and of itself, was recognized by the state as a Star School. Ms. Bolds-Wilson: As a Five Star School in a Category Five. Dr. Duroy: I certainly believe the LEAP Program has been successful and we are introducing a new program despite some of the budget concerns in math. I am going to ask that we follow up with you and have a conversation through the assistant superintendent to see if we can address some of the other nuances that you have raised. I don’t have some of the specific answers this evening but I certainly know that through the assistant superintendent and my office, we can respond to you. Comm. Hodges: Dr. Duroy, rather than shuttle her off to somebody else, what do you plan to do to address the systemic problem of teachers and principals being rude to parents and abusive to students in this district? What do you plan to do about that?

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Dr. Duroy: I don’t accept the premise of painting everybody and I think that is what you are suggesting. Comm. Hodges: I am not painting everybody, sir. Dr. Duroy: I can tell you this much. As I indicated, we are working on a leadership retraining of vice principals, principals, and assistant superintendents. Some of the comments and concerns that were raised, whether valid or not, we are going to address in that particular leadership training. As far as I am concerned, that will be a part of the curriculum. I have spoken, for example, with Ms. Taliaferro about being involved in some of the training of the administrators. So we are looking into that aspect. Again, everybody should have some training in the aspects of dealing with parents, interpersonal skills, communications among staff members, and the community in general. Comm. Hodges: Far be it from me to in any way suggest that all staff are abusive or under-serve the students. That is not true at all. We have some very good staff. However, as you sit here month after month, you have to come to the conclusion that from time to time there are lapses that have to be addressed in a systematic way over and above just simple training. My question to you is what kind of systemic adjustments do you plan to make so that we are not back here next month or in September or October with the same set of problems from parents. Ms. Bolds-Wilson: I have one more statement. For those teachers and parents who applauded the Five Star in a Category Five, you need to stand when you have a class of 41 children and 19 are reading below level. You need to stand for those children and be accountable for that. Also, to these teachers who are sitting here following behind Ms. Lopez, you also need to take responsibility for your own actions because you went to school for that degree, not Ms. Lopez. Stand for children! Ms. Evangelist Evans: Good evening Board of Education members. Comm. Moody, you have my deepest sympathies. In your closing, can you just state the promises that Dr. Duroy made? My name is Evangelist Allison Evans and I am here with several matters. If Joe Clark was not able to lock his school doors, how is Kennedy able to have gates down while school is still going on? I went to tell my son something in the waiting room and the gate was down. I said that if Joe Clark couldn’t lock his doors, how can Kennedy have their gates down? Ms. Bolds just spoke a few minutes ago about teachers being rude and very disrespectful. There was a situation earlier this year where a teacher called my son a faggot and he is a freshman in Kennedy High School. I addressed the situation and my son gets A’s and B’s in her class. Yet, on his report card he gets D’s. I brought this to Mr. Kozar, the head of the special education department at Kennedy. I brought this to Ms. Lyde. I have been to her office and I called her three or four times. We had a meeting and Ms. Lyde said that there was supposed to be a meeting with myself, Mr. Kozar, the teacher, and my child. I called Ms. Lyde to inform her of the outcome of the meeting but every time I talk to Ms. Lyde she is always on her way to a meeting. I didn’t know they had that many meetings in the school year. The meeting never took place with Mr. Kozar, my child, myself, and the teacher. Mr. Kozar replied to me that he was not going to meet with me or the

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teacher. He said he wanted his hands to be clear of the outcome. He said he didn’t believe the teacher said that to my child because she said she didn’t say that. I said I believe my son. He said my child is loud and I said your teacher is loud. You can be at one end of the hall and hear the teacher at the other end. She is a very loud teacher. He said she is a loud person and I said my son is a loud kid. Who is he following after? Her! My next issue is at School No. 12. Once I got the microphone, Mr. Sevano got up and left because he knew what I was here to speak about. My niece is an 8th grader at School No. 12 and she was told that she could not participate in her prom nor the graduation or the dinner dance. I asked what was going on. They had this program at School No. 12 called the Dream Girls and a parent was accusing my niece of giving her daughter alcohol to drink. My brother went and had my niece tested and her test came back negative. But some of the girls from the Dream Girls came back positive. Since then the program was dismissed at School No. 12, which means that Ms. Robinson no longer gets a free trip to Washington in the summertime. There is a teacher at School No. 12 who is very good friends with Ms. Robinson who now is conspiring against my niece along with the principal. Now that they couldn’t pin this on my niece, they came up with the demerit policy saying she was late four times so she can’t participate. I can’t understand because I went over the principal’s head to Mr. Sevano and on Friday, June 6 I went down to the Board of Education with my niece. I took my niece, Quadera Johnson, down to speak to Mr. Sevano. He told me and my niece to our face that we have the green light for her to go to her prom because she didn’t vandalize the school, threaten anybody, or do anything according to the guidelines that would stop her from participating in her prom, the graduation, or the dinner dance. But the other girls can go to the prom and participate. Mr. Sevano gave us the green light for her to go to her prom and participate in the graduation. When I got home I got a phone call about 2:30 from the principal from School No. 12 saying that he wants to meet with me, my brother and my niece. He said he doesn’t care what Mr. Sevano was saying and that she is not going to participate. Well, I called Mr. Sevano back and he told me that the principal at School No. 12 wants to meet with us. Why do we have to meet after you told me that she had the green light to go? Is it because the teachers don’t want her to participate in her prom? Isn’t her last year in 8th grade supposed to be happy memories looking back from the 9th and 10th grade and remembering the prom and getting a diploma at graduation? We don’t want her memories to be like that. There is a lunch monitor and we got a police report on her where she had another 7th grader go to my niece’s house to fight her. On top of that, yesterday she tried to get her daughter to fight my niece. The lunch monitor needs to be fired. The principal and the teachers are very rude and disrespectful and when the children do something in school, they get suspended. When the teachers or the principal is out of line and out of character, they need to be suspended without pay. Comm. McDowell: Did you say there is a meeting tomorrow? Ms. Evans: They set a meeting tomorrow at 11:30 and Mr. Sevano told me that two Board members would be there. My point is after you gave your word, and I have it on tape where you gave the green light, why do we have to have a meeting? Isn’t your word supposed to be your bond? The Bible says that God doesn’t have respect of person, which means God doesn’t have favorites, so who the hell are you to have a favorite? I was told not to go to Mr. Sevano because he and the principal are like this.

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That shows me it is true because you gave your word and now you are taking it back. I want an answer tonight. I tried to call you several times, Dr. Duroy, but every time I called your office they connected me to Mr. Sevano – today, yesterday, and the day before that. Dr. Duroy: Today I was not in the district but let me just say this. On the issue of trying to resolve concerns or differences, the assistant superintendent made an attempt to try to resolve it. If the resolution basically is putting a meeting together with the principal and the family, I think that it is fair to try to come to that resolution and resolve it. I did speak with him briefly on the issue and I believe that tomorrow it will be resolved. Ms. Evans: But you are missing my point, Dr. Duroy. The point was that when I first went to him on Friday, June 6 with my niece, he never once said that we had to have a meeting. He gave the green light for her to go and then after he talked with the principal at School No. 12, that is when I got a phone call talking about a meeting. First he gave his word. Are you working with him or are you working for the children? Dr. Duroy: We are all working to try to come to an amicable resolution that would benefit the children and that is what I think we are moving in the direction of trying to do. Ms. Evans: What is the policy where a child cannot participate in her prom or graduation? I want to know the state policy for that. Dr. Duroy: I don’t think it is state policy. Ms. Evans: I have the right to know now. Dr. Duroy: We certainly have a discipline policy that is a factor here in the decision. As you indicated, at the end of the school year when it is an 8th grade student, we need to look at that factor in making a decision. Ms. Evans: She is the only one. Dr. Duroy: I understand that. At the same time, we need to look at the factor that we have to maintain discipline. Some of the other issues that you raised I am concerned about and I will be talking to Mr. Sevano and reaching out to try to do some follow up with staff members that, as you indicated, were out of line. Comm. Santiago: I want you to know this and to hear me out very closely. I want everybody to hear me out very closely. In life we have two things. We do good things and we do bad things. But I have a theory that when we were young, and we were all young, we made mistakes in life. But I have come to this conclusion. Whether an 8th grader or a senior, I believe in my heart that the dream should never be taken away for them to walk the green grass. I don’t know how everything went but I think that every child has a dream. I know that you feel frustrated but I also feel bad for your niece. She would like to graduate like everybody else and I support you 110%. I think that something like that should never be taken away from any child.

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Ms. Evans: If it is, the Board of Education will be sued because I have it on tape where he gave the green light. I will sue the Board of Education because I have it on tape where he gave the green light. Comm. McDowell: I encourage you to… Ms. Evans: You like to rush people away from the microphone. Comm. McDowell: I am not trying to rush you but you have taken 15 minutes. We are trying to get a resolve. I am not trying to rush you. There is a meeting set up tomorrow. Ms. Evans: My point is why should there be a meeting when he already said that he gave his word. Isn’t this supposed to be the principal over the teacher, the assistant superintendent over the principal, and then him over the other ones? Isn’t that how it is supposed to be? Comm. McDowell: That is correct but please understand my position. We are taking your issue and giving some basic direction. But we are not going to be able to come to any conclusion or resolve today. Ms. Evans: I would like to know who are the two Board members that are supposed to be there? Mr. Sevano told me that there would be two Board members that he is taking with him to this meeting tomorrow. Who are the two Board members that are going with Mr. Sevano to this meeting tomorrow at 11:30? I also talked to Comm. Brown and he said that he was not aware of what was going on. He said that he would be there tomorrow at the meeting. Who are the two Board members? Comm. Hodges: I don’t know who Mr. Sevano had in mind. I have worked well with Mr. Sevano in the past and I will… What time is that meeting? Ms. Evans: The meeting is tomorrow at 11:30. I took off work Friday just to go speak to him. Every time I have to meet with you I have to take off work and the Board of Education is not going to pay me. Comm. McDowell: I am not trying to rush you off but we have to… Ms. Evans: I understand that but I want this resolved just like any other parent would. Comm. McDowell: So Comm. Hodges is going to… Comm. Hodges: I can’t make 11:30. Comm. Atallo: Mr. President, I can’t be there at 11:30 but I spoke to the administrators and we will be there at 11:45 or 12:00. I have professional commitments in the morning but I can be there by 12:00. I was just asked today if I could be there. Comm. McDowell: If I can make it, I will try to attend also.

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Comm. Kline: We have to establish an understanding in this district that when decisions are made and if they are made in the best interest of our children and our staff, you should be strong enough to stand behind that decision. People can’t be maintaining their respect for our staff if our staff says one thing and does something else. We are dealing with parents who have jobs. This lady just said that if she takes off another day she might lose her pay. It seems to me that this shouldn’t be necessary. If a parent is told something, that should be it. If other persons want to appeal it, let them appeal it but it shouldn’t be decided against the parent. It is about time that things start happening differently in this district for parents. You shouldn’t have to attend any meetings as far as I am concerned. Ms. Evans: You should be a man of your word and not have yellow down your back. Ms. Jacqueline Roman: Good evening, my name is Jacqueline Roman and I work for School No. 3. I came here concerning my son Tyler. He went to Just Us Kids and was scratched by a teacher and kicked out. He is five years old. What am I going to do? Do I have to quit my job to be with my son without getting paid? The teacher had long nails and scratched my son from the bottom to the lower neck. I have a detective trying to see what kind of teachers they have in a daycare. Comm. Taylor: Which school? Ms. Roman: I am a security guard at School No. 3. Comm. McDowell: Are you saying a teacher scratched… Ms. Roman: My son goes to a daycare, Just Us Kids, and three weeks ago he was scratched by a teacher, hit in his head, and thrown out of school. I have nowhere to put my son at this time. If I don’t find a daycare for my son, that means I am going to have to quit my job. How can I support my son being a single parent? Dr. Duroy: We can try to place your son. Ms. Roman: I talked to Early Childhood and they told me they can’t do anything about it and it is my problem. Dr. Duroy: We can certainly look into that. I will follow up. I know that you are at School No. 3. Ms. Princess Reeves: I would like to start off by giving my condolences and prayers to Comm. Moody and your family. It is very hard to come before this Board because we always have to come to you with repeated conversations. We should not be going back into the James Cummings saga again. If we have not learned the lesson that just previously passed, then something is clearly wrong. I can’t understand why if we have violations and certificates of occupancy that are not in place, why would you send someone who is legal representation representing our Board, parents, and administration to say everything is in place. What does that clearly tell the parents? You are willing to put our children in the line of fire no matter what. Your child doesn’t

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attend this public system. You are not even a resident of this township but you have the gall to bring forth that type of message. What type of message is that sending before our children? If we have a problem, whether it is construction or codes, logically it would be tabled for another day to have someone check to see what needs to be repaired and done. We just went through the dilemma and aggravation with Montclair Academy. Why are we going through this again with Panther? I am newly elected first vice president of Panther and I am also a member of the school management team. If I can get up 6:30 or 7:00 in the morning to make a meeting that is of utmost importance to our children, then I think some of you guys need to come up off those chairs and get your job done. We put you there and we can take you out. We will remove you because this is about the children. You have elected members here that have come from education and you are not utilizing them. What is wrong with this picture? Then you sit here and have principals… I am sorry but I am going to give Ms. Taliaferro her props today. She takes time out of her life to teach other parents. This Abbott law is important to all of us because if it is broken down and taken away, somebody is going to lose a job. Why do you have a principal, Ms. Rivera… Comm. McDowell: Excuse me. Ms. Reeves: Excuse me, don’t stop me. Have respect, Mr. President, because you are not making your visits right now. Be respectful and listen first. Comm. McDowell: I am listening to you but we try not to name names out of respect. Ms. Reeves: How can she possibly take a petition? We were at a meeting with several parents, way over 15 parents, who attended the meeting and were waiting to pick up these petitions. Where were the petitions? They were locked up in her office. I gave my word that I would deliver them the next day and that is what I did. I delivered them the next day. It wasn’t important enough to see that the parents get them out? We asked for a budget report but we can’t get a budget report. She put xxx amount of dollars but that is not a report. I have been through the education. You need to talk to somebody who doesn’t have a clue but I have a clue. I will not allow anyone to bring forth just any piece of paper to me. There clearly needs to be something done. She has been recycled from other schools and something is wrong. If you see that a person has a problem, why are we recycling people that have problems? Let them get their problems together before we start putting them back in the face of trying to teach children again. Something is clearly wrong. Dr. Duroy, I have a question for you. For our legal representation for the Abbott law, I would like to see that we get the best of legal representation because they are fighting for us so we can have the best quality education that our children rightly deserve. When I say our children, I mean our children. It doesn’t matter what color. Our children mean our children. We have been before this Board on several occasions about the dilemma at Montclair Academy. You made your appearance when the media was out. The media is not around but still make your appearance. Get the job done. Stop letting kids suffer. There are kids crying out for a decent education. They want to learn. We only have a few Board members that have made appearances. Some Board members call me personally at 1:00 in the morning. If they can reach out to me, I don’t have a problem. That is what I expect – x, y and z to be done. We need to no longer keep putting our children in the

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line of fire. Please stop! I am just coming back from a graduation is Columbia, South Carolina with my daughter and it is very embarrassing to sit and watch a meeting where our Board members air out their dirty laundry over the air. I don’t need to see that and I am pretty such there are a lot of parents who don’t need to see that. Take care of your personal problems. That is an in-house problem. We are asking for quality education and our children are first. You guys are secondary but we put you there as representatives to help put forth and implement the programs that are needed for us to get the best books and the proper things we need to teach our children. Thank you. Comm. McDowell: Before the next speaker comes forward, there is a car blocking a driveway and several people who need to get out. Please remove your car. Ms. Marie Fallon: Good evening ladies and gentlemen. I am fairly new to this and I hope you can hear me. I am here to represent some of the parents from School No. 1. I also am here to represent my race. I am Hispanic and I survived raising two boys. I could not have done it without School No. 1. I heard a lot of stuff today and I heard some issues at my kid’s former school. I want to share a story with all of you if you have some time left. We are all tired and I am going to be very brief. My son Ralph is 18 now and he will be entering Montclair University pretty soon. He was in School No. 1 since they started from Fair Lawn to Ridgefield Park. Every time they traveled I traveled with them. I didn’t trust my kid to the system. I was pretty afraid with that but I did trust it. School No. 1 has done marvelous work. This is a kid that was in special education. We were respected. He was in kindergarten in St. Ann’s School in Fair Lawn. Out of fairness I have to mention the name of that school. That school and that community treated us poorly, like if we were something abnormal, because my son had a learning disability. He is a success story and that is why I have my second child there. He is doing great. His IQ level is fine and I am very pleased with the work they have done. They have a great staff. I don’t know about the bickering back and forth. I don’t like that. I never participated in that. When it comes to my attention that somebody is going to pick up my son from school and there is going to be a bunch of parents bickering and cursing at the principal and staff members, that is my concern. I heard this is in behalf of the kids and our major interest is the kids. We even brought a scripture and mentioned God. There is no way to think that God is here because when you have a mind that you don’t like discipline and when you think you can allow your children to do whatever they want and nobody should tell them what to do, we are responsible for what you just did. You are telling the schools don’t get involved but we are forcing them to get involved. I am for children. I put my kids through the system. I could afford to pay for it, which I did for a year, and they failed. It doesn’t matter. It is not about money. It is about whether you have what it takes to be a teacher. I deal with Ms. Lopez as a principal. This is not because she is Hispanic and I am Hispanic. That is nonsense. There were times when we were behind closed doors because my son must have done something that wasn’t right. Discipline starts at home and if I want to bring a man that is great for the society, I have to learn how to do it. I just cannot pretend that I know everything. When we bring God in this it really bothers me the most because we are saying that when we open our mouths and mention God, we are going to look very holy. Therefore, we have an excuse to treat everybody else the way we want. We are so wrong because we are teaching our children to do the same thing and this is a vicious cycle. It is repeated. You see it in the streets. There are gangs, alcohol and

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drugs. Instead of battling against that, we are just battling against each other. This is not about colors. This is not about race. This is not about status. This is about reality. We have to be united to provide the best for our children. It worked for me. I don’t understand why it doesn’t work for the rest. We should give respect to the people who are dealing with our children. How many of us would like to be with a bunch of kids for 8 or 10 hours per day? I would not and that is why I never chose to teach. So we have to be a little bit more compassionate towards those people and have a little bit of respect. We have to see them as a higher authority that are dealing with our kids and we have to work with them. This is not to bang on the school system. I am not here for that. I am here to see how I can help because this is too much. Everybody has nice degrees and everything but it seems they cannot apply it to themselves. We mention God but that doesn’t apply to them. We are just making fun of everything. I am sorry if I wasted everybody’s time. I apologize. The school system works when you work hand-in-hand with it. But if you are against it, it is not going to work no matter where you go. You can move to China and you will have the same problem. We don’t like our children to be disciplined and that is why we are creating little monsters. Forgive me for saying this but when we learn that discipline has to be applied to our own lives, we are ready to deal with the rest. Ms. Norma Gonzalez: Good evening, Dr. Duroy and Board members. I am here tonight because I am very, very upset. I am a parent from School No. 1. I also have parents who came out with me tonight as well. I would like them to please stand up. I have been to School No. 1 so many times in the morning and in the afternoon. I have taken my children to school. When I have taken my children to school, I have seen a few parents come out. They don’t know how to talk to the administrators and teachers. They curse at them, they use profanity, and they are not aware of the children that are around us. I see my daughter shriek because I don’t teach my child that. I am very, very upset. We have the parents who come out and who work hard for the school, and we have other parents that don’t come out. We had a meeting on No Child Left Behind and those parents didn’t show up. If you are concerned about your child, you should come out to No Child Left Behind and hear about that. Our school is one of the top ten schools. It didn’t get there by accident. Teachers worked hard. The principal works hard. When I come here and hear parents saying that the teachers and the principal doesn’t work hard that is a lie. They work hard. These parents don’t come out. I haven’t seen them come out but they do come out when there is a problem. They come out to curse the principal out. They come out to use profanity. They come out to curse the teachers and threaten staff members. I have seen this done all the time and it is not fair. Education starts at home. We cannot expect teachers and principals to raise our children. Those are our children. When we need the principal to back us up, she backs us up and the teachers back us up. But when we have parents that come out, they don’t back us up. They don’t even show up to the meetings. Every month the school sends out a calendar letting the parents know when they are going to have a meeting. These parents don’t come out because I show up and the other parents show up. I understand that there are parents who work and can’t come out. That is understandable. But there are parents who don’t work and who have these kids that have problems. Why don’t they come out? Why don’t they come out to hear the laws of No Child Left Behind so they can better help their child? They don’t do that at all. Yet, they come out and they criticize the school. They go downtown and complain, which is

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wrong, and they figure they go downtown and complaint about how bad the school is but it is not. If you see the test scores, you will see how the teachers take the time out to help the kids. They even have an after school program. The principal stays after school when the parents don’t show up. They don’t discuss that. They have to call the parents to come and pick up their child because they are there until 4:00 or 5:00. I am just upset that I have to come here and hear this when we know that our children are number one. They should always we number one. We should always come out and try to help our children. My child had problems in the other school that I had him in but I thank God that I put him in School No. 1. He is doing great in the Fast Forward Program and my daughter as well. I cannot knock that program down. I think they have done excellent, as well as other children. I am sorry for taking up your time and I thank you for hearing me out. Ms. Willie Jenkins: Good evening Superintendent Duroy and members of the Board, my name is Willie Jenkins, 140 Ward Street, Paterson. I am here tonight because I want to talk about Anna Taliaferro who is a very dear friend of mine. I want you to know that there were some things said about her and I want to try to give you a better idea of what she is all about. I have been knowing her for over 30 years. There is not a person in Paterson that I can say works on behalf of children more than Anna Taliaferro. She is an advocate for the kids of Paterson and the parents. She has done so much for the parents in getting them involved in the schools. She has taken us to so many conferences just to get us prepared, empowered, and ready to go out there and fight the battles for our children to get the things that we need for our children. If there is a problem that one of us may have, she is the number one person that I would recommend you to go to. She can take any problem and she can take that parent and come to the Board of Education or the schools and get the things settled. Some of the things that were said were really disrespectful. I feel that she is owed an apology. Those things should not have been said about her because anyone who knows her knows that parental involvement is very dear to her heart. Children are number one and if you look around you will see a lot of parents here tonight who are going to be speaking on her behalf. They will tell you the same thing. I know that when I have had problems, she is the person that I have gone to for help to try to get things together. There have been a lot of problems. I have two children that have gone through the Paterson Board of Education and now I have two grandchildren who are now at Alexander Hamilton Academy. I like the school and I am there because I want to make sure that my grandchildren get just as good an education as my kids did. But we all know that we have problems in all of our schools, as you have heard here tonight. You also know that sometimes people get the wrong story. When the story is told, it always ends up with a different tail. I just want you to know that Anna Taliaferro stands tall. Her words are always well put together. She knows what she is talking about. She has been around a long time. She may not have degrees like everyone else on this Board, some of you do and some of you don’t, but she has a master’s when it comes to children’s education and parental involvement. So when you start talking about Anna Taliaferro, I want you to know that you have a lot of people to battle with. Thank you. Ms. Audrey Thompson: Good evening, I am here to speak on behalf of Anna Taliaferro. My name is Audrey Thompson and I am a Paterson parent. I just want you to know that Anna Taliaferro is an advocate for our children. She fights strong, even when she has

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to stand alone. She gives us hope when situations seem bleak. There have been times when I had to call on her and she encouraged me in a positive way – me and other parents as well. I don’t believe some of the things that have been said about Anna and I don’t think you should believe them either. She stands for our children. She is very well respected and she gives this community a glimmer of hope. I just want to add that I went to the conference this year and it proved to be very educational and informative. I have problems when I hear parents on a daily basis speaking about the horror stories regarding their children’s education. In fact, I have experienced problems in the school system pertaining to our children’s education. I just want to let you know that I did meet an official from Washington at the conference and he conveyed to us that there is an enforcement group in view of this new No Child Left Behind act. So I think we need to stop with the bickering and get your hearts and minds set so we can get our children educated. We are prepared to call this enforcement group in here if we have to. Thank you. Ms. Joann Harris: Good evening everybody, Dr. Duroy and Board members. My name is Joann Harris and I have a grandchild at School No 25. My granddaughter is learning Spanish, which is well and good, but she also has Arabic classmates and she said she wants to learn that language. I think there is a program at School No. 9 and I want to know if that program is only open to Arabic children. Is it open to all children of the Paterson Public School District? I would like for my granddaughter to learn Arabic because she wants to learn Arabic because she has Arabic classmates at School No. 25. Dr. Duroy: I know the program is open but there is some limitation in that we had approximately 150 students. But you certainly can speak, whether this evening or reach out, to Dr. Awadallah and he will be able to follow up with you. He is present here if you need to talk to him. Ms. Harris: Are all the children in the program Arabic children, or are there children of other cultures? Dr. Duroy: I believe there was some diversity that exists even among the “Arabic” students. There are Turkish students, Palestinians, Syrians, and a couple of African American and Hispanic. But I would suggest that you follow up with Dr. Awadallah. Ms. Harris: Is that available in data where I can see it in black and white? Is there a track record? Dr. Duroy: If you can follow up with Dr. Awadallah he would have the details. Comm. McDowell: There is also, I believe, a piloted school where they are teaching the Arabic language as a foreign language but the school escapes me. I just wanted to make you aware that there are some efforts to expand the foreign language realm of languages. Mr. Joe Cheff: Good evening, my name is Joe Cheff and I teach 6th grade at Renaissance School No. 1. I didn’t come with the intention of defending the school

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because it certainly does not need defending. My condolences to you, Comm. Moody. I had the privilege of sharing the podium today with Comm. Moody and Assemblywoman Pou who is going to introduce a bill to require our students to remain in high school until they are 18. We were there because teachers know, and I have been a teacher in Paterson for 23 years and I can’t be more proud of the profession or the district, that there certainly are problems and differences and concerns, and it is healthy to address those concerns. But we also have great successes and we need to celebrate them. One of the greatest successes in Paterson that I have seen is Renaissance School No. 1. We have an administrator who is not only a competent principal, but who is forward thinking and still a caring educator. I see her speak to a child like a mother to a son. As a matter of fact, sometimes she reminds me of my mother talking to me and she does it from the heart. She expects educational success and she demands social success, and we get it. We have a tremendous staff in our school. We have a tremendous ESP staff. Our lunch monitors, Ms. Betty, Ms. Ruth and Terrence, I have never seen a school work together like a family. We heard the term ad nauseam in this profession and this school epitomizes it. This school needs to be lifted up. I heard a parent say big deal we are a Star School. Yes, it is a big deal. 500 schools across the State of New Jersey applied. Fifty were left out to be rigorously going through an interview process and we were one of ten in the State and the only urban school to receive that honor. More importantly, it wasn’t the principal, it wasn’t the staff, and it wasn’t the support staff, it was the students who achieved that honor. When we demean that, we are spitting in the achievement of those students’ faces. It is about the students. Clap for their achievement. They did it - not our school and not our staff but our students. Ladies and gentlemen, we need to work together. It is about our children. Before they are my students, they are God’s children – whatever color, whatever sex, whatever orientation they might have. I stand here for one reason. I came from a very poor family in Paterson. I am not here because I am exceedingly handsome. I am here for one reason – a public education. Our children need that same success. We need to offer them that opportunity. I think we do and I think we are moving in the right direction, but they and the parents also have to take it and take responsibility to get it on their own. Thank you and be proud of Renaissance School No. 1. Mr. Wilson Bosque: Good evening, my name is Wilson Bosque and I am here for School No. 1. I am just going to be very brief. I have two kids in School No. 1 – Wilson and Alex. Wilson makes me proud because he is a success story in School No. 1. I paid a lot of money to send them to private school and he didn’t know how to read and write. Right now he is one of the top students. He got A’s and B’s. The same thing is with Alex. What gets me the most about that school is the way they treat you. If my son does anything wrong they call me at work and I have to respect that because any little thing that he does they call me and I bring it to his attention and he moves on. He didn’t know how to read and write and since he goes to that school, now he does all of that. He loves reading and everything. I talked to the principal in a meeting with her about my son and if a student is passing by and being disrespectful, she knows everybody by name. This principal amazes me the way that she is. She knows everybody by name and she treats them well. How can I hear the parents saying bad things about her? I am not here to be disrespectful in any way, shape or form. I am here because I want to talk about the success of my two kids. I put them there instead of paying because God

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blessed me and I can pay for private school. I put them there and they are doing better than ever. Thank you. Ms. Anna Taliaferro: Good evening. First I would like to give my sympathies to the family of Comm. Moody. I know what it is like losing a mom. You are going to miss her for a very long time but then you will get used to it and you will know that she taught you well, I hope, so that you can begin to muster the strength that you really need. I want to say thank you for the many phone calls and visits of concern about how I was addressed at last month’s meeting. I think Comm. Atallo taught us this. I might detest everything that you say and I might not support it ever at all but I will protect your right to say it. I want everybody to know that I did not feel intimidated by the fact that my name was personally mentioned by parents. I checked with an attorney a long time ago and when parents come to this microphone and disclose the names of those that they feel uncomfortable about, it is their God-given right and there is no law to stop them from doing it. So stop telling these parents that they can’t mention people’s names. What cannot happen is that the Board members cannot discuss personnel and I cannot discuss personnel. But the parents have every right to come to this microphone and disclose a public employee’s name at this microphone…(end of tape) (Beginning of new tape)…can’t stand the heat, then tell them to get out of the kitchen. Not one of them who stand and scream for certain things going on would come to the microphone and stand for a child who doesn’t have the caretakers behind them. Many of our children are not fortunate enough or blessed enough to have parents who will stand to this microphone to support them. For all of us who would stand up and applaud one individual, please understand that you have to stand for children. It is not about a personality or a personal thing. It is about us because we are all connected to one another. Just last Friday, for those who are Caucasian, Hispanic, Arabic, and African American, PBS ran a very good program about the Journey of Man. Everything that was born was born out of Africa. You can’t deny it. Your DNA says it and they can prove it now without a shadow of a doubt. A young Caucasian scientist took a 20-year study and then he decided that DNA wasn’t enough, even though he had conclusive evidence that we are all connected to one another. As they traveled out of Africa, they went into Australia. It took them 10,000 years to get to Australia. If you look at some Australians, they are Aborigines and they might look like one of your family members. So while we would stand here and disconnect ourselves, understand that the journey of man came from Africa and it came throughout the continents. As they went into each continent, that is when they began to change their features because then the sun began to make that difference. While we stand here and declare that we are one race or another, we are connected to one another and we are affected by every child on this Earth. Every child who sits in a classroom is ours. Every child that gets arrested for drugs, alcohol, prostitution, you name it – they belong to us. Until we come to that conclusion, we cannot serve in the best interest of children. You think about that. If you want to get the Journey of Man, I would strongly suggest it. It costs $150 and it will give you your full history. You be careful because on Good Morning America they had a German who was connected to an Aborigine and an African American who was connected to an Indian. So we need to be careful about what we are declaring when we are all connected to one another. In conclusion, today I was at the State Department of Education, summoned by Lucille Davies, who is the Chief Education Council to Governor McGreevy, and Gloria Hancock, who is Chief of Staff, to set up a

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parent involvement committee. I am going to serve on that committee with an open mind unless I see where it is not going in the right direction. We need to take a very close look at parent involvement. It is not about coming here and representing one person or another. It is about what we need to do to help our parents understand how they need to become strong advocates for their children. That is what that conference was about that you heard some parents come to the microphone about. I was also privileged to receive a copy of the transcript of Rich Schiparro who represented the Trenton School District and his cross-examination of the Assistant Commissioner. I could have sent myself in there and would have given a better argument than the argument that I read when the Assistant Commissioner, who at one time thought that Abbott was the best thing for our children because they would receive that equity and parity, went back on his word. Shame on Gordon MacInnes. That transcript I am going to share with everybody that wants it. You need to read how they feel about our children in these urban and special needs districts. We have to believe that our children deserve what the suburban districts get. This is the message I sent to Jim McGreevy. Until our children in these urban districts can score 1,400 on their SAT’s like the many children in the suburban districts, don’t you dare tell us you would dare to overturn the Abbott decision! We fought long and hard for that. For those folks who are here tonight to represent one issue, we represented close to 660,000 issues when we went before the Governor’s house. Yes, some of you couldn’t make it and Comm. Taylor I do appreciate your coming at the last minute to deliver your petitions. I know that you would have been with us if you could. I know that. But we appreciate the work that you did. We appreciate all the work that has happened on behalf of our children because we submitted to the Governor well over 50,000 signed petitions by those of us who care about what is happening to children. At one time they were going to leave them and we wrapped them up in Christmas wrapping because we are saying to him that this is going to be your Christmas gift if you don’t withdraw your appeal to turn over Abbott. This is going to be your Christmas gift, Mr. Governor, because everybody gets a turn at bat. They came out and they took them inside the Governor’s office. I don’t know if they read them and I don’t even know if they care to read them. But I will tell you one thing. I was told by a very strong man in education that for every one parent that stands up, there are a thousand behind them. We delivered 50,000 and you do your math. If we can get 51% not to support you next time out, that will be our message to you. For the first time in my life, I didn’t vote for anybody because they don’t deserve it. They are not standing loud and clear for our children. I don’t care who you are. If you cannot stand for our children, then you don’t need to be where you are and I am saying that I applaud your efforts if you are going to get someone who really is strong. When you cross-examine these people and they start talking about withdrawing that which we worked so hard to get, you need to have the sharpest mind in the front of you. You need to make sure that they can litigate what they need to do. I was with Marilyn Morheuser. I was with David Sciarra. I was with Paul Tractenberg even when he fought that lawsuit over there with Dwight Englewood when White folks were saying that their kids were better than the Black kids who they didn’t want in their schools. Paul and I had many conversations about that because we wanted to ensure them that our kids were just as good as anybody else’s kids, nor would we ever disrespect their children. We are all connected to one another. Remember that! Make sure that you put your best foot forward. Mr. Superintendent, I am asking you on behalf of our children to make sure we put our best foot forward when we get ready to litigate for that money. Money is

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important and I dare anybody to tell us that it is not important. It will pay for those programs our children need and will provide the resources and materials. Lastly, last week the Governor called together women in politics. I was invited to go by some of the female Senators and I didn’t go because I was tired at that point from running back and forth to Trenton. He stood up and bragged about how he has now built over 200 schools. A sister from Newark stood up and said he didn’t build them in the Abbott districts. If you built 200 schools in other districts, what about our kids. That is what they need to be asked under litigation. Mr. MacInnes, if you get back on that stand and you don’t represent children and you lie about it, I would hate to be you on judgement day. Look out because some of those same kids might have to save your life one day. That is how serious this stuff is. But I do want to thank those of you who supported us – Comm. Hodges, Comm. Kline, Comm. Sayegh. I know you were there and I really appreciate that but we all have to get on this bandwagon together because it is just that important for our kids. You talk about graduation but just look at all the kids we have lost and think about them and where their future lies. It is our future. Thank you. Mr. Ron Gross: Ron Gross, Passaic County Reparations Coalition. My first question is directed to the President of the Board, who is also the chairman of the Amistad Commission on the local level. Can you give me a status report with reference to the Amistad Commission on the local level? Comm. Taylor: Can you repeat the question? Mr. Gross: I am looking for a status report on the Amistad Commission that was established by the local Board of Education after the State legislation with reference to the Amistad Commission was signed into law by Governor McGreevy. I spoke to Comm. McDowell and I was advised by the Superintendent that there was a local committee handling the affairs of the Amistad Commission. I am trying to get a status report at this point as to what they have accomplished so far. Comm. McDowell: The Amistad Committee’s last meeting was a couple of months ago and currently the district is involved in writing the curricula that will be the African American Caribbean content of that curricula, which is slated to be implemented in September. In addition, at a higher level there have been several conferences that have taken place. There was one at William Paterson University where several scholars lectured on the Amistad Bill. They lectured on the history linking all of the African Caribbean people. There were also several workshops that were conducted where educators had an opportunity to break out and learn implementation techniques and best practice techniques for their particular grade levels. Also, resource information and contacts were made at that point. I believe the committee plans to meet before the end of the year to get a handle on where we are with respect to the curricula and its implementation. Mr. Gross: That information is very important for the community to have. Comm. McDowell: I know you had a question also in the past about community involvement within that committee. The committee went through its planning stage and now there is the task at hand of writing the curricula. The state level has offered

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resources, lecturers to come in, and professional development for the educators in the area. We also plan to come up with a framework for community involvement in that. Mr. Gross: It is not mandatory that I personally sit on the board but I do have a background in African American History as an African American History teacher, and also as a teacher in the public school system. These are the reasons why I thought I might be able to bring some expertise as a community person to that board but it doesn’t necessarily have to be me. I appreciate the input with reference to the status of that committee at this particular time. Let me say that slavery is not over in America. This is the year 2003. Slavery is not over in America. I just got a report through my email the other day and you probably read something about it in your newspapers. There was a gentleman who was 104 years old that lives in Louisiana who is still in slavery and the reparations movement has taken his case on. Shame on America that at this point in history they would still have slavery existing in America. The National Coalition for Reparations for Blacks in America is functioning very effectively in that area. As a matter of fact, on June 25 we have now a program called A Year of Black Presence whereby every month we gather in Washington to walk the halls of Congress to ask the Congress people to sign Congressman John Kearney’s legislation HR40, which is the slavery reparations bill. It has been in Congress since 1989 without any success but this year we are walking the halls every month to get those Congress people to sign on. The 25th of June, Paterson will lead a delegation into Washington for that purpose – to walk the halls of Congress to see if we can get some Congress people to sign onto that legislation. I invite all of the Board members and all of the members of the City of Paterson to get on the bus with us to go down and walk the halls of Congress to see if we can get that legislation that is so important to our progress. I hear a lot about equality in America but there is not equality in America as far as I am concerned. As an African American, I suffer and all of us still suffer from the vestiges of slavery and we need to be able to address that effectively. We are going through Congress to do that. There is also activity taking place in the private sector. There are many lawyers, including attorneys like Johnny Cochran, who have come forward to lend their expertise to the reparations movement. Again, on the 25th of June, we will be going down to Washington from Paterson and I hope you will reach out and join us. It will be a wonderful experience for you. My number is 973-523-9311 and we welcome anyone who would like to go with us. Thank you and God bless you. Comm. Sayegh: Mr. Gross, I received your correspondence regarding June 25th but unfortunately that happens to fall on the same day as graduation for the district. Although I would love to attend, I have already committed to several schools but thank you. Mr. Gross: All I ask you to do is pass the word on. Ms. Betty Fisher: Good evening Board members. My name is Betty Fisher and I am a parent and employee of School No. 1. I can’t say how happy I was to hear Mr. Cheff say what he said about School No. 1. As a matter of fact, they said everything I wanted to say. My son attended School No. 1 and I have a granddaughter that will be attending School No. 1 in September. School No. 1 is an awesome school. I have been with them for 10 years as a parent, a volunteer, and now as an employee. I don’t know what

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else to say. Ms. Lopez is the best principal I have known. The staff is wonderful. The kids are great. We are one of the top ten schools in the State of New Jersey – Paterson. I don’t know what else to say. Our school is terrific. Our staff is terrific. We are not just a school – we are a family there. For anyone to say anything… Our facilitator Ms. Lopez – I have never known anybody as understanding and respectful as she is. I have to go to work at 11:00 but I wanted to be here to say what I have to say because she is an awesome teacher and principal, and her staff is awesome. Thank you. Ms. Mariah Moultrie: Good evening, my name is Mariah Moultrie and I am also speaking on behalf of School No. 1. The people who came out today to speak about School No. 1 are speaking from a parent’s point of view. I was a student who attended School No. 1 from kindergarten to sixth grade. Yes, education starts at home and mannerism does, too. If you send your child to school with no manners, they will be disciplined for that. I have attended School No. 1. The teachers at School No. 1 are great and the principal is great. I do not understand why people would want our principal out. Yes, I say our because no matter how many schools I attend, my home and my heart will always be at School No. 1. I know that when I need them, they will be there for me, especially Ms. Lopez. That is basically all that I want to say. Ms. Lopez is great. People want her out of her position? No, she is not going anywhere because she is an awesome principal. If anything, you need to learn to discipline your child because if you don’t, someone else will. That is all I have to say. It was moved by Comm. Moody, seconded by Comm. Santiago that the public comment portion of the meeting be closed. On roll call all members voted in the affirmative. The motion carried. Comm. McDowell: Please note that before we call the motion we will ask if there is any discussion. At that point, you have the opportunity to discuss or comment on the item that we are voting on within limits. When we are ready to call the vote, I would appreciate it if we would commit to doing that in a timely fashion. GENERAL BUSINESS Items Requiring a Vote CURRICULUM AND INSTRUCTION COMMITTEE Comm. McDowell reported that the Curriculum and Instruction Committee met, reviewed and recommends approval for Resolution Nos. A-1 through A-10:

Resolution No. A-1 WHEREAS, the Paterson Public Schools recognizes the need to raise student achievement in Traditional American History by improving teachers’ knowledge, understanding and appreciation for American History; and

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WHEREAS, the Paterson Public School District seeks to enable teachers to develop further expertise in American History subject content teaching strategies to reach higher standards; and WHEREAS, the Paterson Public Schools will partner with the Wayne School District, Passaic Valley High School, Passaic County Vocational Technical Institute, Hawthorne School District, and William Paterson University in a single proposal for improving the teaching and learning of American History; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Board of Education approves submitting a proposal entitled, “Greater Paterson History as a model for Teaching and Learning American History” to the US Department of Education’s Office of Innovation and Improvement Teaching American History in the amount of $1,000,000 over a three-year period beginning September 1, 2003 – August 31, 2006.

Resolution No. A-2 WHEREAS, in accordance with the New Jersey Department of Education, School No. 5 is applying for the Comprehensive School Reform Grant in the amount of $50,000.00; and WHEREAS, School No. 5 has adhered to all requirements set forth by the State, they are submitting an application for the CSRD grant; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that School No. 5 of the Paterson Public School District submits the application for the amount of $50,000.00 for the 2003/2004 school year to the NJDOE.

Resolution No. A-3 WHEREAS, in accordance with the New Jersey Department of Education, School No. 9 is applying for the Comprehensive School Reform Grant in the amount of $50,000.00; and WHEREAS, School No. 9 has adhered to all requirements set forth by the State, they are submitting an application for the CSRD grant; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that School No. 9 of the Paterson Public School District submits the application for the amount of $50,000.00 for the 2003/2004 school year to the NJDOE.

Resolution No. A-4 WHEREAS, in accordance with the New Jersey Department of Education, School No. 16 is applying for the Comprehensive School Reform Grant in the amount of $50,000.00; and

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WHEREAS, School No. 16 has adhered to all requirements set forth by the State, they are submitting an application for the CSRD grant; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that School No. 16 of the Paterson Public School District submits the application for the amount of $50,000.00 for the 2003/2004 school year to the NJDOE.

Resolution No. A-5 WHEREAS, in accordance with the New Jersey Department of Education, School No. 18 is applying for the Comprehensive School Reform Grant in the amount of $50,000.00; and WHEREAS, School No. 18 has adhered to all requirements set forth by the State, they are submitting an application for the CSRD grant; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that School No. 18 of the Paterson Public School District submits the application for the amount of $50,000.00 for the 2003/2004 school year to the NJDOE.

Resolution No. A-6 WHEREAS, in accordance with the New Jersey Department of Education, School No. 20 is applying for the Comprehensive School Reform Grant in the amount of $50,000.00; and WHEREAS, School No. 20 has adhered to all requirements set forth by the State, they are submitting an application for the CSRD grant; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that School No. 20 of the Paterson Public School District submits the application for the amount of $50,000.00 for the 2003/2004 school year to the NJDOE.

Resolution No. A-7 WHEREAS, in accordance with the New Jersey Department of Education, School No. 24 is applying for the Comprehensive School Reform Grant in the amount of $50,000.00; and WHEREAS, School No. 24 has adhered to all requirements set forth by the State, they are submitting an application for the CSRD grant; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that School No. 24 of the Paterson Public School District submits the application for the amount of $50,000.00 for the 2003/2004 school year to the NJDOE.

Resolution No. A-8

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WHEREAS, in accordance with the New Jersey Department of Education, Martin Luther King School is applying for the Comprehensive School Reform Grant in the amount of $50,000.00; and WHEREAS, Martin Luther King School has adhered to all requirements set forth by the State, they are submitting an application for the CSRD grant; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that Martin Luther King School of the Paterson Public School District submits the application for the amount of $50,000.00 for the 2003/2004 school year to the NJDOE.

Resolution No. A-9 WHEREAS, in accordance with the New Jersey Department of Education, the Paterson Public School District is applying for the Comprehensive School Reform Grant in the amount of $35,000.00; and WHEREAS, the Paterson Public School District has adhered to all requirements set forth by the State, they are submitting an application for the CSRD grant; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Public School District submits the application for the amount of $35,000.00 for the 2003/2004 school year to the NJDOE.

Resolution No. A-10 WHEREAS, the Physical Education Department would like to apply for the CAP Grant for the 2003-2004 school year; and WHEREAS, the Paterson Public Schools/Physical Education Department to maintain quality education in our Physical Education Department. The Physical Education Department would like to continue to participate in the CAP; and WHEREAS, if approved the District is required to fund $92,657.00, but as in the past will apply for the State CAP Waiver to fund only $1,500.00; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Board of Education approves the application of the CAP Grant for the 2003-2004 school year. It was moved by Comm. McDowell, seconded by Comm. Santiago that Resolution Nos. A-1 through A-10 be adopted. On roll call all members voted in the affirmative. The motion carried.

Resolution No. A-11 WHEREAS, the State District Superintendent recommends the adoption of the school calendar for the 2003-2004 school year; and now therefore

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BE IT RESOLVED, that the Board of Education approves implementation of the attached 2003-2004 School Calendar.

Resolution No. 12 WHEREAS, the Paterson Public School District plans to offer a variety of summer school programs for the benefits of the students residing in Paterson; and WHEREAS, such school programs must be approved by the Passaic County Superintendent of Schools; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Board of Education approves the summer school programs for submission to Dr. Maria Nuccetelli, County Superintendent.

Resolution No. A-13 WHEREAS, the State Department of Education requires that each district have a Professional Development Plan; and WHEREAS, this plan has been created by the Professional Development Committee and approved by the Passaic County Board of Education; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that the Professional Development Plan for the year 2003-2004 be approved by the Paterson Public School District.

Resolution No. A-14 WHEREAS, the Paterson Public School District is responsible for the periodic revision of its curricula; and WHEREAS, the Career Learning Academies and Smaller Schools (C.L.A.S.S.) Project Grant calls for the writing/revision of academy elective curricula in the district’s high school level theme academies, including the MPACT Academy; and WHEREAS, curricula are presented for the following MPACT Academy course: Introduction to Robotics – Elective NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Board of Education approves acceptance of these course curricula for use in the MPACT Academy.

Resolution No. A-15 WHEREAS, the World Languages Department of the Paterson Public Schools has been charged to provide services resulting in the mastering of languages other than English; and

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WHEREAS, the community of Paterson has requested the inclusion of the Arabic Language studies as one area of focus for this department; and WHEREAS, this department assigned experienced teachers of Arabic and a staff of other languages to write a curriculum of sequential skill development in Arabic, aligned to the New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards; and WHEREAS, this curriculum guide is aligned to other language curricula, adopted by this district for use at the secondary level; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Board of Education hereby adopts the Arabic Language Curriculum for use at the secondary level in the Paterson Public Schools, effective on this the 21st day of May in the year 2003.

Resolution No. A-16 WHEREAS, the Paterson Public School District encourages staff development through the collaboration with institutions of higher education for the advancement of district employees; and WHEREAS, Montclair State University offers a program that engages aspiring administrators, supervisors and practicing leaders in cutting-edge theory and best practices in the field of educational leadership; and WHEREAS, the program entitled “Preparing for the Future: Learning to Lead” will be conducted at Montclair State University beginning July 14 through July 17, 2003, at an amount of $500.00 per participant; and WHEREAS, the program seeks individuals employed in New Jersey Network for Educational Renewal (NJNER) districts who possess the credentials to be either principals and/or supervisors; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that the Board of Education approves entering into a contract with Montclair State University to conduct a staff development program entitled “Preparing for the Future: Learning to Lead” for aspiring administrators, supervisors and practicing leaders, from July 14 through July 17, 2003, at an amount not to exceed $10,000.00.

Resolution No. A-17 In conjunction with William Paterson University and as a professional development school, School No. 2 will be offering a summer institute devoted to math curriculum and content understanding for teachers in grades K-8. The institute will take place Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. (five hours per day, one hour lunch) from July 14-25, 2003.

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Teachers will be paid a stipend not to exceed $165.00 per day. A personnel action will be submitted to insure teachers are paid through the Paterson School District. Timesheets will be completed. Total amount of the institute: $20,000.00. A report will be prepared and William Paterson University will reimburse the District. The instructor will be paid directly by William Paterson University.

Resolution No. A-18 WHEREAS, the Paterson Public Schools have participated in a partnership with the “Living Classroom Foundations” for the past seven years; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that the program which initially involved upper grade elementary students and will now include a group of high school students as well, be continued this summer – August 18-22, August 25-29. Approval of the Board of Education is requested to fund transportation to and from Baltimore, MD. All other costs have been funded by the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation and Prudential.

Resolution No. A-19 WHEREAS, the Department of Human Services awards Family Outreach Project funds for the supervision and training of family workers in the Abbott districts; and WHEREAS, the Paterson Public School District through its community providers provides preschool education services which are provided by family workers for every forty-five (45) children enrolled in contracted childcare centers; and WHEREAS, the role of the Family Workers is to meet with parents in their homes, at the child care centers, or any other appropriate place to help parents understand their roles as facilitators of education, their children’s needs, and how to best access and utilize services their family needs; and WHEREAS, the Family Workers need ongoing training, supervision and support to address the complex needs of families; and WHEREAS, the Family Outreach Project was designed to provide training and supervision for over 80 family workers hired by the participating centers; and WHEREAS, the Department of Human Services provides full funding to districts to provide social workers to supervise, train and support family workers with issues of health care, parenting, child development, domestic violence and substance abuse in order to improve the educational success of the children and their families; and now therefore

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BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Public School District contracts with the Department of Human Services for the Family Outreach Project for the supervision and training of family workers in the Abbott Early Education Program for the period of July 1, 2003 to June 30, 2004 for the amount of $276,000.00.

Resolution No. A-20 WHEREAS, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) promotes arts education as a central part of its mission, and the NJPAC Arts Education Department had been reaching thousands of young people through its in-school and community-based programs and performances. NJPAC is one of the largest and most comprehensive programs of its kind in the nation; and WHEREAS, research has demonstrated that helping students develop self-expression through the arts can lead to higher academic achievement over time; and WHEREAS, the New Jersey Early Childhood Education Program Expectations, Standards of Quality, Creative Arts clearly states that all students will express themselves and develop an appreciation for music, dance and movement, dramatic play and storytelling, and for the visual arts; and WHEREAS, NJPAC’s Early Learning Through the Arts Program is presented in conjunction with the Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning Through the Arts providing three to five year old children with a foundation for future learning by teaching basic academic and life skills through the performing arts; and WHEREAS, teaching artists specializing in creative dramatics, puppetry, music, storytelling, dance and movement come to the school to demonstrate art techniques with the preschool students and classroom teachers. Most importantly, this program is designed as a teacher training model which enables classroom teachers to continue the activities after the residency has concluded; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Public School District enters into a contract agreement with NJPAC to provide an artist-in-residency program for two preschool classrooms in the amount of $3,850 for the 2003-2004 school year.

Resolution No. A-21 WHEREAS, the Supreme Court ordered the implementation of full day preschool for three and four year old children in Abbott districts; and WHEREAS, families are entitled to care up to ten hours a day for 245 days per calendar year for eligible three and four year old children; and WHEREAS, the full day preschool program requires a four hour wrap-around service (before and after care) for in-district children; and

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WHEREAS, the Department of Human Services (DHS) provides financial assistance to Boards of Education in Abbott districts to continue after school care for preschool children attending public school classes for the full day (six hours); and WHEREAS, the District Board of Education may subcontract with an agency to provide care before or after school, or for whole days when school is not in session to achieve the mandated 245 days; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Board of Education enters into a contract with the Department of Human Services for the reimbursement of services provided to the preschool population served in the Wrap-Around Program at School No. 1/TCU’s.

Resolution No. A-22 WHEREAS, the District wishes to continue providing treatment to uninsured students who test positive; and WHEREAS, the District recognizes the need for obtaining appropriate services to meet the needs of our uninsured students; and WHEREAS, the Paterson Public School District solicited seven (7) Request for Proposals to prospective vendors for Outpatient Substance Abuse Treatment Services, RFP 001-04, and one (1) treatment facility submitted a proposal for consideration; and WHEREAS, the Substance Awareness Office of the Student Support Services Department recommends that the proposal for Outpatient Substance Abuse Treatment Services, RFP 001-04, be awarded to House of Hope; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Public School District awards the contract as per the attached proposal, RFP 001-04, at $60.00 per referral, per attendee (day component); $50.00 per referral, per attendee (after school component) for Outpatient Substance Abuse Treatment Services, for the period of July 1, 2003 to June 30, 2004, to the following vendor: House of Hope, 204-208 21st Avenue, Paterson, New Jersey 07501. Amount not to exceed $78,750.00

Resolution No. A-23 WHEREAS, the Paterson Public School District needs to contract for services with the Immedicenter for the fiscal year July 1, 2003 to June 30, 2004, for drug screenings/medical evaluations and breath alcohol tests, transportation and the evaluations and treatment referrals for students and the parent(s)/guardian(s); and WHEREAS, the Paterson Public School District has successfully negotiated a proposed agreement with the Immedicenter, located at 1355 Broad Street, Clifton, New Jersey 07013, for the drug screening/medical evaluation and breath alcohol test; and WHEREAS, the Paterson Public School District under this contract will utilize the services of the Immedicenter’s licensed clinician to conduct assessment/evaluations

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and treatment referrals, at a site to be determined in downtown Paterson; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that the District is authorized to enter into a one (1) year contract with the Immedicenter in the form attached hereto, and further authorized to perform all other acts necessary and proper to effectuate this resolution.

Resolution No. A-24 WHEREAS, children with disabling conditions are required to be educated with and participate with other students with disabilities and non-disabled students as mandated by N.J.A.C.6A; and WHEREAS, children with disabling conditions are required by N.J.A.C.6A to be involved with and progress in the general education curriculum; and WHEREAS, related services and supplementary aids and services shall be provided for children with disabling conditions by the district Board of Education; and WHEREAS, related services, including physical therapy, shall be provided to a child with a disability when required for the child to benefit from the educational program; and WHEREAS, a district Board of Education may contract for the provision of physical therapy in accordance with N.J.A.C.6A:14-5; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Board of Education enters into a contract with Kid Clan, LLC for the provision of physical therapy evaluations and therapy to preschool children from July 1, 2003 to June 30, 2004.

Resolution No. A-25 WHEREAS, the approval for student as per IEP is required; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Public School District approves placement and payment to the Bergen Center for Child Development, Inc. while providing educational services during the 2002-2003 regular school year: Student Initials Tuition C.L. $7,598.74

Resolution No. A-26 WHEREAS, the approval for student as per IEP is required; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Public School District approves placement and payment to Bergen County Special Services during the 2002-2003 school year:

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Placement: Touchstone Hall, Bedside Instruction Student Initials Tuition J.J. $7,920.00

Resolution No. A-27 WHEREAS, the approval for student as per IEP is required; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Public School District approves placement and payment to Bergen County Special Services during the 2002-2003 school year: Placement: Touchstone Hall Student Initials Tuition J.R., M.P. $17,600.00

Resolution No. A-28 WHEREAS, the approval for student as per IEP is required; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Public School District approves placement and payment to Catholic Community Services while providing educational services during the 2002-2003 regular school year: Placement: St. Anthony’s School Student Initials Tuition L.D. $10,035.45

Resolution No. A-29 WHEREAS, the approval for student as per IEP is required; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Public School District approves placement and payment to Clearview School during the 2002-2003 regular school year: Student Initials Tuition F.M. $4,307.00

Resolution No. A-30 WHEREAS, the approval for student as per IEP is required; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Public School District approves placement and payment to Daytop Preparatory School during the 2002-2003 school year (bedside): Student Initials Tuition

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L.R. $2,964.00

Resolution No. A-31 WHEREAS, the approval for student as per IEP is required; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Public School District approves placement and payment to the Department of Human Services Regional School while providing educational services during the 2002-2003 school year: Student Initials Tuition F.H. $15,480.00

Resolution No. A-32 WHEREAS, the approval for student as per IEP is required; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Public School District approves placement and payment to DHS Regional School – Passaic Campus while providing educational services during the 2002-2003 school year: Student Initials Tuition O.L. $28,638.00

Resolution No. A-33 WHEREAS, the approval for student as per IEP is required; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Public School District approves placement and payment to the Department of Human Services Regional School while providing educational services during the 2002-2003 school year: Placement: Passaic Campus Student Initials Tuition T.W. $2,967.00

Resolution No. A-34 WHEREAS, the approval for student as per IEP is required; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Public School District approves payment to Dr. Mae J. Balaban & Associates for evaluations as per the student’s IEP for the 2002-2003 school year: Student Initials Tuition C.B. $3,100.00

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Resolution No. A-35 WHEREAS, the approval for student as per IEP is required; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Public School District approves placement and payment to JCC on the Palisades while providing educational services during the 2002-2003 extended school year: Student Initials Tuition T.C. $4,400.00

Resolution No. A-36 WHEREAS, the approval for student as per IEP is required; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Public School District approves placement and payment to Learning Center for Exceptional Children while providing educational services during the 2002-2003 school year: Student Initials Tuition R.H., P.S. $37,383.08

Resolution No. A-37 WHEREAS, the approval for student as per IEP is required; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Public School District approves placement and payment to Professional Ed Services, Inc. for home instruction during the 2002-2003 school year: Placement: Princeton House Student Initials Tuition D.D., R.G. $1,650.00

Resolution No. A-38 WHEREAS, the approval for student as per IEP is required; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Public School District approves placement and payment to Professional Ed Services, Inc. for home instruction during the 2002-2003 school year: Placement: High Focus Center Student Initials Tuition G.R. $2,640.00

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Resolution No. A-39 WHEREAS, the approval for student as per IEP is required; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Public School District approves placement and payment to Professional Ed Services, Inc. for home instruction during the 2002-2003 school year: Placement: Princeton Hall Student Initials Tuition K.K. $660.00

Resolution No. A-40 WHEREAS, the approval for student as per IEP is required; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Public School District approves placement and payment to Professional Ed Services, Inc. for home instruction during the 2002-2003 school year: Placement: Princeton House Student Initials Tuition L.M. $660.00

Resolution No. A-41 WHEREAS, the approval for student as per IEP is required; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Public School District approves placement and payment to Ridgefield Board of Education while providing educational services during the 2002-2003 regular school year: Student Initials Tuition M.J. $5,450.00

Resolution No. A-42 WHEREAS, the approval for student placed in hospitals/treatment centers as per IEP/health is required; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Public School District approves placement and payment to Saint Clare’s Hospital while providing educational services during the 2002-2003 school year (bedside): Student Initials Tuition A.O. $780.00

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Resolution No. A-43

WHEREAS, the approval for student placed in hospitals/treatment centers as per IEP/health is required; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Public School District approves placement and payment to Saint Clare’s Hospital while providing educational services during the 2002-2003 school year (bedside): Student Initials Tuition A.R. $273.00

Resolution No. A-44 WHEREAS, the approval for student placed in hospitals/treatment centers as per IEP/health is required; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Public School District approves placement and payment to Saint Clare’s Hospital while providing educational services during the 2002-2003 school year (bedside): Student Initials Tuition A.V. $312.00

Resolution No. A-45 WHEREAS, the approval for student placed in hospitals/treatment centers as per IEP/health is required; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Public School District approves placement and payment to Saint Clare’s Hospital while providing educational services during the 2002-2003 school year (bedside): Student Initials Tuition A.V. $156.00

Resolution No. A-46 WHEREAS, the approval for student placed in hospitals/treatment centers as per IEP/health is required; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Public School District approves placement and payment to Saint Clare’s Hospital while providing educational services during the 2002-2003 school year (bedside):

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Student Initials Tuition H.M. $156.00

Resolution No. A-47 WHEREAS, the approval for student placed in hospitals/treatment centers as per IEP/health is required; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Public School District approves placement and payment to Saint Clare’s Hospital while providing educational services during the 2002-2003 school year (bedside): Student Initials Tuition H.McP. $702.00

Resolution No. A-48 WHEREAS, the approval for student placed in hospitals/treatment centers as per IEP/health is required; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Public School District approves placement and payment to Saint Clare’s Hospital while providing educational services during the 2002-2003 school year (bedside): Student Initials Tuition J.D. $195.00

Resolution No. A-49 WHEREAS, the approval for student placed in hospitals/treatment centers as per IEP/health is required; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Public School District approves placement and payment to Saint Clare’s Hospital while providing educational services during the 2002-2003 school year (bedside): Student Initials Tuition J.G. $39.00

Resolution No. A-50 WHEREAS, the approval for student placed in hospitals/treatment centers as per IEP/health is required; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Public School District approves placement and payment to Saint Clare’s Hospital while providing educational services during the 2002-2003 school year (bedside):

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Student Initials Tuition K.G. $195.00

Resolution No. A-51 WHEREAS, the approval for student placed in hospitals/treatment centers as per IEP/health is required; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Public School District approves placement and payment to Saint Clare’s Hospital while providing educational services during the 2002-2003 school year (bedside): Student Initials Tuition L.D. $312.00

Resolution No. A-52 WHEREAS, the approval for student placed in hospitals/treatment centers as per IEP/health is required; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Public School District approves placement and payment to Saint Clare’s Hospital while providing educational services during the 2002-2003 school year (bedside): Student Initials Tuition M.P. $78.00

Resolution No. A-53 WHEREAS, the approval for student placed in hospitals/treatment centers as per IEP/health is required; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Public School District approves placement and payment to Saint Clare’s Hospital while providing educational services during the 2002-2003 school year (bedside): Student Initials Tuition Q.G. $117.00

Resolution No. A-54 WHEREAS, the approval for student placed in hospitals/treatment centers as per IEP/health is required; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Public School District approves placement and payment to Summit Hospital while providing educational services during the 2002-2003 school year (bedside):

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Student Initials Tuition T.O. $3,840.00

Resolution No. A-55 WHEREAS, the approval for student as per IEP is required; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Public School District approves placement and payment to The Therapeutic School and Preschool while providing educational services during the 2002-2003 school year: Student Initials Tuition L.E., L.L., K.McD., $2,520.00 A.R.

Resolution No. A-56 WHEREAS, the approval for student as per IEP is required; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Public School District approves placement and payment to Union County Educational Services Commission during the 2002-2003 school year: Placement: Children’s Specialized Hospital – Bedside Instruction Student Initials Tuition B.S. $3,360.00

Resolution No. A-57 WHEREAS, the approval for student as per IEP is required; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Public School District approves placement and payment to Youth Consultation Services during the 2002-2003 school year: Placement: George Washington School Student Initials Tuition B.V. $10,330.68

Resolution No. A-58 WHEREAS, the Paterson Public School District is dedicated to expanding the educational and cultural opportunities for all its students; and

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WHEREAS, the Arab American Cultural Enrichment Program provided by the Arab American Civic Association at School No. 9 encourages students to expand their educational horizons beyond their required instructional schedule; and WHEREAS, the Arab American Cultural Enrichment Program is open to all students interested in its services, and will serve at least 160 students from all schools and neighborhoods in the City of Paterson; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Public School District will fund the Arab American Cultural Enrichment Program in the amount of $45,000 for the period beginning July 1, 2003 through June 30, 2004.

Resolution No. A-59 WHEREAS, the Paterson School District recognizes the need for students to build their experiences in the arts at an early age to further insure their success in school; and WHEREAS, research has demonstrated that helping students develop self-expression through the arts can lead to higher academic achievement over time; and WHEREAS, the New Jersey Early Childhood Education Program Expectations: Standards of Quality, Creative Arts, clearly states that all students will express themselves and develop an appreciation for music, dance and movement, dramatic play and storytelling and for the visual arts; and WHEREAS, NJPAC’s Early Learning Through the Arts Program is presented in conjunction with the Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning Through the Arts providing three to five-year-old children with a foundation for future learning by teaching basic academic and life skills through the performing arts. Teaching artists come to school twice a week for a seven-week period to demonstrate arts techniques with the preschool and kindergarten students and classroom teachers; and WHEREAS, teaching artists specializing in creative dramatics, puppetry, music, storytelling, dance and movement come to school to demonstrate arts techniques with the preschool students and classroom teachers. Most importantly, this program is designed as a teacher training model which enables classroom teachers to continue the activities after the residency has concluded; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Public School District submits a proposal to the National Endowment for the Arts Learning in the Arts for Children and Youth under their initiative for Early Childhood to provide an artist-in-residency program for 25 preschool classrooms, servicing three year olds and four year old students, teachers and assistant teachers, at 25 preschool centers participating in the Paterson Preschool Collaborative in the amount of $50,000 for the period beginning September 10, 2003 through June 25, 2004. It was moved by Comm. McDowell, seconded by Comm. Santiago that Resolution Nos. A-11 through A-59 be adopted.

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Comm. Hodges: I continue to have concerns about the school calendar. I voiced my concerns at the workshop and there were those who were not in attendance. I won’t rehash those but I will simply say that the holiday on one level, the Hispanic/Puerto Rican… I don’t know how it is described. Comm. McDowell: Discovery Day. Comm. Hodges: Discovery Day Holiday, while I certainly celebrate ethnic diversity and I have no objections to having some sort of ethnic recognition, I think that particular measure may cause more friction in this community than anything else. I think people will object, certainly within the Hispanic community, to there being a primary focus on the Puerto Rican community. I think we need to look at that very carefully because down the road people will come down here and ask about the Caribbean community, what about the Arabic community, what about the Turkish and Pakistani, etc. I think that we need to be forward thinking and certainly not exclude people in this measure. That is number one. Number two, the Easter Holiday location is a concern and that has to be addressed. It hasn’t been addressed and I, for one, cannot accept this calendar as it is currently presented. Comm. Vancheri: I was the one who brought it up during workshop, the problem with the recess during the Easter break. I think it is very important that even if we are going to accept it this evening, in the future we have to get the input from the community and the parents. There were a couple of parents that spoke about the same thing that we said at the workshop. How can we have recess prior to the Easter break and expect our staff and students to go back to work the very next day? I would like to see how many substitutes we needed for that week because I know a lot of people did not come back the day after Easter. So we really have to look into this because it does cause a hardship for a lot of our parents. Comm. Santiago: I want you and this Board to know that I am a true supporter of any ethnic group in the City of Paterson. I want everybody to know that when the Arabic came forward with their two holidays I was in full support 110%. When we have Black History Month, I am in full support 110% and we always honor Martin Luther King. We always have Puerto Rican Heritage Month in the month of November and there are no days off for the Hispanic or Puerto Rican community. When I was president, I formed a committee of schools and I spoke to the Superintendent. I reached out to the Arabic community, the Dominican community, as well as other communities to say we are opening new schools in the City of Paterson. I know we have one called Martin Luther King, Roberto Clemente, etc. and maybe we should honor Gorny & Gorny with the name with the Arabic school. I remember speaking with Dr. Awadallah about it. I reached out to the Dominican community and asked for the name of a Dominican that is well known in your community in order to name a school after that person. Everybody in this community should have an equal opportunity and everybody should be happy. Now that I put something on the table… I support everybody and I don’t care where you are from. I get along with people in general and I just hope and pray to God that there won’t be any problems. I support everybody else. How come you can’t support me? I would appreciate it.

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Comm. Sanchez: I believe that what is being objected here is not necessarily the nomination of a new holiday as Hispanic Day. What we all supported, and I would say it was unanimous, was exactly to nominate the day with a more inclusive term. The most accepted and the most inclusive term is Hispanic. So it should be Hispanic Day or Hispanic Holiday, instead of specifically mentioning any nationality or any country. There are many, many constituents in Paterson and the majority doesn’t necessarily have to rule. Believe me, every nationality is represented in the community of Paterson. Every single Hispanic country is represented and I know that for a fact. Inclusive would be calling it Hispanic. I am sorry but I am not saying this against anybody. I am saying this for inclusion and for harmony among the Hispanic nationalities and countries. Comm. Kline: We need to make it clear that there is a distinction between having a holiday the way they are constituted now and how we are being asked to consider. Martin Luther King Day, for example, is a national holiday. It is a civil rights representation and that is not restricted to African Americans. When Martin Luther King received the Nobel Prize, he received it because of his positions on world peace and human understanding. When it was decided to have a Martin Luther King holiday in this country, it wasn’t approved to satisfy the demands of the African American community. Yom Kippur is a religious holiday. The Arabic holidays are religious holidays. I support Comm. Sanchez’s position about inclusion. There is Cinco De Mayo. The Peruvians have their special relationships and celebrations. Rather than create a situation where there may be some animosity or misunderstandings with people being labeled, we should seek to have inclusion. I would support a Hispanic holiday because I believe it would be representative of the total representation of all those persons who speak Spanish in the City of Paterson. I am not happy with the date because the date is again significant to one particular group. However, if the issue is whether or not there is going to be a Hispanic holiday, I believe there should be. But to represent a particular ethnic group I think would represent a lack of inclusion and we are supposed to be about including not the other way around. As far as the spring vacation is concerned, I have had personal experiences where I had to split my family up when it came time for us to spend some time together. Historically in this district, up until 1991, the spring vacation began at Good Friday and ended at the end of the following week. The change to the spring vacation being before Easter came when Dr. Wilson came here. I don’t know what his motivation was to change it but that is when it was changed. The change created a lot of problems then and for us to continue having our spring vacation before Easter is going to continue to place hardships on parents who traditionally have used the week after Easter for their spring vacation. So we have not only the calendar with respect to the designation of an ethnic holiday, but we also have the spring vacation to be concerned about. I support spring vacation and I support a Hispanic holiday without the designation of any specific ethnic group. Comm. Taylor: I support the wording Hispanic for the holiday. About the day, I am not too sure. We should be inclusive of all our Spanish speakers and I think that would be a better word for us to use there so that everyone can feel comfortable that they are being celebrated. They can do their own celebration on that day because we are happy that there was a discovery of this land that we are in and it started down in the Caribbean. It wasn’t just one of the islands. There were several trips and other islands were

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discovered. Dr. Duroy did tell us that at one point for the vacation time we used to do some testing during that time. But I am looking at the calendar here, Dr. Duroy, and I don’t see our testing in that area now. Can you look at this again and see? I know we need to make sure we have the calendar for our teaching staff before June 30th. Comm. Kline: I would like to amend A-11. Comm. Hodges: Again, I support Comm. Sanchez’s remarks wholeheartedly. That is the point that I was trying to make. I want to make that very clear on the record. I heartily embrace and endorse a Hispanic day. I would prefer if it were on a neutral date so that it would be understood clearly in the minds of all the Hispanic groups that it did, in fact, include them. I want that clear. When this was discussed in workshop, the Superintendent was emphatic in his position about submitting this calendar. I don’t think we can simply amend it. The Superintendent has to be directed to change it. Comm. Generals: I support Comm. Sanchez’s position and the notion of inclusion but I really want to point out the fact that we discussed this Monday night and I thought we had agreed to change it on Monday night. It is a little disturbing that… No, we didn’t agree on that? Comm. Hodges: No, he said he wasn’t going to change it. Comm. Generals: I thought we did. Comm. Kline: The majority felt that the position Comm. Sanchez made would be what we would be considering and voting on but we didn’t get that agreement from the Superintendent. That is why some of us are talking about it tonight. Comm. Taylor: Comm. Santiago was not here the other evening either for the workshop. Comm. Generals: But there was certainly a concern that was raised and it is a little disturbing to see it here on the agenda without any consideration for the issues that were raised in a way that I thought was pretty unanimous the other night. That is an important issue that I think needs to be brought out. We did discuss the issues and concerns that were raised. It is unfortunate that we are in this position here now to have to discuss what is really a very sensitive item when we had already done it at our workshop. Comm. Atallo: I think we are all in agreement that we want to honor and respect all ethnic and racial groups in the City of Paterson where diversity is the strength of the city. My primary concern and what troubles me with the calendar is that spring break and the way Easter falls. I know that creates a concern for many people here. What also concerns me is where the School Board Election falls. It traditionally happens when everyone is off the week of the election, which I think reduces the turnout. I think a lot of people just aren’t in town so I think we should be concerned with that issue as well. Again, quite frankly there is a lack of planning and input involved with the school calendar. We receive it on a Monday night at a workshop to vote on it two nights later.

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I don’t think that gives the Board enough time to get community input and to discuss it and fully digest it. So I think it would be a more prudent policy to discuss the school calendar earlier in the year so we can plan and get input from everyone. I would have trouble supporting it primarily because of that spring break. I think that is a concern and I think we need to go back to the drawing board with this school calendar. I cannot support this at this time and I recommend we amend it regarding the spring Easter break. Comm. McDowell: Do we have the liberty of approving the calendar and reworking these two issues? Dr. Duroy: On the issue of spring break, I believe that Comm. Taylor brought up an important aspect that perhaps was not clearly stated. A couple of years ago the State had called for the GEPA test to be administered in April and the calendar showed that the kids would have been on vacation and they would have come back the first day from vacation to take the test right away. I certainly believe that would have been unfair to our kids to have that situation occur. We needed to try to prepare our students and give them the best advantage they could get. That was the rationale behind changing the Easter break. The other rationale has to do with the end of the year. Graduation this year is the 25th and we did have a couple of snow days this year, two or three, and that is why we are at the 25th. Originally I believe we were going to close the 22nd. With an adjustment to the recess, it would mean that the last day of school would be June 24th and that doesn’t give us much time for snow days. I just caution you because I am leaning toward making that change. I caution you that with a bad snowstorm that could close us for three days one month and three days another, we have a problem because we would have run out of the days. Another complication is the fact that several years ago I negotiated additional days for our calendar. Our students attend 182 days now with teachers and not 180 days. So the calendar begins to shrink, if I can use that term. Again, the snow days are a factor and some of the other days as they add on. As far as I am concerned, if the consensus on this issue is basically to change the Easter break, that is fine because, as the Commissioner had pointed out, the day that appears in this calendar for testing is April 27th for the ESPA test. That would mean the students would come back the 19th, which is at least a good period of time for us to gear them up after vacation. We can certainly make that change this evening if you would accept my representation in the resolution. On the issue of November 19th, I believe Comm. Kline raised the point about making the analogy of national holidays and religious holidays. I don’t know the intent was mainly to just say we are going to have a holiday for a particular ethnic group. But I certainly believe, as a history teacher, that the affiliation of religious holidays is clear but the other days are historical in nature. There is a reason for the holidays, whether it be the presidents that we recognize or others in the calendar. There is a historic reason why we do that so there is a historic date that is celebrated in this community, and many communities, and that is November 19th. Albeit it is celebrated mainly by the Puerto Rican community, but it is a historical date. The attempt that I made was to include the Hispanic Recognition Day and underneath that Puerto Rico Discovery Day. The point is that we are really celebrating both. We are celebrating the diversity in the Hispanic community that we all are aware exists and we are also celebrating a historic day that I think lends more weight and credibility to the rationale. I would ask that the Board consider that and that the Board also from this

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point on continue to discuss this issue and the entire calendar perhaps from the curriculum perspective or the Board as a whole. So I ask you to consider the historic aspect and I certainly want to make it clear that in no way is it designed to slight any Hispanic community members. I think that Comm. Santiago also mentioned the fact that certainly last year as chair he had approached me on this particular issue and also on the issue of recognizing the variety and diversity that exists in this community. He did indicate that there were other Hispanic communities that should also have an opportunity to have recognition possibly with the naming of some of the schools, which we do have an opportunity. Right now we are looking at two or three schools. Right now we are just using street names but I want to change those. I want to change them to recognize the diversity that exists. So I ask the Board to consider this resolution and let’s continue to talk about how we can be inclusive but at the same time recognize that it is a bold move. The only other community that has recognized the Hispanic community is Newark, a leader in this State. It is a leader in the African American community throughout the nation, quite frankly, and they have extended the recognition to November 19th. We are going a little further because our Hispanic community is perhaps a little more diverse than Newark. We are not first and I think we are following a community that really has made a positive statement as far as diversity is concerned. Comm. McDowell: It was also my understanding coming out of workshop that we do come up with a title that is more inclusive. I believe Comm. Santiago is in favor of reaching a consensus on the modified title. When we came out of workshop, we agreed that we would make it more inclusive. We didn’t agree on a specific name but the resolution, I believe, says Hispanic/Puerto Rican Discovery Day. I hope I am not too far out of parliamentary procedures but I just want to get a consensus from those who have some ideas. Would that be okay – Hispanic/Puerto Rican Discovery Day? Comm. Hodges: I think the Board spoke already. That is the very issue. Comm. McDowell: Hispanic/Discovery Day. Comm. Hodges: It should be a different date and be Hispanic Day. It should be a different date so that there isn’t any unfortunate association that would discomfort other members of this community. Comm. Sanchez: I agree with Comm. Hodges. I mentioned at the workshop the situation that City Hall is having with the raising of the flags of the different nationalities. They are regulating it because of the situation that presents itself when you recognize only one national origin. We don’t want to repeat the same story here. Now they are trying to regulate it so nobody can have a monopoly of the flagpole. Now we are going to come up with a holiday that clearly recognizes the Puerto Rican heritage? It is nothing against Puerto Ricans. It is basically emphasizing the diversity of the Hispanic community in this city. Historically we can’t match the countries to different dates. If we are going to use the historical argument, I can come up with July 5th as Independence Day for my country of origin but this is not what we are trying to do here. We are trying to be inclusive. If there is a day that can be dedicated to Hispanics, why not call it Hispanic Day?

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Comm. Hodges: That is the very issue that we are concerned about. If you do this, this is what you are going to have throughout this city and there is no reason to open this up this way. Comm. McDowell: At workshop we talked about a more inclusive title. I am just calling out a phrase. We did not agree on a particular phrase that night. What about Hispanic Recognition Day? Comm. Hodges: And a different date, Mr. President. Comm. McDowell: And a different date. Comm. Sayegh: I just want to share with the Board and the public excerpts from five phone calls I received yesterday. Two were from Dominicans who had asked that if we were going to celebrate this specific date, what about Duarte. They kept bringing up his name and how he spearheaded an independence movement. I received two other phone calls from Peruvians who had mentioned San Maarten and Boulevar. They said that if we are going to do this for Puerto Ricans, why can’t we do something for them. I think you also referenced the date because they mentioned that date. The last phone call was from a Filipino. I don’t know if they are a significant part of the population but there is still a segment. They said they recently celebrated their 105th anniversary and nothing was done for that. So I am only relaying to you what I am already getting back as far as feedback from the community. Comm. McDowell: I am going to ask that you not call out. I understand that you want to participate but we need to have a discussion. At workshop we talked about a more inclusive name but we did not discuss a change of date. Comm. Hodges: Yes, we did. Comm. Kline: I would like to make a motion. Comm. Vancheri: I don’t remember changing the date. That was not a part of the discussion. Dr. Duroy: I think the compromise, if anything, is calling it Hispanic Recognition Day on November 19th. I know that is not everybody’s wish but I think it is a move in the right direction for us. As I indicated, to continue to talk about it in curriculum would be appropriate and/or the Board as a whole. Comm. McDowell: We are going to ask the Board to consider the stated items with the two changes. One is changing the current name of the holiday to Hispanic Recognition Day and the other is changing the spring break timeframe. Spring break will come after… Dr. Duroy: It will end April 19th. It will be the following week.

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Comm. Kline: I would like to amend the original motion that we approve a Hispanic holiday on a neutral date so as not to prolong the disagreement between the ethnic groups that will develop, and that the spring vacation be rescheduled from the way it was before Easter to after Easter. It was moved by Comm. Kline, seconded by Comm. Hodges that Resolution No. A-11 be adopted with changes. Comm. Kline: The date has not been selected. Comm. Generals: Can you restate the change, please? Comm. Kline: That we declare a Hispanic holiday on the calendar and that we select a neutral date to be respectful to all the ethnic groups speaking Spanish in Paterson, and that the spring vacation be changed from before Easter to after Easter. Comm. Atallo: I don’t think it is good public policy to make these kind of decisions at the meeting. I think we should have committee meetings and workshops to discuss this at length because while I support honoring Hispanic groups, ethnic groups, and racial groups, I don’t support doing it in this type of manner. I think we should plan this out in a more methodical way. Comm. Moody: Is this resolution for A-11 only because there was a motion on the floor to accept A-11 through A-57. Comm. McDowell: The motion on the floor is to amend A-11. Comm. Hodges: I want to make it clear that I am voting for the amendment on A-11 only. This is not addressing the other items in A. On roll call all members voted as follows: Comm. Atallo: No. Comm. Hodges: Yes. Comm. Kline: Yes. Comm. Moody: I pass right now. Comm. Santiago: No. Comm. Taylor: Yes. Comm. Vancheri: Yes on the calendar and no on the date. I don’t agree on the date. Yes on the recess. Dr. Duroy: The recess issue has been resolved. Comm. Vancheri: No. Comm. Moody: I know I wasn’t at the workshop but I am a little confused with this. I really think this item, A-11, should be taken back and reworked. I agree with Comm. Atallo. It should be brought back in the form that we are looking to approve. I am really confused. I vote no. Comm. McDowell: No. The original intent of Comm. Santiago’s resolution was to recognize Puerto Rican Discovery Day as it is recognized in Newark. I was part of the

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discussion at the workshop and I am for making it more inclusive of other Hispanic cultures. So although I…(end of tape) The motion did not carry. Comm. McDowell: So the amendment fails. It was moved by Comm. Moody, seconded by Comm. Santiago that Resolution No. A-11 be tabled. On roll call all members voted in the affirmative. The motion carried. It was moved by Comm. McDowell, seconded by Comm. Santiago that Resolution Nos. A-12 through A-59 be adopted. Dr. Duroy: May I point something out on A-23? The other evening the Board was talking about extending an opportunity to perhaps seek out additional quotes on the issue of drug screening and the resolution has been modified from the other evening. It indicates that on a month-to-month basis we will continue with the present carrier while we continue to pursue additional quotes. Comm. McDowell: Because there is a tight timeline with the calendar, I would ask that the curriculum committee make themselves available to convene soon to discuss the calendar and do what we can to reach a consensus in a timely fashion. Comm. Taylor: After the curriculum committee does their review and come back with a decision, then where does it go? Back to the Superintendent and that’s it? Does it come back to us? Comm. McDowell: At that point it will become an action that will be presented at a full workshop and then presented at a regular meeting, unless something else is arranged. Dr. Duroy: It should come back. Comm. Taylor: Dr. Duroy, according to the contract, you have to have this calendar before the staff goes out, right? Dr. Duroy: It is an issue. Comm. Taylor: That is what we understood the other night. So when the curriculum committee meets, then they will give the information to you and it becomes the calendar? Is that what I am understanding? Comm. Kline: That calendar has to be voted on. We are going to have to have a special meeting. Comm. Taylor: I just want to clarify it.

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Comm. McDowell: We will correspond to all the Board members with respect to the next step so we can move as fast as possible. On roll call all members voted as follows: Comm. Atallo: I vote no on A-13 because I don’t have enough information. I abstain on A-16 and A-17. I vote yes on the rest. Comm. Hodges: I pass. Comm. Kline: I vote yes. However, just as a recommendation, on A-19 I suggest that there be some coordination between the parent resource center and whomever is going to be approved to operate this resolution because of the similarities of their goals and objectives. It is for a family outreach project to train family workers in the Abbott Early Education Program, which will involve a lot of parents. It would seem to me that there should be some coordination between the parent resource center and this. I am voting for it but I am just throwing that out for some advice. Comm. Moody: Yes. Comm. Santiago: Yes. Comm. Taylor: There were some parts missing with the professional development plan but I am going to vote for it because I am going to ask Dr. Duroy to fill in the empty blanks for me. The outreach project on A-19, when we had an explanation of it there needed to be more certified people doing the training. I think we should make sure that the people who are doing the training are certified and supervised because it was explained to us that this is a program where persons with social worker degrees were needed. There is also a need for people that did family services. So we need to make sure that the people who are training in this outreach family program have enough certified supervision that know what they are doing with families. I vote for all the rest of them. Comm. Vancheri: I vote yes and I am glad to see that A-23 has been changed to a month-to-month basis. We discussed this in workshop and hopefully we can look further to other places. My vote is yes. Comm. Hodges: I vote no on A-13, A-19, and A-23, and yes on the rest. Comm. McDowell: Yes. The motion carried. LEGAL COMMITTEE Comm. Santiago reported that the Legal Committee met, reviewed and recommends approval for Resolution Nos. B-1 through B-7:

Resolution No. B-1

WHEREAS, the City of Paterson, Department of Human Services, Division of Health (“DOH”) is charged with the responsibility of enhancing and protecting the public health which includes public inoculation against and treatment for various serious diseases; and

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WHEREAS, in the event of a public emergency, DOH has requested that the District provide reasonable and suitable locations within the public areas of the District property in effectuate public inoculation and treatment; and WHEREAS, the District recognizes its civic responsibility to provide a widespread program of inoculation and treatment; and WHEREAS, the DOH and the District have agreed in principle to work together for the public good in public emergency situations; and WHEREAS, under the agreement in principle, DOH will incur all costs of the program and the City of Paterson and DOH will indemnify the District for any losses, which arise as a result of the program; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that the District is hereby authorized to enter into an Emergency Preparedness Agreement which encompasses the Agreement in principle and the appropriate officers of the District are hereby authorized to perform such acts necessary to effectuate the drafting execution and enforcement of the agreement.

Resolution No. B-2 WHEREAS, Gregory G. Johnson, Esq. was retained by the State District Superintendent as Special Legal Counsel to the District, for the 2002-2003 school year, at a rate of $125.00 per hour, in accordance with the written contract attached hereto; and WHEREAS, the contracts for legal services for the 2002-2003 fiscal year were all modified in accordance with the pronouncements of the State Commissioner of Education on the subjects of State District Superintendent powers and return to local control; and WHEREAS, the modifications included the fixing of maximum allowable services based upon semi-annual projections and it is necessary to increase the caps now that the six months have passed; and WHEREAS, the maximum allowable cap of $75,000 based upon a six month projection needs to be increased for services to continue to the end of the fiscal year; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that the maximum allowable cap of $75,000 for Gregory G. Johnson, Esq., Special Legal Counsel, be increased to $110,000.

Resolution No. B-3 WHEREAS, the Legal Department has been restructured to include in-house counsel which can increase efficiency within the District; and

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WHEREAS, the District will still need outside counsel to perform the various legal tasks required by the District; and WHEREAS, in fiscal year 2002-2003, the budget for legal services, including negligence, liability and workers compensation attorneys, but excluding bond counsel, was $1,090,000; and WHEREAS, the District is experiencing a fiscal crisis, which will necessitate the cutting fees to outside legal firms; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that the following law firms are to be retained by the District as outside legal counsel to be paid at a rate of $125 with an aggregate cap of $800,000 including legal fees associated with liability and workers compensation claims: Giblin & Giblin Murray, Murray & Corrigan Theodore Kyles, Esq. Bastarrika, Guzman & Soto Sarkisian, Kenny & Florio DeYoe, Heissenbuttell & Piekarsky, LLC Joseph Ryglicki & Associates BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the law firm of MacManimon and Scotland is to be retained as bond counsel with the same terms as contained in their contract for fiscal year 2002-2003.

Resolution No. B-4 WHEREAS, the Paterson Public Schools solicited proposals for Insurance Services, RFP-010-04; and WHEREAS, the Paterson Public School District encourages open public bidding for goods and services; and WHEREAS, the Paterson Public School District recognizes the need for obtaining the lowest responsible bid for goods and services; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Public School District awards a contract, as per the attached bid summary, for Insurance Services, PPS-010-04, not to exceed the total premium of $1,423,152.00, for the 2003-2004 school year, to the following vendor: Nathan Lane Agency, Inc. 545 Goffle Road Wyckoff, New Jersey 07481

Resolution No. B-5

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WHEREAS, Bollinger Fowler Co. has provided student insurance and athletic liability insurance to the Paterson Public School District since 1992 and the District wishes to continue their services; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Public School District continues the policies provided by Bollinger Fowler at $89,250 for the period of July 1, 2003 to June 30, 2004.

Resolution No. B-6 WHEREAS, CIGNA Insurance Companies have provided an Excess Workers Compensation policy for Paterson Public School District employees since 1997 and the District wishes to continue their services; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Public School District continues the policy provided by CIGNA for the period of July 1, 2003 to June 30, 2004 for the amount of $86,197.

Resolution No. B-7 WHEREAS, on April 19, 2003, the Paterson Public School District submitted to the Department of Education a proposed K-12 budget which included an application for supplemental funding; and WHEREAS, on May 30, 2003, the Department of Education issued a letter which denied substantial requested expenditures, failed to set forth the amount of funding the State will provide for the budget, failed to provide the District with an estimated or initial amount of supplemental funding, and failed to indicate when the supplemental funding will be finally determined and paid (a copy of the May 30, 2003 letter is attached); and WHEREAS, the District has until June 6, 2003 to file an appeal of the May 30, 2003 decision; and WHEREAS, the State District Superintendent has authorized counsel to file an appeal within the time prescribed by the May 30, 2003 decision; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that the filing of the appeal by the District that was authorized by the State District Superintendent is hereby ratified. It was moved by Comm. Santiago, seconded by Comm. Moody that Resolution Nos. B-1 through B-7 be adopted. Comm. Atallo: I make a motion that we move B-2 from the agenda because it is totally inappropriate. As I stated at the beginning of the meeting, it is totally unethical and a conflict of interest for an attorney to represent one Board member against other Board members in adversarial relationships. Also, since this individual is also being considered for another resolution later on in the agenda, I think whatever Board members are represented by Mr. Johnson must recuse themselves on any vote and that includes B-2. Also, on B-3 I think the resolution is improperly worded. I think it is

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inappropriate to take multiple law firms, seven law firms, and group them together. I think each law firm should be voted on individually up or down. I think it is inappropriate to group them all together as one resolution. I also have concerns about B-4, B-5 and B-6 regarding the insurance coverage and the timeliness in which the district went out for competitive quotes or bids. I believe, in my view, that it should have been done earlier in the year to get the best quotes possible so the taxpayers get the most value for their tax dollars. As far as B-7 is concerned, while I certainly ratify filing an appeal, the Superintendent indicated he was in support of the Board’s position that we retain an experienced education specialist to litigate this case. Up to this point, the Superintendent has been very vague as to what direction he would go. He stated earlier in the meeting on the record he was considering an outside counsel, a professional with experience litigating in this field, and we need to get a specific name and a firm to consider. I would support voting to ratify the appeal but I want clarification as to what attorney or law firm will actually be litigating the case on our behalf. It is $52 million at stake for the education of the children of Paterson and I am not going to roll the dice with someone who hasn’t had the experience to litigate this type of case. I want to get a very specific answer as to who will be representing us. Dr. Duroy: I would like to address the last point about outside counsel. We are in discussion with the Education Law Center and an attorney that I believe fits the bill but we need to complete some negotiations to get a clear understanding of the parameters of the expenditure. As soon as that is resolved, then I will inform the Board of the choice and we can proceed from there. Again, I believe that in our discussion with the Law Center we will be successful in identifying an appropriate attorney. Comm. Atallo: As we move in the transition towards local control, in light of the fact that we have $52 million of educational dollars for Paterson children resting on this litigation, don’t you think it would be prudent for the Board to have input as to the choice of legal counsel? Don’t you think it is rather arbitrary and capricious on the part of the Superintendent to say he will let us know when he makes his choice? When you arbitrarily picked an attorney to litigate the Passaic County Vocational case, we lost. You picked an attorney who lost the case. We want to get an attorney who is a winner and who has a proven track record and experience litigating in this type of legal arena. Comm. Hodges: I celebrate the Superintendent’s move to appeal and I equally celebrate his bowing to the will of the Board in moving to seek out appropriate counsel to try this case. It would be helpful if the Superintendent thought us worthy of getting a sense of what steps he plans to take to obtain that attorney. I don’t think that is too much to ask. That would satisfy at least me, knowing that you are taking certain steps. That way we can feel that we are being at least respected somewhat in the process. I don’t think that goes beyond the pail. Dr. Duroy: I indicated that we are in discussion with the Law Center that was the number one litigant on the issue. Their recommendation, I think, will go a long way assuming we can negotiate with at least one of their referrals. Comm. Hodges: In other words, you got a referral from the Education Law Center?

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Dr. Duroy: Yes. Comm. Hodges: That is what one of the Board members was asking and I thank you for finally answering that. As to B-2, as I mentioned earlier this evening, I am personally affronted by that resolution and by your choice of legal representation because being personally attacked, I certainly will find it difficult to confer with legal counsel. I don’t apologize for that position. I don’t see how you can ask me to pay for the bills of an individual who is taking me to court and questioning my ethical capabilities. Comm. Generals: I would like to go on the record as I did the other night, with all due respect to Mr. Johnson, in support of Commissioners Atallo and Hodges position about the obvious conflict that there is here. I have been informed that the choice is the Superintendent’s although I am not quite sure about that. But I think that in the spirit of the unity of this Board, it really is problematic. Without any judgment about the substance of the legal matter, it is problematic that the individual we are voting on and will continue to vote on has brought legal charges against some of the Board members. I just want to weigh in on that particular point of view. I do think it is a problem and I do think he probably should have recused himself. Mr. Gregory Johnson: Thank you Mr. President and Dr. Duroy for this opportunity to be present to represent Dr. Duroy and the district at this Board meeting. I think that there is a misconception that an allegation has been made that I somehow have a conflict of interest. I would like to tell members of the public and members of the Board that I have been a practicing attorney since 1987. I am a graduate of Rutgers University and Camden Law School. As of this date, I have never been cited for a conflict of interest. I have never been reprimanded or disciplined by the New Jersey Supreme Court, which governs attorney conduct. I totally disagree with the assertions made by Comm. Atallo and Comm. Hodges with respect to my ability to represent the district. I have been the attorney representing Paterson as special counsel since 1992 and I have attended at least two Board meetings in the past where I have assisted the Superintendent, Dr. Wilson at that time. I am sure Comm. Kline and Comm. Vancheri can recall me sitting at Board meetings. So when you make these charges that I somehow have a conflict of interest, there is no legal basis to that. I would also like to note that with respect to B-2, I am the only attorney who was left out of the increase in the cap. The reason why I appear on item B-2 tonight is because I was not included before with the other outside law firms who have had their caps increased. This is nothing new and I would like to assure the Board members that I have been representing the Paterson schools for years. There is no conflict of interest. This is still a state-operated school district and Dr. Duroy is still the State District Superintendent. Under State law, he has full authority. I am not here to inflame or cause any problems. I believe that I am capable of giving legal advice to the Superintendent and the Board. This situation is no different than what occurred in Newark where the Newark Board of Education had asked the Department of Education if they could hire their own lawyer and they were told no. The State District Superintendent has the authority to hire counsel. Comm. Sayegh: My comments pertain to items B-3 and B-7. I have spoken to a number of individuals in the community and they have expressed dissatisfaction with our legal representation. In fact, most of them went as far to say that they feel as if the

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Board attorneys are using this district as a cash cow. No pun intended but they feel they are milking the system. Further dissatisfaction was expressed regarding the fact that the Board attorneys are not even from Passaic County. They are from Hudson County. Furthermore, part of the problem was that we are asking to increase a cap when our kids don’t have textbooks and classrooms are woefully inadequate. Yet, we can pay our legal fees and raise a cap. I am only stating for the record what the general consensus is in the public and that people are thoroughly dissatisfied with the legal representation we are receiving. Thank you. Comm. Kline: Since my name was brought into the discussion by the attorney, let the record show that I wasn’t pleased with the representation of the legal department when Dr. Wilson was here. On B-2, I agree with Comm. Sayegh in that we are running around trying to find pennies to legitimize programs and here we are being asked to add more money to a lawyer’s pot. I don’t think that is the right way to go. For example, tonight we had a delegation come down here again from the Passaic County Islamic Center asking for funds and they didn’t get any reply to say that they were going to get the funds. Yet, in this resolution, we are talking about adding more money to the legal department. I think the legal department has had a banner year as far as funds are concerned – whether it is the persons whose names are listed here or anybody else’s name. Secondly, I don’t think that because this name was left off on the other that it means this name should be given consideration. Increasing the cap isn’t an automatic thing. Everybody doesn’t have to have their cap increased. I am not in favor of B-2. As we discussed at the caucus meeting last night, with B-3 some of us suggested that the proper way to have presented this resolution would have been to present the names individually rather than throwing them all in one pot and voting on them. We asked to have an indication of what these various attorneys and their firms would be doing and in looking at what was given to us, there appears to be a lot of duplication. You have about three attorneys and/or firms that do the same thing. I think it would be prudent for us to have received a resolution on each of these rather than throw them all into one resolution. Comm. Hodges: I am mindful of the fact that I have been up here complaining about the amount of the legal fees for over a year, and Comm. Atallo even before I came here. You will note that in the letter the State sent to the district, it specifically cites the outsourced legal fees as a concern. Dr. Duroy has stated he is not in agreement with that but then when we asked for the business office to be examined, he wasn’t in agreement with that either until they came in and found all the problems there. I appreciate Mr. Johnson’s feeling that he can adequately represent this Board despite litigating against members on it but I don’t feel that way. If you are asking me to vote, I cannot take that position. Comm. Taylor: What are we doing at this point? Comm. Generals: You have to call the question first. Dr. Duroy: You don’t have to call the question. If the debate ends, you can take the vote.

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Comm. Generals: There is obviously confusion. Dr. Duroy: A motion has been made and seconded. Comm. McDowell: There is a motion on the floor for items B-1 through B-7. We had a motion and a second and we have had discussion. I am now calling roll call. On roll call all members voted as follows: Comm. Atallo: I vote yes on B-1 and no on B-2. I would like to state for the record that any Board members here who is being represented by anyone should recuse themselves from voting on B-2. I vote no on B-3 because I believe it is improperly worded. While I do support some of these firms, I don’t support all of these firms and I would like to get more details as to what each of these firms do with specific dollar amounts allocated to these firms as opposed to one aggregate cap of $800,000. I believe it is an improperly worded resolution so I vote no on B-3. Any Board members who are being represented by any of these firms should recuse themselves from voting. I vote no on B-4, B-5 and B-6 because I believe the bids went out later than they should have. I vote yes on B-7 with the condition that we get clarification as to who exactly will be legal counsel and representing this district to fight for the $52 million for the children of Paterson. Comm. Hodges: I vote yes on B-1, no on B-2, no on B-3, I abstain on B-4, B-5 and B-6, and I vote yes on B-7. Comm. Kline: I vote yes on B-1, no on B-2, no on B-3, and yes on B-7. I am going to vote present on B-4, B-5 and B-6 because there is an unanswered opinion on whether abstention is a yes or no vote. I am waiting for that reply from the New Jersey School Board Attorney, John Burns. I am voting present on B-4, B-5 and B-6. I will continue to vote present rather than abstain because some people think that an abstention vote can be agreed as approved. As I said, I was at the School Boards Association conference this past weekend and in speaking to John Burns, who is the attorney for the School Boards Association, he is sending me some data with respect to that. Until I get that, I am voting present on B-4, B-5 and B-6. Comm. Hodges: Mr. President, when would it be appropriate for me to alter my vote in light of that information? Comm. McDowell: Let’s complete roll call and then we will go back. Comm. Moody: Yes. Comm. Santiago: Yes. Comm. Taylor: I vote yes for B-1, no for B-2, and no for B-3. I did receive the information on the different lawyers that Dr. Duroy would like to use. There is some overlapping and I believe we need to have more conversation about them. On B-4, B-5 and B-6, I too received the same information Comm. Kline got from the lawyer at the training at the New Jersey Boards meeting this past weekend and there is some controversy on the abstention ruling. So the lawyer is going to send us the information. There are several different cases. Some say yes and some say no and sometimes it means maybe. For B-4, B-5 and B-6, I am going to vote present until we get that information. On B-7, I vote yes understanding that Dr. Duroy is going to get the best legal counsel for us to appeal for our money for this district that our children need for a full, complete education.

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Comm. Vancheri: I vote yes on B-1. On B-2 it was explained to us that it was because of the 2002-2003 calendar year that this had to be increased. My vote is yes on B-2. On B-3, I can’t accept all of these. I think they should have been broken down separately. I vote yes on B-4, B-5, B-6 and B-7. I vote no on B-3. Comm. McDowell: My vote is yes on B-1 and B-2. I vote no on B-3. I echo some of the feelings here that I view outside legal counsel as consultants. We need to look at their past performance, cost to the district, and success rate. I am going to vote no on B-3. I am voting yes on B-4 through B-7. I would just like to quickly mention that I am uncomfortable with having to go with the same insurance company each year. Generally there is a lack of competition at that level and hopefully maybe in a form much like our joint government committee we will be able to address that with our legislators to see if there is any relief or to be ensured that there is competition. Comm. Hodges: May I change my vote? Comm. McDowell: We did have a slight controversy at the last meeting and we asked for a third party opinion on that. What came down from senior counsel at the School Boards Association was a definition of what an abstention is and that it means to remain silent and we will go with the majority vote. With respect to the issue of the quorum, that particular vote requires a majority of the present and voting majority. In that case, the two abstentions have dropped themselves out of the voting and present population and have said that they will go along with the outcome of the vote, which in that case was three to two. Of course, there are laws at the state level that may supersede, or if there is any direct language in the bylaws that says different. In the case of abstentions, when you abstain you are saying that you are out of the present and voting population and whatever the outcome is you are silent and accept that vote. Given that understanding, hopefully everyone is still satisfied with their vote. Comm. Kline: Be that as it may. You are saying your legal counsel or that third party or whomever advised you about abstentions. I will not feel comfortable until I get the decision from the New Jersey School Boards attorney. Comm. McDowell: I did get that from senior counsel at the New Jersey School Boards Association. Comm. Kline: I was with him this whole weekend and until I hear from him… He told me he was going to send it to me. He could have very easily said to me what you said but he didn’t. Comm. McDowell: I have a memo and we can share that. Comm. Taylor: You have it in writing? Comm. McDowell: Yes, and I will share that with the Board. Comm. Taylor: Well, it should have been shared with us before now. Comm. Hodges: I originally rose to change my vote in view of the discussion. Before it is officially recorded I will change my abstentions to no votes. No on B-4, B-5 and B-6 so that it is clear. Comm. Kline: Is this decision going to be based on what you were told? Never mind because I voted present. The motion carried, except B-2 and B-3 which did not carry. Comm. Atallo: This is exactly why Mr. Johnson is an inappropriate individual to serve as legal counsel. He can’t give opinions. He is conflicted and it would be self-serving.

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Comm. McDowell: As you all know, the four to four tie will go for a dispute conversation at the State level. That is the process we are working under. We are going to move to fiscal committee but I just want to say something to the Board members. I am not stifling any discussion or conversation. If you would like to speak, by all means speak. Grab my attention and you will be allowed to speak. I am uncomfortable with the outbursts and the mumbling under the breath about different items. If you would like to speak, I will by all means recognize you. Comm. Generals: Did you say four-four votes go to the State? Comm. McDowell: Yes. Comm. Generals: I assume tie votes go to the State. Comm. McDowell: Right. Dr. Duroy: Not necessarily, I would have to deal with them. Comm. Atallo: The resolution failed. Comm. Hodges: My understanding is that it is a failed resolution. If Dr. Duroy chooses to appeal the resolution, then he can take it to the State because he no longer has veto power. He has to go to the State to overturn it. Comm. McDowell: I stand corrected. The tie vote is a failed vote and at the point the Superintendent wishes to appeal, he will appeal at the State level and the decision will be made at the State Commissioner’s office. FISCAL COMMITTEE Comm. Atallo reported that the Finance Committee met, reviewed and recommends approval for Resolution No. C-1:

Resolution No. C-1

WHEREAS, the Treasurer of the State of New Jersey has decided to exercise his authority pursuant to the State Appropriations Act to delay the final state school aid payment for the 2002-2003 school year from June 22 until July 3; and WHEREAS, legislation pending in the State Legislature will authorize school districts to borrow from June 22 through July 3 the amount necessary to meet expenses through June 30, 2003 and will require the State to pay the cost of interest up to 6.5% subject to approval by the Department of Education; and WHEREAS, the Department of Education required that an application including a cash flow statement be filed by May 16, 2003 with the County Superintendent of Schools for approval contingent on a ratifying resolution by the local board of education; and

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WHEREAS, the Paterson School District’s delayed State aid payment will be in excess of $17 million; and WHEREAS, the Paterson School District sought quotes for interest rates and administrative costs from three local banks and determined the quote provided by Hudson United Bank to be the lowest overall cost; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Board of Education authorizes the State District Superintendent to borrow from the Hudson United Bank the sum of $7.6 million at 3.5% interest with no administrative costs for the term of June 23, 2003 to July 3, 2003 at a total cost of $8,866.67 to meet payroll and operating expenses through June 30, 2003. It was moved by Comm. Atallo, seconded by Comm. Hodges that Resolution No. C-1 be adopted. On roll call all members voted in the affirmative, except Comm. Atallo who abstained. The motion carried.

Resolution No. C-2 WHEREAS, it is necessary to pay vendors' bills and claims against the Paterson Public School District; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Board of Education approves payment of June 2003 bills and claims, checks 102170 through 102180, and 102181 through 102232, and 102233 through 102235, and 102295 through 102432, and 102433 through 102453, and 102454 through 102464 in the amount of $7,616,769.35 as attached hereto and made a part of the minutes; and be it further RESOLVED, that manual checks 100711, and 102157 through 102160, and 102161 through 102164, and 102165 through 102168, and 102169 in the amount of $146,244.83 as attached hereto and made a part of the minutes; and be it further RESOLVED, that voided checks 99891, and 98880 and 100555, 10614 and 102094, and 101062, and 102156 and 102234, and 102129, and 101290 and 102037, and 102001 and 100217 in the amount of $126,320.88 as attached hereto and made a part of the minutes; and be it finally RESOLVED, that cafeteria checks 102237 through 102294 in the amount of $430,676.40 as attached hereto and made a part of the minutes.

Resolution No. C-3 WHEREAS, there is a need to request district taxes, exclusive of debt service requirements to meet the needs of the School District for the month of June 2003; and now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Board of Education approves the request of district taxes, exclusive of debt service requirements needed to meet the obligations of the School District, for the month of June 2003, in the amount of $3,001,414.25, and

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that the City of Paterson is hereby requested to place in the hands of the Custodian of School Moneys that amount within the next thirty days, in accordance with the statutes relating thereto.

Resolution No. C-4 WHEREAS, the New Jersey Administrative Code 6:20-2.13(a)-(c) 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 obligation, now therefore BE IT RESOLVED, that the Board of Education approves transfer of funds within the 2002-03 school year budget, for the month of May 2003, 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.

Resolution No. C-5 BE IT RESOLVED, that the Paterson Board of Education does hereby accept the Board Secretary A148 and the Report of the Treasurer A149, including the cash reconciliation between the reports for the month of April 2003, attached hereto and made a part of the minutes, and be it RESOLVED, that the Paterson Board of Education does accept the monthly certification of the Board Secretary/Business Administrator for the month of April 2003, attached hereto and made a part of the minutes, and be it further RESOLVED, that the Paterson Board of Education approve the monthly certification of the State District Superintendent/Board of Education for the month of April 2003, attached hereto and made a part of the minutes, and be it RESOLVED, that the New Jersey Administrative Code 6:20-2.13(a)-(c) 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. Comm. Atallo: I am recommending that we pull purchase orders 0313326, 0311767, and 0313468. I want to state this for the record. The first purchase order is for the law firm of Hanly & Ryglicki for approximately $24,000. The breakdown of the bill was vague and unclear to the committee meeting at the time. We would like further clarification on this bill before we pay it. We are making a motion to pull that. The other purchase order deals with Medina Associates. I reviewed their feasibility studies and I don’t think they are as detailed as they should be. I want to see more information before we pay them. Also, my interpretation of the contract was that they would be paid at the completion of nine studies. To date they have submitted five studies, which I feel should be more in depth. We are also waiting for four more studies. I don’t agree that we should make partial payments. I think we should get the complete body of work that

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we had contracted for and that they meet with us and give us more details than what I feel are inadequate reports. There is a motion to pull those two items from the list of bills, and a motion to pay the remainder. Dr. Duroy: I am asking that the Board proceed with the vote and an individual can vote or vote to table an item. But it first needs to be introduced before we can make this type of modification. Comm. Hodges: I believe there is a motion on the floor. Dr. Duroy: I have the authority to set the agenda and I am asking that this resolution be considered as a whole and each individual has the right to modify and/or vote as they wish. Comm. Atallo: We have historically pulled items off the bill list which we feel were inadequately addressed or not properly explained. Comm. McDowell: Let’s proceed as we normally do. We will vote for the items and Board members can vote not to include certain bills, unless you want to vote to amend that particular item. Comm. Atallo: There is a motion on the floor. Dr. Duroy: The motion is not an appropriate motion. Comm. Atallo: Sure it is an appropriate motion. Under Robert’s Rules, it is an appropriate motion. Comm. McDowell: What is your motion for? Comm. Atallo: The motion is to approve the payment of bills with the exception of purchase order 0313326 dealing with the law firm of Hanly & Ryglicki, and purchase orders 0311767 and 0313468 dealing with the Medina Associates. Comm. McDowell: Let’s proceed as we normally do and let’s move the items. If a Board member would like to not include a particular bill, we will do it that way. Comm. Hodges: We normally proceed by voting on the motion. That should be the procedure. The motion is on the floor and I am about to second that motion. The procedure should thus be to vote accordingly on the motion. Comm. McDowell: Your motion is changing the current item. Mr. Johnson: Mr. President… Comm. Atallo: Mr. Johnson, it is inappropriate for you to comment. You now share a law office with Mr. Hanly and it would be inappropriate for you to comment.

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Comm. McDowell: Counsel is going to comment on the process and not a particular bill. Mr. Johnson: Under State statute, Dr. Duroy has the authority to set the agenda. He has proposed the agenda item C-1 and he has indicated he wants the Board to vote on that. Comm. Atallo: We voted on C-1. Keep up with the record. Try to keep up. Mr. Johnson: He has decided not to segregate C-2. Please, Comm. Atallo, do not disrespect me. I am not disrespecting you. You are one member of this Board. You are not the whole Board. Comm. Atallo: Sir, I don’t respect you as an attorney. I think you are very unethical. You are conflicted. Comm. McDowell: This is not an opportunity for discussion. Comm. Santiago: With all due respect, we had better do something because it is already fifteen minutes to twelve and these two students have to be in school tomorrow. Comm. Atallo: Comm. Santiago, you are conflicted out also. Comm. Santiago: Everybody is conflicting. You talk too much. Comm. Vancheri: Can we move the agenda, please? Comm. Atallo: There is a motion on the floor to pass the payment of bills with the exception of the two I mentioned, Hanly & Ryglicki and Medina Consultants. Mr. Johnson: That is not acceptable. The Superintendent has made a determination. Your motion is not acceptable. Comm. Atallo: Mr. Johnson, you should not be engaging in debate. You are conflicted for even sitting up here. If you want to keep talking we will create a record. Historically, it has been past practice that we have pulled items off the bill list. Comm. McDowell: Comm. Atallo, let’s move the items and if Board members choose not to vote on a particular bill you may do so. Dr. Duroy: We need a resolution to move the items and then we can… Comm. Kline: I need to know whether we are authorized or responsible to use Robert’s Rules of Order because Robert’s Rules of Order say that a motion properly made and seconded is on the floor for consideration. In addition to that, what is the point of our committees meeting and taking their time to discuss these items and bringing recommendations to us if we are going to disregard them? I know some people don’t even attend the committee meetings but it is a double slap in the face for those who do

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attend their committee meetings. They take the time to have discussion and bring back a recommendation in the form of a motion just to have it ruled illegal. Comm. McDowell: We will vote to amend C-2 because you are changing the form of the action. Comm. Atallo: We are making an amendment, which is in the purview of Robert’s Rules. Historically, we have done this and it has been past practice. Comm. McDowell: We are going to move that. It was moved by Comm. Atallo, seconded by Comm. Hodges that Resolution No. C-2 be amended to remove the bills of Hanly & Ryglicki and Medina Consultants. Dr. Duroy: On the first item that was raised, the bills to pay Hanly & Ryglicki, this issue has been a monthly issue. Every month we deal with the same issue about paying legal counsel. I think it is inappropriate for us to continue doing this. This administration and the Superintendent represents that the description of the work that was concluded and produced by Hanly & Ryglicki has met all satisfaction and that is the reason why we present this on the agenda. It is the same thing with the Medina Associates. Yes, the issue was whether or not to pay them as we were going or if we had to wait at the end. They have concluded five reports. We submitted the reports and they have been reviewed by the administration. We feel that it should be considered. Those are the reasons that we put these items on the agenda. Mr. Chairman, I think it is inappropriate to pull the items. I really believe that the Board should vote on the items up or down. Comm. Atallo: Dr. Duroy, with all due respect, you are the same Superintendent who said that Montclair Academy was okay for the children without a certificate of occupancy. Comm. Vancheri: Mr. President, please call the vote. Comm. McDowell: Let’s vote on the amendment. Comm. Hodges: What is the motion? Comm. McDowell: No formal pulling of an action should take place. It should take place at the formal meeting. I am recognizing the fact that there is a motion on the floor to amend C-2. Let’s complete the roll call. Comm. Kline: Are we voting on the amendment? Comm. McDowell: We are voting on C-2 by itself, amended with the removal of the bills as stated by the committee. There is an amendment to C-2 on the floor. Comm. Atallo, can you describe your motion again?

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Comm. Atallo: The motion on the floor is to approve the payment of bills with the exception of the purchase orders for Hanly & Ryglicki law firm and Medina Consultants. My motion is to pay all the bills and to pull those two bills for further review. On roll call all members voted as follows: Comm. Atallo: Yes. Comm. Hodges: Yes. Comm. Kline: Yes. Comm. Moody: No. Comm. Santiago: No. Comm. Taylor: I vote to pay the bills. I really don’t want to pay the lawyers but they have worked already. I want to say no to Medina because they didn’t finish the job that they were supposed to finish. They were supposed to do nine sites but they have only finished five. When the job is finished, they get their money. I don’t know if they will go back and finish the other four. I want those to be pulled but the rest of it is correct. Comm. McDowell: Comm. Taylor, you have to vote on the amendment – for or against. Comm. Taylor: Yes. Comm. Vancheri: No. Comm. McDowell: No. The motion did not carry. Comm. Vancheri: Don’t we have to go back to the original resolution? Comm. Atallo: All the bills were approved with the exception of those two. Comm. Vancheri: We voted on the amendment. Dr. Duroy: We were voting on the amendment. The amendment has been defeated. Comm. Vancheri: Now we have to go back. Comm. McDowell: We just voted to amend C-2 as stated by committee and that failed. At this point, we are going back to vote on C-2 through C-5. Comm. Atallo: Let’s go back to C-2 since the amendment failed. I just fail to see how anyone can vote on a legal bill for tens of thousands of dollars without reviewing it. Comm. Vancheri: Call the vote on C-2, please. Comm. Atallo: Does anyone here get their bills at home and just pay them without looking at them? Comm. Vancheri: C-2 is on the agenda, Mr. President. Let’s call the vote. Comm. McDowell: You are moving items C-2 through C-5?

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It was moved by Comm. Atallo, seconded by Comm. Santiago that Resolution Nos. C-2 through C-5 be adopted. On roll call all members voted as follows: Comm. Atallo: I vote no on C-2. I believe those bills should be pulled and reviewed further. I think we have an obligation to the taxpayers in the City of Paterson to do so. I think it is the prudent thing to do. To pay blanket bills is inappropriate. Comm. Hodges: I vote yes on all, except for the disputed bills. Comm. McDowell: Is that no on C-2? Comm. Hodges: I vote no on C-2. Comm. Kline: No. Comm. Moody: Yes. Comm. Santiago: Yes. Comm. Taylor: I vote yes for all the bills to be paid, except Medina. I want them to be paid after they finish the nine sites. Comm. Atallo: You can’t do that. Comm. Vancheri: Yes or no. Comm. Taylor: That’s my comment. Yes, I want the bills to be paid. Dr. Duroy, get Medina to do all nine sites. Comm. Vancheri: Yes on all. Comm. McDowell: Yes. The motion carried. Dr. Duroy: (Beginning of new tape)…before we do that, I am going to ask that C-7… I am going to distribute a resolution that would amend C-7 and ask that the Board consider this resolution. It basically is a resolution indicating that as a result of the bidding for the custodial services and after review with counsel, we are of the opinion that we probably should proceed with going out to bid again as opposed to considering or adopting the resolution. What I am presenting this evening is modifying C-7 as per this resolution. Comm. Atallo: You can’t do this at the last minute. This is so inappropriate. Dr. Duroy: I am recommending that the bids be rejected and that we go out to bid and continue the services of our present company on a month-to-month basis. Comm. Atallo: Why wasn’t this addressed at committee last week or at workshop? Why do we get this at midnight on the night of the meeting and you expect us to address a multimillion dollar issue based on this law firm recommending this? You can’t be serious. Comm. Hodges: Dr. Duroy, with all due respect, you really can’t ask us to for the first time review this at literally the eleventh hour. Dr. Duroy: I am basically asking us to pull the item, to reject the bids, and to go out to bid again because we feel that it could have potential litigation. To clarify some of the concerns that were raised, we are recommending that we go out to bid again.

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Comm. Hodges: Dr. Duroy, we have had months. Dr. Duroy: I realize that but I am recommending to the Board, after discussions even today on the issue of what course the district should take to avoid litigation because there may be some questions over the bid document, that it is in the best interest of the district to proceed with rejecting the bids and going out to bid again. On a month-to-month basis we will continue to provide the services. Comm. Hodges: None of these questions we are aware of. None of these options we are aware of. None of these considerations are we aware of. You can’t give me three sentences now and tell me at midnight that you want me to consider this. That is not fair. Mr. Johnson: This issue was raised before and the Board is well aware that we have had problems with respect to going out to bid for custodial services. This item was on the agenda and it was pulled before. We have had an opportunity to consult with quite a few parties concerning this and it is the general counsel’s opinion at this point that Dr. Duroy should reject the bids and go out to bid again. We will also maintain the services of Control Building Services on a month-to-month basis until we finalize this matter. Comm. Vancheri: Through the Chair, I would like to ask Counsel a question. Since the contract was awarded, will we also be going into litigation? Mr. Johnson: This item was on the agenda last month and the issue was raised about whether the employees of Control would be entitled to health benefits without the waiting period. I believe that issue was addressed to some extent. Then we had some attorneys for Control to contact us and we had some discussions. There were threats of litigation. We reviewed the bills again and we came to the determination that it was more probable that we would be involved in litigation if the district went ahead and awarded this contract to Pritchard. So, upon the advice of general counsel, we asked Dr. Duroy not to award the bid but to reject all bids because of the nature of what is going on. Comm. Vancheri: Aren’t we still going to be going into litigation because we awarded the contract to them? They did what had to be done as far as the bids. We are going to have the same problem. Mr. Johnson: That is a possibility but I think you have to look at it from this perspective. If we went forward and awarded the contract, a determination was made that we were not going to be on as firm legal grounds as we would like to. Given the fact that this is a $6 million contract in dispute, we had to weigh all the considerations. We just want to make sure that whatever position we take, that we are going to be on firm legal ground. There is an opportunity to discuss this matter with the Board in executive session if you want to go into greater detail. Comm. Vancheri: Not at this hour. Comm. Santiago: It is already 12:02.

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Comm. Hodges: In other words, this district is going to change its policy and direction based on somebody’s threats? We can’t follow our own rules and regulations because of somebody’s threats? Mr. Johnson: That is not true. We had an opportunity to look at this situation again and it is the opinion from general counsel considering everything that the school district should not award a contract with respect to this matter but should reject all bids. Comm. McDowell: This is a very important issue. We will have the business administrator give some clarity. Mr. Mike Azzara: One of the issues we have to consider is that when we wrote the specifications, we wrote it that everybody would have to wait 90 days for health insurance. For the current employees, there would be an interruption of 90 days. What Control is arguing and what our counsel agrees with is that the only way we can award this contract is with the 90-day interruption and we don’t believe the Board would agree to that. They would vote it down, leaving us with no option. If you want to vote on it with the 90-day interruption, that is the other option. Comm. Kline: I am a little disturbed about this. The second whereas says based on the advice of district’s general counsel Hanly & Ryglicki. We were here Monday night until after 12:00 with Mr. Hanly. Why weren’t we apprised of this Monday night? We would at least have had from Monday night until tonight to entertain this. Mr. Azzara: They didn’t make their decision until today. Comm. Atallo: Who didn’t make their decision? Mr. Azzara: Mr. Hanly did not make this decision until today. Comm. Kline: And he is the attorney we want to have in-house? Mr. Azzara: This caught me by surprise as well. Comm. Hodges: We can’t run a district this way. This is a $463 million budget and we are the third largest district in the State of New Jersey. This is the way we make decisions? You hand us a resolution past midnight saying you want to change a resolution because there is a threat of litigation? I am sorry. I am a major critic, Dr. Duroy, as you know but this is embarrassing. It raises a lot of questions and if the next group is not happy, they will come down and threaten you as well because you can be rolled. Comm. McDowell: As you are probably well aware, one of the issues with the awarding of the bid to Pritchard was that in the current state of response, they did not provide to their new employees 90 days coverage in insurance, the carry over. Just to refresh memories, the concern is that if there is someone who is currently working for Control who may have a pre-existing condition, and a few examples have been made

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respecting medication, with the onset of the new firm that medication or coverage would cease for 90 days. That was seen as a hardship to the employees. It was stated that close to 90% of the employees at Control are Paterson residents so there was a big concern. At that point, we did not proceed. Comm. Hodges: I appreciate those concerns. My consideration here is this process – giving this to us literally at midnight and asking us to now take in all these other considerations at the last minute. That is what I am having the most trouble with. This is the legal team that Dr. Duroy assembled and this is what they have come up with literally at the last minute. Now you are asking me to exercise some sort of due diligence at 12:08 to sort out all these considerations and come to a conclusion based on just brief conversation. I don’t know how you can ask me to do that. Comm. McDowell: If we award this contract tonight, employees will be without medical coverage for 90 days. Comm. Santiago: Let’s just vote to knock it down. Comm. McDowell: The best thing to do and the most fair thing to do is to just reject all the bids and go out and re-bid with the specifications that would consider the best interest of the employees in Paterson. You can argue the process and that is well noted but at this point it is my opinion that we can’t move forward. As you know, the companies were working to try to come up with some solution. They will not be able to come up with a solution without going out of the specifications. At this point, we need to reject all bids and go back out to bid, but this time with the specifications that would have the best interest of the employees in mind. Comm. Atallo: I make a motion that we adjourn the meeting. It is after midnight and it is not appropriate to continue the meeting. Comm. Vancheri: I second that. It was moved by Comm. Atallo, seconded by Comm. Vancheri that the meeting be adjourned. Comm. Atallo: I think the administration should get their act together and give us the information in a timely manner. We can have a meeting next week. It is after midnight. Comm. McDowell: Comm. Atallo, would you stop shouting down there? Let’s finish the agenda. Comm. Hodges: I second the motion. Comm. Atallo: There is a motion on the floor to adjourn the meeting. Let’s call the vote. Comm. McDowell: This is as irresponsible as the different things you are shouting out down there. We need to move the agenda. We were past midnight last meeting.

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Comm. Atallo: You gave me a resolution tonight to vote on a multimillion dollar contract without ever seeing this before. Comm. McDowell: Vote it up or vote it down. Comm. Atallo: This is an insult to every Board member here. We are not rubber stamps, nor part of the Fab Five. Comm. McDowell: Comm. Santiago, please continue. Comm. Atallo: Fab Four tonight. Comm. Santiago: It is past midnight so it is Wednesday the 12th. Comm. Hodges: There is a motion to adjourn. Comm. Atallo: There is a motion to adjourn on the floor that has been seconded. Comm. McDowell: I am not recognizing the motion to close. We have a responsibility to finish the agenda. I think it is irresponsible to close at this time. Comm. Atallo: There is a motion to adjourn and it has been seconded. Call the roll. Comm. Moody: I am hearing a motion that was made and seconded. Are you saying the Chair is not recognizing that motion? Comm. McDowell: The Chair is not recognizing the motion to close. Comm. Moody: It was seconded. Comm. Vancheri: It was seconded. Comm. Generals: Apparently, we have to meet anyway for the calendar. Is that correct? We have to amend the calendar. Comm. Hodges: Absolutely. Comm. Generals: This is really getting crazy now and I would strongly suggest that we end the meeting and just put these items on later. We will finish the agenda before the month and I suppose that would mitigate the problem. At this point, I don’t think it makes sense to continue. I would support that motion. Comm. Santiago: The workers need their benefits. Comm. McDowell: There is no motion on the action so we are at no point. Comm. Moody: How does ending this meeting tonight affect the timeliness of business on the agenda?

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Comm. Atallo: We need to reschedule a special meeting. Comm. Moody: Are we able to meet to reconsider the calendar and others and then come back and finish this business in an appropriate time? Comm. McDowell: We need a ten-day notification to the public. Mr. Johnson: You need 48 hours. Comm. Vancheri: 48 hours. Comm. McDowell: Excuse me, I stand corrected. On roll call all members voted in the affirmative, except Comm. McDowell who voted no. The motion carried. Note: The non-voting section of personnel was submitted at part of the Board packet. Items Not Requiring a Vote

PERSONNEL Certified

03-B900. Approved compensation for Nancy Wymer as Drama Coach at John F.

Kennedy High School for the 2003-2004 school year, at an amount not to exceed $5,946.00.

03-B902. Approved compensation for staff of School No. 20 working in the 7th grade

after school enrichment program: Elaine Williams Crystal Dunlap Nanette Parnharm Samuel Ayres 03-B903. Approved compensation for staff of School No. 20 serving as substitutes

in the 7th grade after school enrichment program: Fern Abo Monica Avitabile James Bacote Amber Bonner Stephanie Bradshaw Jane Corrado Janet Dawson Yelena Gould Eileen Kass-Kelman Darlene Love Raul Mesa Helene Moscarell Michael Riera Thomas Schaefer Patricia Zuckovich 03-B904. Approved compensation for staff of School No. 20 serving as substitutes

in the NJASK after school program:

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Linda Adams Monica Avitabile Elizabeth Busnar Alaric Chuy Rosemary Clive Margaret Greenwald Joyce Haas Lacey Haywood Terry Hollender Coretta Lawrence Isabelle Mayer Joyce McKnight Ingrid Monteagudo Jerry Napoleone Paulina Olivares Julie Powell 03-B906. Approved compensation for teachers serving as curriculum writers for

Application English, at an amount not to exceed $3,300.00: Heather Jackson Dori Le Grand-Christmas Patricia Valenazano Patricia Prentice 03-B907. Approved compensation for staff of MPACT Academy working in the

HSPA after school program, at an amount not to exceed $4,500.00: T. Decker G. Tadalcamella 03-B908. Approved compensation for staff of School No. 11 working in the ESPA

after school program, from April 24 through May 15, 2003, at an amount not to exceed $891.00:

Marleen Tartaglia Francine Friedman Jose Batista 03-B909. Approved internal transfer of Ron Denburg from science teacher at

MPACT Academy to computer and science teacher, effective September 1, 2003.

03-B910. Approved compensation for staff of Eastside High School participating in

staff development training in the “Block” schedule for Talent Development, at an amount not to exceed $19,800.00:

Ann Reed Ramses DelCampo Verraina Freeman Denise Brown Bettye Peterson Carol Maloney David Dupiche Marilyn Holloway Ashona Hayes Darin Johnson Lorenzo Hobbs Angeolina Ferreyra Kim Rousseau Alexa Caraballo Sharon Allen Stefani Fletcher Simone Marcus Chris Ziolkowski Kimeka Samuels Omar Polanco Andre Barnes Kenneth Davis Samuel Ayres Eloy Humanchumo

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Alfred Quaynor Banmali Banerjee David Souzis Dilber Yildirim Gloria Dorino Eileen Zimmer Elizabeth Babones Sylwia Mokry Luis Araoz Hector Reymoso Joan Wright Arlick Williams Carrie Davis Marilyn DiMartino Shari Valenz Estelle Howard James Avino Gail Yucht Jennifer Koegler Dawn Klym Deanna Amorelli Thomas Easterbrook Frank Mulhem Patricia Prentice Jeffrey Feinstein Nakesha Green Atlanta Hall Angela Scillieri Beverly Tesoriero Weiss Joanette Ariel Duran Kenyada Mitchell Shawn Collins Norman Blumberg Doreen Hammond Khurshid Siddiqui Arline Reynoso Myra Winter Calvin Snead Yasmin Viruet Sandra Acker Tracy Brand Thomas Gladden Alicia Stewart Carlton Barnswell Lovie Armstrong Trecia Deyo Yanesis Pasquella Brett Hargrove Naralie Jordan Deidre Taylor-Williams Adrian Aleman Alex Santos Adrienne Tolbert Charles Hill Todd Pipkin Vidal Rodriguez Miguel Sousa Kenneth Sumpter William O’Conner Sylvia Ligon Veronica Mower Victor Mizzone Flor Daniel-Jackson Anthony DePasquale Cynthia Atkins Florine White Joseph Mulligan John McKeon Patricia Valenzano Kristen Dailey Pete Rendina Selemny Ruiz Paula Jacobs Gloria VanHouten Susan Little Annalesa Williams William Watts Ann Carlock Sanford Kushner Sarai Molina Maria Garcia Salvator Ultimo Hilda Goldberg Evelio Chavez Janelle Vega Samuel Sorce Carmelo Vega Suzane Crane Lillian Johnson Michelle Palko Mauricio Branwell Lance Jones Gerald DeCola Stanley Sumpter Walter Heyer

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Frances Hennen Arline Potash Jeannette Edwards Joseph Tookmanian Lorraine Michaels Craig Lombardi Charles Batchelor Jamal Hall Amy Perry Theresa Goltz Glen Korenda Freidank Jeannette Wallace Thea Kalivas Kim Knabb Mohamed Moustafa Joseph Woja Claire Bussanick James Plunkett Barry Hecht Joan Mandel Stanley Rogers Joseph Livecchi 03-B912. Approved compensation for staff of School No. 13 participating in ESL,

technology and math workshops, at an amount not to exceed $891.00: Carol Parker Mary Forsatz 03-B913. Approved leaves of absence: Name Location Eff. Date Type Lori Bornstein Tchr./No. 19 5/28/03-6/30/03 Family Laura Bross Tchr./MLK 4/16/03-6/30/03 Rev. Family Nancy Garrity Tchr./No. 28 3/17/03-4/14/03 Ext. Medical Tammie Harrell- Tchr./EHS 4/1/03-4/30/03 Rev.

Simmons Childcare Robert Kilgallon Tchr./EHS 6/23/03-6/30/03 Family Louis Latona Tchr./No. 25 5/26/03-5/31/03 Family Jeanette Loran Tchr./No. 15 3/19/03-3/31/03 Medical Michelle Marino Tchr./No. 9 2/24/03-2/28/03 Family Deanna Mullica Tchr./NSW 9/1/03-11/30/03 Family 12/1/03-6/30/04 Childcare Amy Perry Tchr./EHS 6/18/03-6/30/03 Family/Mat. Harriet Rakowitz Tchr./No. 21 2/5/03-5/1/03 Ext. Family Bridget Thomas Tchr./No. 6 5/1/03-6/30/03 Famil/Mat. 03-B914. Accepted resignations/retirements:

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Name Location Eff. Date Type David Brown Guid. Cnslr./No. 20 4/11/03 Resignation Scot Ebner Tchr./EHS 6/30/03 Resignation Natha Fairmon Cafe. Wrkr./No. 20 7/1/03 Rev. Retirement Tsu-Hei Lin Tchr./No. 21 7/1/03 Resignation Lorie Pemberton Tchr./NSW 7/1/03 Resignation Kimberlee Plescia Tchr./No. 18 6/30/03 Resignation Richard Ulan Tchr./JFKHS 3/1/04 Retirement Rosario Ward Psychologist/DSS 7/1/03 Retirement 03-B915. Approved returning staff to active employment: Name Location Eff. Date Neyda Evans Tchr./No. 2 4/1/03 Tammie Harrell-Simmons Tchr./DSS 5/1/03 Michele Littman Tchr./No. 2 3/31/03 Harriet Rakowitz Tchr./No. 21 5/1/03 Lisa Susino Tchr./DAS 5/5/03 03-B916. Approved compensation for staff of School No. 19 preparing for Comer

WSR workshop on May 14, 2003, at an amount not to exceed $2,112.00: Sheila Aleman Martha Mazzone Dorothy Natale Dolores Varano Gloria Landi 03-B917. Approved internal transfers for School No. 5, effective May 5, 2003: Name From To Sandra Garcia Pull Out Self Contained Betsaida Morillo Self Contained Pull Out 03-B918. Approved changing position control number 3480 at School No. 5 from 8th

grade teacher to 8th grade social studies teacher to conform to Whole School Reform departmentalization.

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03-B919. Approved changing position control number 3458 at School No. 27 from 1st grade teacher to 2nd grade teacher, effective July 1, 2003.

03-B920. Approved change in status for Vincent Gurnari from permanent substitute

to teacher, retroactive to March 3, 2003, at a salary of $37,019.00. 03-B921. Approved compensation for Anthony Infante as Acting Supervisor of

Internal Audit, at an annual salary differential of $5,000.00, effective April 14, 2003.

03-B922. Approved compensation for Kristen Longstaff as teacher for the Saturday

ESPA program at School No. 12 on May 3, 10 and 17, 2003. 03-B924. Approved transfer: Name From To Eff. Date Tara Scarborough Tchr./EHS LDTC/ECE 5/27/03 03-B926. Approved changing position control number for Ana Caraballo from 3653

to 3017. 03-B927. Approved adding staff to location 090 for attendance purposes: Teresa Carter Edward Leppert Michael Mastroserio John Murez Hilda Ruiz Doreen Carter Mariel Cedeno Beverly Chestnut Yvonne Ellerbee Janet Green Peggy Hutman Carol Madsen 03-B928. Approved compensation for Ann Marie Shaw for serving on the K-5 Math

Textbook Adoption Committee, at an amount not to exceed $330.00. 03-B929. Approved compensation for staff of the Performing Arts School for

attending CES Collaborative Friends Group at Rutgers University on August 23, 2002, at an amount not to exceed $396.00:

Helen Benicaso Karobi Chakrabarti 03-B930. Approved compensation for Henry Baker for attending a Leadership

Seminar on April 30, 2003, at an amount not to exceed $99.00. 03-B932. Approved change in title for Michael Azzara, from School Business

Administrator to Assistant Superintendent of Operations, to be reflected on the current job description as originally assigned by the Commissioner of Education, with no salary adjustment.

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03-B933. Approved change in status for Lauren Scott from permanent substitute to teacher, retroactive to April 1, 2003, at a salary of $37,019.00.

03-B934. Approved compensation for teachers serving as mentors to teachers in

the Provisional Route Program: Diana Allen Kathy Donohue Elizabeth Gaughan-Leppert Jessie Giella Mary Krisak Nancy Mazur Cheryl Mucci Kathleen Popadics Marilyn Simon Mary Squeo Mary Valdivia Katie Williams-Milton Antoinette Hindie Anna Iandoli Wilfredo Melendez Barbara Migliaccio Lisa Portelli 03-B935. Approved compensation for teachers serving as mentors to teachers in

the Provisional Route Program (Early Childhood Education): Fleming Kelly Forfia Johanna Roman Elizabeth 03-B936. Suspension of employee, with pay. 03-B939. Approved 2003-2004 increment withholding for staff for unpaid leaves in

excess of 65/87 days as per Article 12:5-2 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement:

Leonardo Arias Marla Arrington Lori Cobb Daniele Dittmer Kim Festa-Pasculli Jeanne Fleming Stacie Franco Rosalinda Godines John James Rachyl Kaplan Leigh Ann Kwiecinski Elizabeth LaValle Carmen Marchetti Patricia Mongelli Cheryl O’Melia Rosanna Paris Lorie Pemberton Kathleen Ramos Michelle Ray Ellen Rosenfeld Letitia Rutherford Michele Schaffer Maggie Shaver-Dock Marble Tamayo Michelle Triolo Sharon Upshaw Jessica Villanueva 03-B940. Approved non-renewal of staff contracts for the 2003-2004 school year: Joseph Rose Vernon Hawes Mark Oropollo Angela Williams Eric Potts Joseph Bruno

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Marc Grillo Ashok Thakur Charles Marshall Ilia Kirstian Christopher Quinty David Souzuis 03-B941. Approved changing position control number 2762 at School No. 27, from

8th grade teacher to 7th grade teacher, effective July 1, 2003. 03-B942. Approved changing position control number 3974 at School No. 27, from

5th grade teacher to 6th grade teacher, effective July 1, 2003. 03-B944. Approved increment withholdings for the 2003-2004 school year: Reyne Wright Melvin Joyner Christine Hilton 03-B945. Approved transfer: Name From To Eff. Date David Ferrier Tchr./No. 26 Site Mngr./PEP-21 9/1/03 03-B948. Suspension of employee, with pay. 03-B949. Approved change in status for Cynthia Flores from permanent substitute

to teacher, retroactive to March 24, 2003, at a salary of $37,019.00. 03-B950. Approved change in status for Maria Ramos from permanent substitute to

teacher, retroactive to March 25, 2003, at a salary of $37,019.00. 03-B951. Approved change in status for Giovanni Ormaeche from permanent

substitute to teacher, retroactive to April 29, 2003, at a salary of $37,019.00.

03-B952. Approved compensation for staff of John F. Kennedy High School as

Woodwinds Instructors, at an amount not to exceed $2,259.00: Toby Crane Joy Montouro 03-B953. Approved longevity stipend for Elizabeth Ortiz for 15 years of service in

the amount of $1,500.00. 03-B954. Approved returning staff to active employment: Name Location Eff. Date Ronald Esquiche Tchr./No. 19 5/15/03 03-B955. Approved substitute teacher applicants: Clarence Campbell Christi Chapman

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Lee Cornish Tanisha DeLaEspada Carlos DeLasSalas Alexander DeLuccia Dorothy Demetriou Priscilla Durkin Susan Fanaras Tricia Friedman Diana Gonzalez Edwin Guzman Rokshana Miah Lamar Oliver Damiana Pache Maria Pagan Elizabeth Peralta Donnamaria Rizzi Ronald Swede Rowan Thomas Yvonte Tranquille Jennifer Valentin Anna Wargo 03-B956. Approved submission of forms for emergent employment for substitute

teachers: Eyad Abdelaziz Haneen Abdel Dayem Lia Cespedes Yolanda Dock Carlos Gil Kimberly Kaminski William Lightner Kevin Lyden Regina McLean Sandra Montanez-Diodonet Dan Murray Tiaheshia Nero Patricia Novillo Christopher Smith Akmed Taylor-Kamara Leroy Walker Lamar Williams 03-B960. Approved reimbursement to Louann Crotty, Teacher at Martin Luther King,

Jr. School, for five days and deduct five days from her sick day bank, in the amount of $1,493.95.

03-B961. Approved change in status for Casey Mizzone from permanent substitute

to teacher, retroactive to May 1, 2003, at a salary of $37,019.00. 03-B966. Approved adjustment of salary for Aurea Rios, Principal of School No. 27,

from Level II to Level III, based upon increased enrollment, retroactive to October 1, 2002.

03-B967. Approved processing payment of non-accumulated sick days for Emily

Rome, less $100 substitute per diem pay, from June 1, 2003 through June 13, 2003.

03-B968. Approved submission of appropriate forms for emergent hiring: Barry Davidson Rosalind Young Vita Flores Sandra McDuffie Michele Pittari Charisse Richardson Miriam Vergara

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03-B969. Approved payment of mentor fee to Arlene Corsano, retired teacher, in the amount of $2,600.00.

03-B973. Approved transfer: Name From To Eff. Date Jeffrey Ware Tchr./No. 15 Tchr./No. 10 6/9/03 03-B974. Approved submission of appropriate forms for emergent hiring: Natalia Frankoski Edwin Guzman Shpendim Nadzaku Rowan Thomas Stephen Yeager Heidi Zito 03-B975. Approved substitute teacher applicants: Javier Acevedo Mounir Almaita William Brezsnyak Andrea Caruso Luisa Cruz Erica Escobar Alba Genao Ann Granelli Garam Katib Albert Koodray Fiara Leo Katrina Lewis Josalin Mercedes Sandra Montanez-Diodonet Norman Morley Concepcion Reyes Jarrod Rogers Akmed Taylor-Kamara Esther Vincent 03-B979. Approved appointment Gregory Johnson, Esq. and Kevin Hanly, Esq. as

in-house co-general counsel to the Paterson Public School District, to be paid an annual salary of $96,000.00 plus benefits.

03-B981. Approved leaves of absence: Name Location Eff. Date Type Nancy Garrity Tchr./No. 28 3/17/03-6/30/03 Ext. Medical Gisela Mercado Tchr./HARP Acad. 6/1/03-6/30/03 Family/Med. Diane Pearson Tchr./No. 2 9/1/03-11/30/03 Family/Mat. Jeanette Pernis Tchr./No. 2 10/30/03-11/7/03 Family/Mat. Kathleen Ramos Tchr./JFKHS 9/1/02-6/30/03 Childcare Hilary Schmidt Tchr./EWK 5/2/03-5/9/03 Medical Kathleen Schnorr Tchr./No. 9 5/9/03-6/30/03 Family/Med.

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Adelina Terwilliger Tchr./No. 6 5/28/03-6/30/03 Family Lauren Wingate Tchr./MLK 6/1/03-6/30/03 Maternity/Family 03-B983. Approved returning staff to active employment: Name Location Eff. Date Sandra Garcia Tchr./No. 5 5/5/03 Hilary Schmidt Tchr./EWK 5/12/03 03-B985. Accepted resignations/retirements: Name Location Eff. Date Type William Albert Tchr./DSS 7/1/03 Retirement Barbara Carter Tchr./No. 12 6/30/03 Resignation Dollie Daniel Tchr./No. 4 7/1/03 Retirement Carolann Donato Guid. Cnslr./NSW 10/1/03 Retirement Marc Grillo Tchr./MLK 6/30/03 Resignation Barbara Hillel Tchr./No. 8 9/1/03 Resignation Yolanda Hurtado Tchr./EWK 6/30/03 Resignation Negrete Danielle Monaco Tchr./AHA 6/30/03 Resignation Carol Parker Tchr./No. 13 7/1/03 Resignation Kathleen Ramos Tchr./JFKHS 6/30/03 Resignation Hally Tomasheski Tchr./No. 14 6/30/03 Resignation

99 06/11/03

PERSONNEL Non-Certified

03-B901. Approved compensation for Ramon Flores as driver for athletic events for

John F. Kennedy High School for the 2003-2004 school year, at an amount not to exceed $4,000.00.

03-B905. Approved implementing the personnel policy for Confidential Secretaries

(Group A, B, C and D) not represented by a bargaining unit. 03-B911. Approved adjustment of salary for James Davis, Chief Custodian at

School No. 5, due to increased responsibility, retroactive to July 1, 2002, in the amount of $1,080.00.

03-B923. Approved compensation for security guards working in the summer Wrap-

Around Program at School No. 1, from June 26 through August 22, 2003, at an amount not to exceed $7,500.00:

Pedro Crespo Ronald Harris 03-B925. Approved creating a School Facility Aide position to coordinate all

activities for facility use at Don Bosco site. 03-B931. Approved payment of unused accumulated vacation days, as per policy, to

the following employee: Name Days Yomara Sanchez 10 03-B937. Approved payment of unused accumulated vacation days, as per policy, to

the following employee: Name Days Jannet Morales 10 03-B938. Approved payment of unused accumulated vacation days, as per policy, to

the following employee: Name Days Yakelin Lucero-Delgado 10 03-B943. Approved compensation for Willie Harris at John F. Kennedy High School

to print New Jersey State Report Cards during April 2003, at an amount not to exceed $299.00.

100 06/11/03

03-B946. Approved transfer: Name From To Eff. Date Gloria Otubanjo Inst. Asst./No. 6 Inst. Asst./MLK 5/12/03 03-B947. Approved removing from payroll Arthur Everett, Chief Custodian, until

employee returns to work. 03-B957. Approved payment of unused accumulated vacation days, as per policy, to

the following employee: Name Days John Gorlach 10 03-B958. Approved processing payment of accumulated days for retired employees: Name No. of Days Freida Gallaway 75 03-B959. Approved compensation for staff of Martin Luther King, Jr. School to

prepare center materials, bus materials and handbooks for the 2003-2004 school year, at an amount not to exceed $1,380.00:

Stefanie Gagliardi Carmen Osorio Carmen Santos 03-B962. Approved leaves of absence: Name Location Eff. Date Type Frances Ellis Fd. Serv./No. 10 2/10/03-3/14/03 Family/Med. Dolores Hand Fd. Serv./No. 26 3/28/03-4/18/03 Family/Med. Robert Harrell Inst. Asst./EHS 4/9/03-5/2/03 Personal Gunnar Kulaksiz Inst. Asst./No. 9 5/12/03-6/30/03 Personal Sonji McDaniel Fd. Serv./No. 21 3/24/03-4/9/03 Family Evelyn Mcleod Specialist/Sp. Prog. 3/26/03-4/18/03 Family/Med. Jacqueline Mills Inst. Asst./No. 28 3/28/03-4/11/03 Family/Pers. Kamala Murphy Secretary/DSS 3/28/03-5/31/03 Ext. FamilyMed. Robin Pelham Inst. Asst./NSW 3/24/03-6/30/03 Personal

101 06/11/03

Marlen Rabanales Secretary/EHS 4/10/03-5/16/03 Family Betty Speights Acct./Cen. Off. 4/16/03-5/23/03 Family 03-B963. Accepted resignations/retirements: Name Location Eff. Date Type Joseph Aiello Plumber/Old No. 5 9/1/03 Retirement Matthew Paladino Acct./Cen. Off. 6/30/03 Resignation 03-B964. Approved returning staff to active employment: Name Location Eff. Date Trecia Deyo Inst. Asst./EHS 4/8/03 Janet Green Secretay/Cen. Off. 4/14/03 Dolores Hand Fd. Serv./No. 26 4/24/03 Sonji McDaniel Fd. Serv./No. 21 4/10/03 Evelyn Mcleod Secretary/Sp. Progs. 4/21/03 Alicea Medina Fd. Serv./No. 18 4/28/03 Jacqueline Mills Inst. Asst./No. 28 5/1/03 03-B965. Approved termination: Name Location Eff. Date Diane Roberson Cafe. Monitor/No. 8 5/13/03 03-B970. Approved transfer: Name From To Eff. Date Donna Harper Sec./Cen. Off. Sec./Facilities 5/22/03 03-B971. Approved termination: Name Location Eff. Date Luisa Deleon Fd. Serv./No. 10 5/15/03 03-B972. Suspension of employee, with pay. 03-B976. Approved termination: Name Location Eff. Date

102 06/11/03

Elvis Durham Fd. Serv./No. 8 5/22/03 03-B977. Approved that Patricia Bornstein continue serving as a clerical specialist in

the Department of Human Resources for the 2003-2004 school year. 03-B978. Approved transfers: Name From To Eff. Date Bienvenida Ramos Inst. Asst./DAS Inst. Asst./No. 29 5/29/03 Barbara McKoy Inst. Asst./No. 29 Inst. Asst./DAS 5/29/03 03-B980. Approved reclassifying the purchasing secretary position to purchasing

specialist according to the Business Division Assessment/Sinatra Report, and adjust salary accordingly for Sylvia Bacote.

03-B982. Approved leaves of absence: Name Location Eff. Date Type Annie Chavis Fd. Serv./EHS 5/23/03-6/30/03 Family/Med. Elizabeth Collazo Fd. Serv./No. 20 5/2/03-5/19/03 Family 5/23/03-6/30/03 Medical Bertha Collins Fd. Serv./EHS 5/2/03-5/16/03 Family Lydia DeLeon Fd. Serv./No. 28 5/12/03-5/16/03 Personal Carmen Del Rio Sec./JFKHS 5/2/03-5/26/03 Family/Med. Robert Harrell Inst. Asst./EHS 5/5/03-5/26/03 Ext. Personal Jessica Hinton Inst. Asst./No. 20 6/1/03-6/30/03 Family/Mat. Gunnur Kulaksiz Inst. Asst./No. 9 5/12/03-5/31/03 Rev. Personal Shirely Lockhart Fd. Serv./No. 5 5/14/03-6/6/03 Medical Regina Moore Inst. Asst./No. 13 10/1/03-12/31/03 Family 1/1/04-6/30/04 Childcare Daniel Seugling Inst. Asst./DSS 5/26/03-6/5/03 Personal Joseph Seugling Inst. Asst./DSS 5/23/03-6/5/03 Personal Luis Torres Chief Cust./Old No. 5 5/8/03-5/26/03 Personal Mary Webber Inst. Asst./No. 7 4/28/03-5/31/03 Family/Med.

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03-B984. Approved returning staff to active employment: Name Location Eff. Date Shirley Alvarez-Rogers Inst. Asst./No. 24 5/27/03 Bertha Collins Fd. Serv./EHS 5/19/03 Lydia DeLeon Fd. Serv./Don Bosco 5/19/03 Carmen DelRio Sec./JFKHS 5/27/03 Mirca Martinez Inst. Asst./DAS 5/12/03 Kathleen Moon Inst. Asst./NSW 5/9/03 Marlen Rabanales Sec./EHS 5/19/03 03-B986. Accepted retirements: Name Location Eff. Date Hyacinth Anderson Secretary/Old No. 5 6/1/03 Rosalind Demaria Secretary/Stud. Sppt. Servs. 8/1/03 03-B987. Approved reclassification and transfer: Name From To Eff. Date Ana Cassiani Conf. Sec./Supt. Off. Analyst/Purch. Dept. 7/1/03 03-B988. Approved termination: Name Location Eff. Date Bethzaida Vasquez Rojano Cafe. Monitor/No. 12 5/30/03 The meeting was adjourned at 12:15 p.m.