MINUTES OF THE PATERSON BOARD OF EDUCATION REGULAR ...

Comm. Spagnola: You have a policy in place. If you want to change the policy we can.There is a process to change the policy.On roll call all members voted as follows:Comm. Atallo: Yes.Comm. Hodges: No.Comm. Moody: Yes.Comm. Santiago: Yes.Comm. Sayegh: Yes.Comm. Spagnola: Yes.Comm. Taylor: No.Comm. Vergara: Yes.Comm. Brown: Yes.The motion carried.Comm. Hodges: Mr. President, I am going to have to take my leave early. There is aCity Council meeting going on now and I have signed up to speak. The concern that Ihave which caused me to leave tonight’s Board meeting is the municipal question thatwas placed on the ballot. As the Board knows, there is a concern because we as aBoard were not involved in that process, other than some isolated members hearingabout it. But there was no formal presentation made to the Board of Education aboutthis $10 million plan, which unfortunately was voted on without adequate informationbeing dispensed to the public. While we certainly support the city’s joining hands withthe Board of Education around a very difficult issue such as Hinchliffe Stadium, for themto take the lead without adequately consulting the Board of Education is at bestunfortunate. The situation that was presented to the public may be very confusing tothe public and I want to help clear some of those issues up. So I again want people tounderstand that the Board of Education is not trying to discourage this kind ofassistance. But we really need to know what the assistance is. And since we don’tknow what the plan is, how the money is being spent, or whether or not it willadequately address the issues, it is kind of difficult to have someone say that they areacting on the Board’s behalf when they have not told the Board that they were actuallygoing to do it. For that reason I am going to go to the City Council on your behalf andexplain some of our concerns.Comm. Brown: Dr. Hodges is going to the City Council on behalf of the full Board.Thank you very much. Just to briefly comment or dovetail on what Comm. Hodges wastalking about, that was one of the reasons why we formed a joint governancecommittee, so we could have a dialogue with the City Council and with theadministration of the city so we can coordinate and plan together how we want to try toprovide the best recreational and educational facilities for our children. So Dr. Hodges, Iwant to say thank you very much for going and speaking in our behalf.Page 33 11/9/05