MINUTES OF THE PATERSON BOARD OF EDUCATION REGULAR ...

Comm. Atallo: I concur with Chief Spagnola, Comm. Santiago, and Comm. Moody.There is no reason why a child should go hungry. I don’t care what the circumstancesare, whether the parent can pay or cannot pay. We will deal with that issue. With themoney that this district spends on a lot of things that we look at and shake our heads, Idon’t want to see any children go hungry. I just think it is wrong. We don’t know whatthe circumstances are all the time at home and if students are hungry they can'tconcentrate on their educational program. So please Dr. Glascoe, address that. I thinkthat is something that should top our list. No child should go hungry. We will deal withthe cost factor later. We will worry about that later on. Number two, I would like tocongratulate Anna Taliaferro and welcome her back to the battle for the education ofPaterson children. I know it took a lot for her to come out. We appreciate it. OnDecember 3 is Parent Awareness Day. Please come out and support it. It is a bigprogram. People will learn a lot. On Monday there was an article in the Herald & Newsand The Record. I was misquoted. I said that the stadium was owned by theDepartment of Education. I never said it was owed by the Department of Education. Isaid it was owned by the Board of Education. We own that facility. If any othergovernmental entity would like to discuss partnering they should come to us. I have twoother quick points. At the last meeting...Comm. Brown: Excuse me, Dr. Atallo. You are the author of the two-minute rule.Comm. Atallo: I have pearls of wisdom to offer you. My other two points very quicklyare I asked the attorneys about a letter regarding statements made regardingdefamation of people at the meetings. We are strong advocates of the first amendment.Free speech is something we defend. But we are not going to put up with defamatoryremarks, particularly against people who are not here to defend themselves. We askedlast month at the meeting and I would like to see something in writing as to what theadministration and the legal department plan to do. Finally, in response to one of thespeakers, when people come to work here we should be made aware of where theyworked before and what institutions, colleges, and graduate schools they haveattended. We requested that information and we are still waiting to receive it. Thankyou.Comm. Brown: I just have a brief comment. I really want to address the issue that ayoung lady brought up earlier about the school assignments. I am responsible for theschool assignments. I put a request out to my Board members asking them to choosethe school assignments that they would like. Only a couple of Board members sent meback responses. I understand that we are very overwhelmed with work. However, bynext month whoever does not submit to me a School Board assignment list I will assignthe schools and we will report that out at the next Board meeting. Thank you verymuch. Have a Happy Thanksgiving.Comm. Taylor: I had asked that I keep the same schools I had.Comm. Brown: No problem. I did not mention anyone’s names. I said a couple ofBoard members submitted the list.It was moved by Comm. Taylor, seconded by Comm. Sayegh that the Board gointo executive session to discuss personnel. On roll call all members voted in theaffirmative, except Comm. Santiago who voted no. The motion carried.The meeting was adjourned at 9:40 p.m.Page 64 11/9/05