meetings act njsa 106 D 10 4-6 act adequate notice notification of this meeting has been provided by advertising in the records and posting notice in the Board of Education administration building paravano education center and filing notice with the city clerk I hereby call to order the organization meeting of the hackensac Board of Education Thursday January 4th 2024 in the hackensac high school media center at 66 6:16 [Music] p.m. um I welcome all to our annual organization meeting for the 202 for calendar year at this meeting the election results will be announced new board members will be sworn in and one seated officials of the new board will the new elected board will be seated I will now do the roll call for the current members of the hackin school board Mr bendezu is absent Mr Carol has Mr Coleman is absent Miss Ciro Alton present Miss Jennifer Harris present Mr Mian is absent Mr Pao is absent Miss Somerville present Mr Rodriguez is absent Mr James Victory presid okay so we have one two three four five [Music] members okay so the next item on our agenda is the election results and the Victorious candidates for the seats on the hackin Haack board of education for three-year terms are markstein Kenneth Martin and Shani Pringle congratulations to you [Applause] all um next item on the agenda is the administration of the oath of office to the newly elected board members uh for this purpose we are honored to have here with us the US Representative Joshua s gimer he is an attorney writer and a public policy advisor who has served as the US Representative for New Jersey's fifth Cong congressional district since 2017 thank you for coming and please do administer I'm hugely honored thank you so much uh Happy New Year everyone happy New Year thank you so much for welcoming me here tonight it is a very big honor for me uh and no one's described me as a writer in a long time so I like that thank you I feel smarter being in this room I'm in a school it's great um I did get anxious I don't know how you all do this I was walking through the halls and thinking did I miss my test did I right what did I turn in all my papers um I assume that's normal uh so I I was saying you know this is a uh swearing at superintendent so swearing in board members is uh uh for the board of education is I I feel for you this is not an easy job and so it's definitely a lot harder than my job so thank you thank you all for serving uh and I I want to thank the superintendent uh thank you so much for for your service and trustees James vicory and uh Board of Education trustee Carol and trusty Cordo outon trusty Harris trusty Powell trusty Somerville trusty uh bendu trusty Singh trusty Rodriguez trusty Coleman trusty man I know not everyone's here but I just wanted to recognize everybody I also want to acknowledge and recognize a very dear friend of mine Lyn herwitz who is here um you may know her you may be scared of her like me um um the phone call came and said I need you to swear in Board of Education member some of my dear friends um uh and you know I the sentence was like the word cloud was still hanging and of course I said yes right because if Lynn asks I do it so thank you Lynn also for your leadership and all you give to our phenomenal Community here uh and those of you who don't know me I represent New Jersey's fifth congressional district so parts of Bergen County parts of sus County and part of Bay County so basically a lot of the top of the state of New Jersey as was mentioned I got elected first in 2016 started in 2017 and so it's been a huge honor for me to represent this community for many years uh I I do while I'm here want to recognize our brave First Responders our firefighters uh our law enforcement our EMTs and any veterans who are here thank you all for your service to our great country the greatest country in the world thank you very much I I think all of us together realize that and I I see think about this in watching all the time that it all comes down to our our children our youth everything everything we do is about the Next Generation and making sure we build a stronger future for them and uh the people behind me and you uh who will be sworn in momentarily um uh and everyone who works in the school our Educators uh our administrators understand that the most important responsibility is teaching our children and making sure that we have a strong future especially in New Jersey where our whole economy depends on it but also that's what our families are about it's about passing on uh everything to the Next Generation and and it's what motivates me every day I've got a 14-year-old daughter which L know can't believe she's my redhe head she's 14 she just started High School I've an 11-year-old boy um and you know having a 14-year-old daughter challenging you've had them challenging um I've aged about 98 years from my daughter um uh that's what I hear that's what I hear my 11y old boy as long as we talk about sports were okay um he tough too uh but seriously I'm I'm very lucky to have such great kids and my mom was an educator and um may she uh rest in peace you know bless of memory and she said to me when I first got elected do not for if you know you think L's tough do not forget for one second what your job is here and that's to make sure that you take care of the future and so I want to thank you for doing that and and this this community is all but it does such an amazing job a place to raise a family and run a business and um it's just such a great place and beautiful neighborhoods and and streets and and I I love it here in this community and and it's been very good to me so thank you U so now I get to swear in uh Mark Stein and Kenneth Martin uh and javanni Pringle uh and I I'm excited about this I also want to thank family and friends who are here you know running uh is tough it's tough not just on the person running as you all know but also on their family and their friends it's a lot it's a lot to give right it's a lot of sacrifice so and then of course doing the job right a lot of sacrifice so I and and for not just you but for everybody else around you so I want to give a round of applause to everybody who has stood by the people who've been elected by the way also a requirement for my wife um she you know she never lets me forget uh about that and so I think that's really important and with incredibly uh with Incredible public schools here uh in a diverse Community with wonderful neighbors hackensac is just the perfect example of what Jersey has to offer uh and it's and I think frankly a huge symbol for the rest of our country um hack school's educated some of the most influential Minds in our history Nelly Parker the first African-American teacher in Bergen County uh e Frederick marrow the first africanamerican to hold an executive position at the white house uh Ellen zin the first uh female NFL agent also pretty cool history and you know and I've personally done so much to the community too Thanksgiving turkey Drive parades um and Everyone is always so great to me and and you understand why if you come in schools like this and with students I've done events here and you know why uh the school district is so successful so thank you for your leadership I'm very grateful the oath that you will take tonight is very similar to the one that dates back hundreds of years to the first Congress in 1789 it's pretty incredible so these words are are literally very similar to the first those that were ministered back in the first Congress in 1789 and the oath and the responsibility that comes with it hasn't changed which is your job of course is you know is to make sure that you protect you serve you stand by and you fight and get the backs of our children and others right that is what the oath is all about it's in huge responsibility as you know and I know you take it very seriously um educating our children is not something that is uh something that anything anyone should take lightly and I know that oath means a lot Kennedy President Kennedy said which I think really Rings true that things in government don't just happen right so it's it's not by accident it takes a lot of work for everybody in this room everyone in this building uh the board it takes in and all all the elected officials in the community it takes a lot of work working together so thank you thank you for fighting for our shareed Jersey values uh and and for what you do so God bless you and God bless our great country now Mark Ken and Shani uh uh I'm going to say just a couple words about each of them so I'm going to say I'm going to call one up if that's okay well I'm present I'm going to swear you in and then I'm going to say something about the next person that's okay with you I want to talk about you a little bit is that are you okay with that family okay if I show off about them just a little bit um because as there's a great poet who said it's not the oath that makes us believe the person but the person the oath right and and it's all an oath is just words it's the people behind the oath that matter so I'm going to start with Mark Stein that's [Applause] okay and not just because he's a giant like me me a giant of men and know like are you kidding me you're going everywhere with me I love this okay Mark was just elected to his fourth term as you all know as a trustee on the board of education previously serving from 2009 to 2018 including time as president vice president of the board to lead the school district that has not only taught him but also his children uh it's pretty amazing Mark grew up in hackensac and stayed on stayed here to raise his family his son Sean not only graduated from hackensac high school but also the US Naval Academy currently serving as Commander which is please thank your son for his service his daughter Michelle who graduated from hackin act school system and her husband Michael are both teachers they both Educators they have a daughter uh your granddaughter Mark has two other granddaughters Rachel and Maya uh Mark has been a longtime leader in hack act serving four terms on the city council for 16 years and was also Deputy Mayor he also served B County as a fiscal analyst he set up for hackin saac time and again he has uh for Burton County for our state as a former president founding member of hackensac Education Foundation former president of the hackensac uh Athletic Club hackensac High School athletic Alumni Association and hackensac blue and gold scholarship fund he spent more than 20 years coaching Little League baseball and softball nine years coaching football 16 years as president coach of the hackensac Jr field hockey program uh he does this all before noon every day he also is the treasur of the Board of Trustees of Temple Beal here in town as serving as President and Vice President of the past his dedication to hackensac is unrivaled it's really incredible all the service you've given to our state and Country he always has understood that Hackensack school system's biggest strength is its diversity students learn not just from their classes but from each other as well people like Mark are constantly bringing us together so that we can learn from one another and put our country and our community first and with all you've accomplished already you proven I know that you care deeply you feel deeply you will fight hard and continue to fight hard um and you're just building on all your Decades of service and for that we're all grateful congratulations on being [Applause] elected I believe here [Music] we hold want to hold this I'm fine with you're okay right there right there okay right hand right hand I Mark sign I Mark signin do solemly swear do solemnly square that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established and to the governments established in the United States in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people so help me God so help me God I Mark Stein I Mark Stein do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I possess the qualifications that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law prescribed by law for the office of member of a Bo of Board of Education Board of members of board of educ for the office of member of a board of education for the office of member of the board of educ ation and then I am not disqualified and I am not disqualified as a voter as a voter pursuant to pursuant to RS RS 19 19 4-1 4-1 nor disqualified nor disqualified due to conviction of a crime due to conviction of a crime or offense or offense listed in njs listed in njs 18a 18a 12-1 12-1 and that I will Faithfully and I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly and justly perform all the duties perform all the duties of that of that of that office of that office according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God [Applause] congratulations so I brought for you here I had this flag flown this week over the United States capital and your honor saring [Music] [Applause] that's one [Applause] more could you SAR us anything [Music] take your seat and that was the I've never had to like read off code numbers in the middle of swearing in that was a first for me okay now we're going to get to swearing Kenneth Martin huge honor for [Applause] me you're taller than the last guy okay K has just elected to his first term as trustee on the board of education bringing his extensive experience as a first responder and lifelong hackin sack resident to the board and a long friend of mine as well uh kenth has always stepped up his work for the community working with hackin saac ambulance Corps American Red Cross and hackensac auxiliary police he was a hackin saac police detective for more than 25 years and was the first ever school resource officer in the state it's a pretty amazing thing by the way and a founding board member of the New Jersey Association of school resource officers Kenneth has served as part of the hackin saac Rotary Club for 13 years previously serving as its president he currently serves as both vice president and as assistant to the governor of the local Rotary Club District he has been a strong supporter lifelong supporter of hackin Youth he co-founded hackin youth on the move an organization that employ empowers children to recreational programming including talent shows charity sporting events and trips to museums in his spare time I don't know where that is he loves to travel with his daughters Taylor and Karen uh Kenneth knows that the student B's diversity and the School District staff dedication to their students are hackin sack's biggest and greatest strength he's always encouraging hackin saac students to come back and work in Jersey and work in the district Kenneth for all you've done for hackin saac for all you've given to support our safety and educating others and looking after for our youth you've proven that you care deeply about the students here in our community spent your you spent your entire career protecting and guiding young people and I know you'll continue to do so as a trustee I'm certain that you will make Hackensack an even better place to live and raise a family and learn for students congratulations on your [Applause] election that [Music] okay I Kenneth Martin I Kenneth Martin do solemly swear somly swear that I will support the Constitution that I will support the Constitution of the United States of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and allegiance to the same and to the governments and to the governments established in the United States established in the United States and this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people so help me God so help me God I Kenneth Martin I Kenneth Martin do Solly swear Sol swear that I possess the qualifications that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law prescribed by law for the office of member for the office of member of Board of Education of Board of Education and then I am not disqualified and I'm not disqualified as a voter as a vote pursuant to pursu to rs19 rs19 4-1 4-1 nor disqualified nor disqualified du the conviction of a crime through conviction of a crime or offense or offense listed listed in njs listed in njs 18a 18a 12-1 12-1 and then I will faithfully and I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly and justly perform all the duties perform all duties of that office of that office according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God congratulations oh here it is [Music] [Applause] sorry [Music] okay last but certainly not least missan [Applause] [Music] Pringle sh was just elected to her first term as trustee to work on solutions to the issues she saw as a PTA member I know that a big reason ran uh was to help make the physical learning environment in our classrooms better and safer and work to make changes as you have and as you did so much with the parents for so long to help other people johnie is a loving mother to three children Sakina Kobe and ilila I got that right I hope s good I practiced that uh Kobe is a Hack and Sack high school graduate and Ila is currently a student there her kids have been active with their schools as cheerleaders years and track and field I've been told thatan bleeds blue and gold through and through for 18 yearsan was an Executive Administrative Assistant I'm outside high school of medicine after that she worked in a law office as a claims examiner for workers compensation and Social Security disability claims of course helping others because that's been the common theme throughout your life in her Spare Time Shan Volunteers in the community including a PTA at Fanny Hiller Elementary School at Fanny Hiller Elementary School and as a member of Mount Olive Baptist church one of my favorite places to go um uh nothing better there on a Sunday morning you don't feel good going there I don't know what to talk about it's better than the temple L from her time in the PTA Shani knows the importance of working together to make positive change for Hackensack students TR with all you've done and all I know you're going to do and all you help other people and parents and involvement you are going to give so much more and uh I don't know how you do it but it's amazing and I know you're gonna and do an excellent job here and the community is lucky lucky lucky lucky to have you doing this you advocate for them in the PTA you advocate for them uh uh on on like with physical and mental health of our students and now in this role you'll be able to elevate your work to the next level so [Applause] congratulations I need that Lea you have to come up here to hold the Bible because I can't do it by [Music] [Laughter] [Music] myself Al so nice of you to come up you didn't have to do that hi Shan Pringle do solemnly swear to Solly swear that I will support the Constitution that I will support the Constitution of the United States of the United States and the Constitution and the constition of the state of New Jersey of the state of New Jersey and I will bear true faith and I will and allegiance to the same and alance to the same and to the governments established and the government in the United States and the United States and this state and this state Under The Authority Under the authority of the people so help me God help me I sh Pringle I shingle do Sly swear swear that I possess that I possess the qualifications prescribed the qualifications prescribed by law by law for the office for the office of member of Board of Education of member of Board of Education and I am not disqualified and I'm not disqualified as a voter as a voter pursuant pursuant to RS to RS 19 19 4-1 nor disqualified disqualified due the conviction thetion of a crime of crime or offense listed in njss 18a 12-11 and then I will faithfully and I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly andly perform all the duties perform all the duties of that office according to the best of my ability ACC to the of so help me God help [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] congratulations thank you all so much for having me uh God bless have a great year I can't wait to uh see you again soon thank you so [Music] [Applause] much no that's okay thank [Music] you [Music] yeah um at this point um I I think it's appropriate for us to partake of Refreshments while our right honorable representative is here maybe you can join us now come back so that since we're recommunity [Music] just some highlight just okay on the advice of board attorney I am going to do a roll call for the new members also um Mr bendezu is absent Mr Carol present Miss cir Alton present Miss Jennifer Harris present Mr kennet Martin pres Mr Powell is absent Miss Pringle PR present Miss Marlene Som lyia Mr Paul's here oh Mr Paul is present uh did you say yes sir he just walks say present please present please okay um Mr Powell is present M jaavan Pringle is present Miss Marlene Somerville present Mr markstein here Mr James vickory pres do so right now we do have a quorum all right um so the next my next request is for our board attorney um Jacqueline D armono to explain the election process for choosing the president and the vice president of our board okay so hi everybody um welcome new members just a quick review of the process since we only do it once a year um there will be any member May Place Another member's name or their own into nomination a second is not required but also you can do it if you wish um election will be conducted by vote when the nominations for that office are closed so once we've heard them all we will write them down in the order that we hear them then what happens is each vote will take place in verbal roll call order after the nominations are closed it functions as a ballot you are to vote yay to only one member the person you believe should hold the position and N to any others okay so you don't get more than one yay vote in each individual ballot if at the end of that vote the person who has a majority of the members present voting in favor of them will earn the position uh if that does not occur we will go to a second vote it should be noted that as of no nomber uh 21st 2022 if no nominees receive a majority of the vote of the members present after three roll call votes the matter will begin a new at the next meeting and if no nominee at that point receives a majority vote after three roll calls vote um the board secretary is instructed by the president or vice president if they're elected to um notify the executive County Superintendent of a deadlock okay so we have three votes three possible votes if somebody wins on the first round we don't need those additional rounds um does anybody have any questions for me can I turn it back over to so um I will now entertain nominations for the Office of the President of the Hackensack board of education for the calendar year 2024 I would like to nominate Scott James vicory do I have any other nominations so no other with no other nominations I will do a roll call so Mr bendu is absent Mr Carol yes M Ciro Alton yes Miss Jennifer Harris no Mr Kenneth Morton yes Mr Paulo [Music] AB Miss Pringle yes Miss morene Somerville obain Mr markstein yes Mr J vickory excuse okay so I have one two three 4 five six yeses yes I have six yeses one no two extensions and so [Music] [Applause] congratulations you want to give [Music] me the floor is now yours all right so thank you um we will move right along to um opening the floor for nominations for the vice president for the calendar year 2024 I open the floor I would like to nominate Miss Cordo outon all right so we have Miss leet Cordo Alton is there anybody else that we would like to nominate nominate Jennifer myy all right we have Harris haris sorry Jen okay Jennifer Harris we we have trust Harris Jennifer [Music] Harris is there anyone else that we would like to [Music] nominate all right so I will close the nominations and according to our rules we um Miss Cordo Alton was nominated first so we will do that one first um so we will do a roll call yes uh Mr Mendes who is absent Mr Carol yeah M cardoon yes Miss Jennifer Harris no Mr Kenneth Martin yes Mr Powell no Miss Shani Pringle yes Miss Marlene Somerville no Mr Mark Stein yes Mr James vickory oh yes so tallying the votes I have 1 2 3 four five six yeses has the majority of the vote and I have knows so miss C Al congratulations thank you all right thank you um so we will now turn it over to Mr Matt Lee who will be leading us um all of us each year we uh those who have been on the board are reminded of our code of ethics and then our for our new folks um it may be a first time it may be an additional for those who have served before um of our code of efforts so Mr Le president uh good evening everyone uh I guess my team's going to be jealous because I had a congressman in my opening act today um so as mentioned uh Boards of Education are mandated by the qac process to review the code of ethics each year underneath the governance section of qac and um as your support Organization for the state New Jersey school boards Association develops a program to bring boards up to speed not only on those things that have occurred recently but also as a reminder of board's obligations from an ethical perspective each year so I'm going to begin with a quick discl claimer that if you have questions related to ethical obligations you have a couple of paths to um to pursue um number one being Consulting your board attorney who should always who Guiden should always be your uh North Star if you will and you also have the ability to request a an advisory opinion from the school ethics commission we'll talk more about that as we go forward um but your board attorney really is um your sort of final word on your guidance relative to ethics we are always available to talk things through with you and to give um some guidance but your uh your board attorney should be the advice you work for um clearly ethics and accountability are a Cornerstone of any public servant role uh as a school official you have the honor to serve the public but that also comes with a respons responsibility and um the school ethics commission has um sort of declared that the school ethics Act is really just a minimum set of ethical standards by which school officials should abide the ethics act itself um came around in 1991 and it said that it was essential for the conduct of members of local Boards of Education to hold the respect and the confidence of the people they were serving and it caution board members to avoid conduct that's in violation of the public trust or could create a justifiable impression among the public that the trust is being violated so it's not just material violations but also the perception in the Public's eye about a board member's conduct the ethics act established a few things uh the ethics commission which I mentioned prior uh created a uh set of uh standards around what we call prohibited acts it put in place the mandatory training requirements for board members and also the code of ethics which developed um quite a few years later but as a point of Interest was based on a code of ethics that the njsba members themselves adopted for the body um back in the 70s it also um created the need for disclosure statements um those are the personal SL relative and financial disclosure statements that all board members and administrators have to fill out each year so you may ask who is accountable in these um areas first uh there are Provisions that apply to all school officials so the guidance around prohibited acts and also the disclosure statements which we just talked about apply to all school officials so that our board members for public school districts and Charter Schools some njsba staff and officers yes I fill out those forms every year as well uh and administrators uh so folks who hold a certificate to serve as an administrator a principal or a business administrator things that apply exclusively to board members and Charter School trustees are the code of ethics and the mandatory training requirements and again we'll go into detail about those as we go forward how is the act enforced the ACT is enforced through the body we referred to earlier the school ethics commission that is a nine-member body it is appointed by the governor each term of those members is three years maximum of five from any one political party it is always comprised of five non-school officials two school board members and two School administrators as I may have discussed here before this isn't always fully staffed and that can be a problem and we'll talk about that moving forward the sec's jurisdiction as I mentioned um earlier when we talked about guidance uh falls into two areas first is advisory opinions this is something that a school official can request about proposed conduct and not that would constitute a violation of the act or the code the little um sort of yellow note underneath that area um states that those advis opinions can be made public with a vote of 2third of the school ethics Commission in the past the membership has fallen below six votes excuse me six sitting members in which case the six votes needed to make advisory opinions would not be possible and uh most recently when that had occurred uh once they got to six votes and were able to make uh advisory opinions public a whole SLE of them came public at one time and therefore a lot of people were scrambling how to stay in compliance with those advisories um as of this afternoon when I checked there are currently six seated members on the SEC um yeah just a question sure can you just Define School official sure that was defined um on this slide but just to be clear SCH officials sure those are school officials right there so a board member cannot request an advisory opinion right sure they can absolutely they're the only people who can request an advisory opinion school officials so administrators or board members yep um the other area in which the SEC is active is around ethics complaints ethics complaints and contracts can be filed by anyone so member of the public M of the staff another administrator another board member they are alleging some kind of VI violation of the school ethics act or code has taken place and just as a sense of what the volume looks like for the SEC you can see on the right side of the slide that annually there are roughly 85 ethics complaints filed and 35 advisory opinions requested we talked about mandatory training a little bit and this is one of the areas in which we've had a change recently so the mandatory training for for brand new board members which is um very creatively referred to as governance one is now required within the first 90 days of service prior years it was a full year you had to take that training but of course um looking at the climate over the last few years it became very apparent that new board members needed some grounding in what their roles and responsibilities were so the State Board of Education did pass pass that in uh early 2023 and beginning with no excuse me April elections in 2023 uh the 90-day uh window was put in place governance one talks about basic knowledge and skills um makes board members acquainted with New Jersey cusac which is the state monitoring program uh talks about your responsibilities around harassment intimidation and bullying you your uh role within the CSA evaluation process obligations around the open public meetings act and also the code of ethics year two you would take governance to so that's your second year of service you do have a full year to take that I would highly recommend not leaving until December 31st your attempts to create or to do your mandatory training um there are a number of different areas or excuse me V Vehicles if you would to do your training we offer in-person options we offer live virtual options and we also have a self-paced online program um if you need to take that would highly recommend having those interactive um courses if you can governance three or excuse me governance two is around finance and labor issues so negotiations Etc governance three revolves around student achievement and once again by the end of year three you need to have taken that and then in the first year of every subsequent term you would take governance four which is essentially a legal update for disclosure statements which we referred to earlier these are your personal relative and financial disclosure statements uh new school officials need to file within 30 days of the start of employment or taking office and returning school officials have an April 30 deadline to file those disclosure statements those are uh facilitated through the Department of Education through your local business administrator or board secretary another place where we've had change in the last year or so is around um the penalties that are uh put in place especially around the personal relative Financial disclosure statements and also around your mandatory training um generally speaking the penalties that can be assessed if you're found in violation are a reprimand which is a rebuke by the commissioner that's in written form but it doesn't result in a formal resolution for your board a centure which is the next sort of Step Up in terms of seriousness and that is a formal disapproval once again by the commissioner but it's also publicized by the adoption of a resolution by your board the next two are pretty self-explanatory a suspension um which can range from any number of days that that are recommended by the SEC typically about a 30 to 180 day suspension and in that suspension period board members are barred from engaging in any official activity as a board member and the last one of course and most serious would be removal and that would be immediate termination from board membership or employment uh the next piece is the code I will go through the code uh fairly quickly um I will point out some pretty Salient points relative to what the code helps to Define I did want to draw your attention to the bottom of the slide those standards are the language which the SEC is going to use to um compare the facts in a case to determine whether or not there's been a violation of the of the code so um you you will be able to refer to that over time and it's a really good guidance as to what the uh the specific things are that are going to potentially be a problem for you okay starting with a I will uphold and enforce all laws rules and regulations of the State Board of Education and court orders pertaining to schools desired changes shall be brought about only through legal and ethical procedures and I think um one of the most uh sort of fresh examples of a um State Board of Education mandate um was the mask mandate during Co um there were certain folks in the education area who didn't feel that that needed to be applied but of course it did and you as state officials need to enforce that it's part of your obligation tenant B I will make decision in terms of the educational welfare of children and will seek to develop and maintain public schools that meet the individual needs of all children regardless of their ability race Creed sex or social standing um there's a any number of different factors that bring someone to board service um you may have been um very interested in your own child's education or you may have been um encouraged to do so by a community group that you belong to but this part of the code um reminds you that once you become a seated board member you need to be thinking about the needs of all students in the district regardless of any distinguishing characteristics see this is where we kind of learn where our job is right I will confine my my board action to policym planning and appraisal and I will help to frame policies and plans only after board has consulted those who will be affected by them so we can see here that our um actions are confined to things that are very high level very strategic and to an oversight role and um we will see in the next part of the code that there are things that are not part of our role D I will carry out my responsibility not not to administer the schools but together with my fellow board members to see that they are well-run so uh this part of the code clearly speaks to the fact that you are not managers of the district you are not administrators of the district you are there to provide oversight and to ensure that those things that have been set out as goals whether strategic or annual are happening and progressing and also to evaluate the chief education officer of your District meaning your superintendent E I will recognize the authority rest with the Board of Education will make no personal promises nor take any private action that may compromise the board this uh reminds you that the board acts as a body and that individual board members do not have authority to execute anything either personally or on behalf of the board and it also reminds board members that there are things that you may do individually that may bring liability back on the board in some way shape or form and you are not to take those private actions uh because obviously they can have a detrimental effect on the operation of the board F I will refuse to surrender my independent judgment to special interest or partisan political groups or to use the schools for the personal gain for the gain of friends and clearly we can see from the standards language there that board members are reminded that they are meant to separate themselves from political or any any sort of uh special interest group interests and to be thinking about students first and they're also not to try to leverage their position to try to gain some personal benefit for someone for themselves or someone they know G I will hold confidential all matters pertaining to the schools which if this closed would needlessly injure individuals or the schools in all other matters I will provide accurate information and in concert with my fellow board members interpret to the staff the aspirations of the community for a school so we can see here there's two very important Concepts the first is that you as board members um are privy to some information that cannot be discussed in public with the um knowledge that those things are being held in executive session to protect people's rights or the standing of the district from a legal perspective so um those things need to be kept confidential they can't be discussed with anyone besides your board attorney your administrators or other swor members of the board this includes your spouses and your goldfish and your dog and all that kind of stuff so just talk to talk to sworn board members and your administrators an attorney and that's it uh the next piece of course is that board members are meant to be a um the board I should say is meant to be a conduit between the community and the and the district the administration so um it it's a board's role to help Define the high level hopes and aspirations for the community for its schools and um to set goals and you know sort of a stretegic plan in order to uh actualize those things h i will vote to appoint the best qualified Personnel available after consideration of the recommendation of the chief administrative officer um quick question for the board how many people does the board employ one right everyone else works for the superintendent right so um it's important for board members to realize that they are not part of the Personnel function in the district they communicate with the staff through the superintendent and they also are not part of the hiring process unless they are invited to take part in interviews by the superintendent although that is not recommended by the SEC I I will support and protect School personnel and proper performance of their duties um you can see from the standards language here that um a violation would include evidence that someone took deliberate action that resulted in undermining opposing or compromising harming School Personnel in the proper performance of their duties so someone comes up to you on the soccer field or at the concert and says geez those tubas sound terrible you don't want to join in and pile on right um you want to make sure that uh folks who are doing their jobs are shielded from those kinds of things last one Jay I'll refer all complaints to the chief administrative officer and we'll act on the complaints at public meetings only after failure of an administrative solution um this part of the code refers to a concept that you may be familiar with what what would you call that it sounds a lot like chain of command yes Chain of Command right so in this case um board members are not meant to try to resolve problems on their own there are problems that are brought to the attention of board members certainly um you know you can listen to what those complaints may be but to promise any sort of action on that uh is stepping outside of a board's proper role so anything that's made known to board members um should be communicated to the superintendent and then board members should step away from those things and let those be resolv through the administrative side of the district um there's a very important sort of um function to that and that is that if things proceed through the chain of command to the point where they are not successfully resolved the administrative side they could be brought in front of the board and if they are brought in front of the board and you have weighed in somewhere along the way as a board member you've compromised your ability to Rend an impartial decision when it does come before you so um communicate it to your superintendent and step away okay so um there's a number of cases uh that were released in the last year that uh I think will help you to understand um that concept of take any private action that may compromise the board so uh the citation you see there is a a c981 the C standing for commissioner decision and the 21 is from the year 2021 so you can see how long some of these take to be resolved uh in this particular case a member copied and pasted info from a board email and sent that nonpublic content so in other words executive or um you know sort of private uh content to the township officials um within the course of that of course revealed the board's in communication and that had the potential to compromise the board and the information was considered confidential as the board had not yet voted on the contents in the case of this um the uh respondent was found to have violated and and reprimand was recommended for that person the next case was a member sent email from a district account to a known political entity Miss representing the intent of a rally at the district content um suggested political motivation that had only invited one side on that issue uh using the board email was found to have potentially given the impression statements were made on behalf of the board so all of you probably have been issued at this point a district email um you have to use that with care right because you don't want to position yourself somehow in people's eyes as speaking on behalf of the board in this case there was a reprimand issued C20 D20 uh a member um of his own valtion contacted vendors and districts for prices to move from one it platform to another uh in this case um of course a board member can express disagreement in a board meeting but it was found to be inappropriate to conduct a private investigation which of course it would be um and that person effectuated plans without consulting with those who would be impacted and place the board at risk um as I read the details of this case not only did the board member um try to solicit bids on their own but also had their private secretary trying to solicit bids as well so um yeah in this case a pretty serious and a centure was issued c88 D21 uh this person used board email to Express Personal views on mask mandates and encourag action and then also sent that to the state legislature and members of the public once again um potentially representing themselves as speaking for the board that was um issued a reprimand in that case c86 D21 um two incidents in this uh a member at the request of the association sent an email to the board and an administrative assistant accusing the superintendent of changing graduation date due to a personal conflict in this case of course private action violated uh the code the next piece the same member as Secretary of a local organization was told by the principal that A Chorus would not be performing so texted the chorus teacher to question why board members belong texting staff members no no definitely not right if there was a question about why the course wasn't performing what's the proper thing for a board to do board member to do ask the superintendent as the superintendent of course right so in this case um of course uh person was found to have violated for tenants of the code and a censure was issued for both incidents c25 D21 a member met with members of the public to quote unquote justify our actions for a walk-on motion of a highly divisive board action to change a holiday name uh you may recall this from the Press um um this action undermined the board's decision-making process as is up to the board to publicly discuss and or explain the rationale for its decisions in other words the business you do should happen in public unless it meets the nine exceptions of the open public meetings act right um it also undermined the administration's Authority and imposed a strain on the administration board relationship once again reprimand issued Co 4-20 day after board president lost the election directed the board councel to conduct research on another board member who had campaigned against him once again took private action and used his position to secure a privilege for himself um as you're all probably familiar from your own bylaws your business administrator superintendent and your board president are typically the only people who can reach out and give direction to your board attorney in this case that was clearly an abuse of that uh Authority okay um prohibited acts uh these things um you know we used to call these conflicts we're now calling them prohibited acts um and you can see this is an excerpt uh and there's a link up there for you can see where you can see um sort of a full accounting of these pred acts uh with these you need to recuse yourself if there's going to be a benefit to you or your media family due to a number of different areas mainly revolving around some kind of advantage or benefit whether Financial or employment M or a gift or favor um you would have no discussion or no vote if any of these situations existed for you if you have a question based on your circumstances which can be very sort of specific as to what constitutes a conflict please consult your board attorney there's been some um question about what's the difference between conflict and recusal so [Music] um sorry recusal and exstension so when a conflicted board member votes there is a distinction between a recusal and and an absens if a board member has a conflict they need to recuse themselves that is not a situation in which you can just abstain you shouldn't have been part of the discussion nor would you be part of the vote um abstaining will not um support your uh intention to recuse yourself from those discussions or voting so you do need to um actually stay away from those discussions extension won't cover it relationship definitions um when it comes to determining conflicts often the nature of a relationship is going to come into play so um a relationship uh of excuse me an immediate mediate family member the relationship is defined uh now as a spouse civil union or domestic partner or dependent child residing in the same household a relative is really quite an expansive definition as you can see that is by Blood marriage or adoption um a relative relationship can uh create a conflict and anyone who's not listed may also be considered Ed an other if a conflict exists and an other could present a conflict to you as well so once again your specific circumstances should be uh vetted through your board attorney this is a uh a partial list of the sec's effort to basically touch on every single relationship that could be uh affecting a board member's ability to act and and um once again this is just a piece and the rest of it can be found by looking at the uh the link that we see there hiring and Personnel um if you have a relative who works in a district and you are an administrator or a board member you will have some limitations in certain areas so if you're an administrator in the district and you have a relative so somebody was a teacher here maybe a a you know a son or daughter or your wife happens to be a teacher here or your husband happens to be a teacher here and you are hired as the chief School administrator you may not exercise direct or indirect authority over that relative someone else would have to exercise that supervisory Authority if you are a board member you can't take part in any employment matters concerning the superintendent or supervisors in the chain of command between the relative relative and the superintendent so of course board members can't hire relatives into the district but once again you can be elected to the board if you do have a relative working in the district already so if that circumstance does happen you do need to make sure you separate yourselves from those Personnel matters if um again you have a relative in the district and there is a superintendent sech you may not take part in any aspect of a superintendent search whether it's just interviewing search firms or creating um a set of requirements for someone to be hired or creating an ad even you can't be taking part in any of those things collective bargaining um this is pretty handy chart uh basically the way it reads is column one is defining the relationship to a board member column two is stating whether or not that person is a member of a Statewide Public teachers union the next two are participate in negotiations yes or no and vote to ratify the contract yes or no so Row one says if your spouse dependent child child who's not a dependent or a relative works in the district it's a no on both counts if you as a board member your spouse or dependent child works out of dist District in a Statewide teachers union as of this advisory opinion in 2017 you may not participate in negotiations but absent any other kind of conflict you may vote on the contract once all of the terms of the contract have been settled including salary guides and any other um aspects of compensation and the last row says that uh if you have a child who's not a dependent or a relative who works out of District but is in a Statewide Public teachers union you may participate in negotiations you may vote absent another conflict and often the nature of that other conflict would be heightened Union involvement meaning that relative is on the negotiating team in their own District they are a a union officer in their own District or a building route so once again your specific circumstances are very important to vet three your board attorney um uh so these are the things that I mentioned before uh this one here on the right is the one I uh I just spoke about okay uh a number of advisory opinions um were issued in 2023 uh we'll go through these quickly a board member's child Works in District's after care the supervisor is a teacher who reports to the principal was that a conflict yes it turns out they recuse themselves from any and all matters related to superintendent and supervisor and chain of command and the union a223 spouse is a councilman in the buau can that board member vote on an SRO officer uh this is one of those cases where actual or perceived personal or financial involvement could violate the public confidence that's that justifiable impression that we talked about at the very beginning so that is uh that board excuse me yeah that board member was um advised to recuse for many and all matters related to the burrow 880-22 said that a wife works in a district mistakenly voted to renew the csa's contract in a block of 48 items abstained from another item in the block Bel in in this case once again potential for a conflict actually perceived um this was a commissioner case and a reprimand was issued in this case uh a 1-23 can a board member continue to work for a Food Service vendor as a lunch lady in the district um what was recommended there was reassignment because the uh the board member questions spent substantial time within the district uh not just somebody who dropped off food or supplies or things like that was spending uh hours and hours every day in the district and therefore um that the the nature of that employment could pose a potential conflict and once again they were advised to uh get a different job with that if possible a-23 Town entering into a contract with a firm to upgrade tennis courts shared with school district on school grounds can the board members firm be subcontractor uh in this case The Advisory was yes but only have the same rights as any other member of the public uh try for someone else to physically perform the work uh this person would have no authority over staff and the superintendent and it needed to be brought in uh last one uh c81 D20 commissioner decision said a board member who was a burrow CFO voted to approve a shared service agreement with the burrow for various maintenance type issues uh it was uh it was decided that the uh person had a direct or indirect Financial involvement and that could be reasonably expected to impair their objectivity once again a reprimand recommended there uh in this one a523 um board president the child was an instructional assistant in The District in this case the board president um was told they could not choose any committee members nor beond any committees involving the local union or any matters related to the superintendent they could not choose the chair the members Andor serve on any committee that remotely touches upon or directly relates to family members employment so that included things like Personnel negotiations instructional and finance the next one board member B spouse is a 10-month employee in a technology department once again can't be involved in any and all matters um very consistent with what we talked about when we first introduced the notion of conflicts uh anything that remotely touched upon that spouse is deployment executive session relative um impacts uh c87 D21 a member attended executive session discussion on candidates to fill a vacant board seat and her husband applied not good right co9 D20 board president attended multiple discussions on matter involving an immediate family member other board members unaware of the identity in both cases Council was consulted first um in this case I know censures were issued uh when a member with a conflict goes behind closed doors it does create that justifiable impression that the Public's trust is being violated it could end up providing an unwarranted privilege or Advantage not made available to the public members presence could chill or intimidate comments and opinions of others and members are responsible for their own actions with a duty to act prudently and cautiously um so again a cens censure issued in this case this has uh come to our attention recently uh relative to prerequisite factors to Anis of council this is very new um in the past it was basically accepted that advice of council was not something that could uh completely absolve you of culpability in some of these cases uh but very recently uh it was decided that it could potentially be a shield um if the council uh advised you in a certain way you accepted that and um and and you uh adhered to the advice that was given to you by Council uh once again this is a very fact sensitive um precept and uh all of the factors that needed to be in place must be satisfied once again I would urge you to consult your board attorney for questions on this area volunteering in schools um you are not prevented as a board member from volunteering in the schools but you have to be cognizant of the degree of involvement you would have with staff and students and also the degree of authority you might have so you have to ask questions around what would be the degree of giving directions or orders to students or staff or taking orders from students or staff that's really not something appropriate for a board member also the frequency with which you would be in the building if you show up every Wednesday and Friday for pizza lunch and somebody new walks into the building and has seen you four times in the last two weeks they could really believe that you were a staff member and you uh you certainly wouldn't be as a board member um there's there's no um room for board members to be handling the school district's money and uh certainly board members are prohibited from being the lead or regular volunteer or coach for a district team or a club or activity so um the the kind of phrase that you know the SEC has put forward relative to board member volunteerism is one-time non-executive volunteer activities so things like reading on Dr Seuss day fine right uh chaperoning a school trip fine uh but again you need to look at some of these other factors to judge whether or not you might be um you know sort of going a little bit too far and your board attorney once again should be conf consulted on this um if you are going in for a volunteer activity do let the superintendent know you'll be in the schools your presence in the schools is noted by many people and it can have a uh an effect on the environment of the school if board members are walking around so let the superintendent know what you will be doing when you're there uh do not have discussions about board activities or board um votes or board uh positions and always remember all your other obligations um under the code of ethics the other thing I would advise you as a former board member is that um once you are done with your volunteer activity you leave right it's not an opportunity to go check up on things right just because you happen to be in the building so do the work that you were intended to do when you got there and then exit the building okay um once again board members are entrusted to review recommendations from the superintendent and then to vote in the way they feel serves the needs of the districts and the students but board members must always consider it statutory obligations and I think this is a a reference to um when board members disagree with things that are you know sort of State mandates and they and they really don't feel that they can support them um you can think about things like masks and and Comprehensive Health and PE standards um you do have to remember that you have an obligation as a state official to uphold those things that come down from the State Board of Education um for appointment transfer or removal of certificated non-certificated staff you can vote any way that is not arbitrary or cacious um again if you have questions about what those terms could mean practically talk to your board attorney uh advisory opinion 81222 um was asked if the the school ethic act would have been violated if they voted affirmatively to refuse the New Jersey student learning standards for Comprehensive Health and PE the SEC said if it was shown that a school official acted contrary to the laws rules and regulations promulgated by the state board they would be in violation social media uh yeah there's a a world of um discussion around this of course uh there is a an admonition from the SEC that you need to include a disclaimer when you're communicating publicly about things that are uh issues that may become come before the schools um depends of course in a large part on the content of the speech uh if it has no correlation to the board business and couldn't possibly be regarded as a statement or Petition of the board um you wouldn't be in violation of the act right so if you're talking about your breakfast cereal or your cat you're fine it's when you start to get into those issues um where you could be mistakenly speaking um from your capacity as a public official that you can get yourself in trouble um so the SEC uh suggested a disclaimer um and they also have recommended or advised that the statement be included in bold and italics to separate it from um the regular statement you be may be making um it wouldn't be a violation if you didn't do it that way but that's their advice um so a couple of disclaimer q&as so if you use the disclaimer does that automatically protect you no it does not but it does help clarify the capacity in what you're speaking uh what would cause me to be in violation with a disclaimer so it's really a function of what you actually say and whether or not um you are speaking consistently in that statement with what you say in the disclaimer in other words you're not speaking about official things or representing yourself to represent the board uh if I don't use a disclaimer does that mean I'm automatically in violation of the ACT not necessarily once again you be looking at the content and the justifiable impression standard to see if you would be in violation and must you use the exact wording no but you do need to um hit on all Salient points in that disclaimer uh board members asked if as a private citizen it would violate the ACT if they answered operational questions about the district on a Facebook page so that would be a Q&A between parents and the Boe um once again you don't abdicate your rights to freedom of speech but you also have obligations as a public official to ensure that you're not violating any tenen of the ACT you need to be clear that comments made in a time or place other than that of a board meeting do not appear to be written on behalf or with authorization of the board and the community needs to be made aware in your statements of your status as a board member um and you need to be aware that the community is likely going to attribute um a greater degree of authority to the things that you say relative to school issues over someone else so keep all those things in mind um if you choose to comment on things like that um so um once you're elected uh it is no longer appropriate to use your campaign page to post on social media uh the idea is there is that it can be confusing and could lead to the filing of an Ethics complaint um social media account that inherently indicates your position as a board member could not be used uh the mere liking or sharing of a social media post uh isn't necessarily a violation but I would be very sort of discreet about those things that could be perceived from liking or sharing depending on the nature of the comment um divisive language board members need to refrain from inappropriate Communications have no place in the educational setting um the SEC use some language I think in a 2022 advisory um they strongly Advocate against uh board members using language that would quote derogate from the mission of the board so uh what they're telling you in those cases is to uh you know make sure that you're using language that doesn't really reflect poorly upon the district okay couple last points um do with your board and members and your administrators uh develop a list of conflicts if you have them and do visit it regularly to ensure that um your circumstances haven't changed and you now may have some limitations on how you act as a board member uh said it 20 times at least today consult with your board attorney on ethics issues uh and to uh potentially help help to find where conflicts might exist uh Schoolboard notes which you all can get in print and or digitally does have um synopses of advisory opinions when they're released by the commission so that's a good way to keep up as well um and you can look on the doe site for a number of these areas that we reviewed okay questions comments okay thanks for having me guys so we have um a copy of the school board ethics and then there is an acknowledgement of receipt that we need each of you to sign and pass to leave leave it in the folder or leave it in the folder that we give back to uh Miss saying at the end of the night we want to collect that from everyone tonight please all right thank you for your patience um that is important for you to hear as well um so that you can make sure that we are on our toes and it's important for us to um hear as well so now we will move into our public comments portion um all participants must sign in when it is your turn please take the following your name municipality any group affiliation that might be important um for us to know each person has a limit of three minutes uh Please be aware of the timer when it goes off and please direct all comments to me as the presiding officer and if there is a response to be uh given it will be held to the end of the public participation every day happy New Year [Music] Happy New Year to everyone happy year um we'll get this in in three minutes first of all congratulations to all of the new board members congratulations to the new superintendent um as you all stood up here everyone regardless of faith I saw put their hands in the Bible and I think the O said unto God my there is that when you go behind closed doors there's a scripture and I'm only going to paraphrase it it says lean not to your own understanding when you go into meetings it's not about anybody personally we all said it's about the students and if it's about the students there won't be about anybody individually so I hope that you all will continue to work together to continue make Hack and Sack because we are the county seat and people are watching us um I just want to bring up um thank you very much for last year when you move the board meetings to different schools I think that was a great idea I hope you do that again this year I was reading the the calendar of meetings for 2024 I do have one issue with that however I notice every meeting except one is scheduled on Wednesday night traditionally most churches especially African-American churches have Bible study and prayer meeting on Wednesday nights I ask that you review that and share it so it's not every Wednesday and I went down January February March April May I think there's only one June 26 July July 24th August 21st September 25th every meeting except one is scheduled on a Wednesday night so it's not just African-American churches the church down the street from is a Spanish church and they have prayer meeting on Wednesday night also it's hundreds of Year tradition and please reconsider that thank you [Music] happy New Year happy New Year congratulations to the new board members sivana yeah I'll see you in church okay she cleaned M Olive so um and congratulations once again uh Dr McBride I want to bring this up um and not to embarrass The District in any way I'm doing this because we have new trustees we have a new superintendent and I want to make it clear about especially the curriculum part of the agenda okay so I'm going to do this quickly all right so first of all this is my first year in second grade after 29 years of teaching so I did call Miss whiter names under my breath all summer when she moved me I was very disappointed um because I love third grade and I love fourth grade but I am thoroughly thoroughly thoroughly enjoying the experience let me tell you why new math program oh my gosh [Music] difficult social studies program again not to embarrass but miss Somerville can you read this hi exactly it's tiny right okay but this is what our kids are expected to read okay all right now last year oh foundations I'm going to talk about that in a moment and I have writing samples of my second graders absolutely phenomenal now again so we got a new reading program right and again I understand the decisions that are made and how we right exactly paid all this money for this consultant that we spoke about last year and many of us had issues with okay the program does not really work it just doesn't and the only reason why I say that it doesn't work is because as a second grade teacher this year I have to credit the kindergarten teachers and first grade teachers at Parker School those are the only ones I know right now that sought other avenues to teach children how to read now some of you are my age so you probably remember SRA remember those low cards isn't that how we learned how to read right because of your phonics and your phonix right okay so now here's my problem I have all of that you can see the children wrote really well um and also you know use some phonetic spelling but my problem is this program this uh company that we use paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for for last year was mandatory and now we have this on the website that says Additionally the reading unit assessments are encouraged but not mandatory this year so somebody knows that this isn't working somebody knows they can be used as formative assessments to help monitor if unit goals are being met and to organize conferring data so I say all this in my nine seconds that this requires a lot of supplementation and it's exhausting when can I what please just like 30 seconds so when you are making the curriculum decisions and listening to the people who are bringing it to you I just ask that we figure out if it is developmentally appropriate for elementary school children because right now I'm telling you our kindergarteners and our first graders the majority of them came to Second came to the next grade reading so we're doing something right but this program right now is just not the best this readers Workshop is just not the best for our children right now they need to learn with phonics and um and those types of things I'm I'm amazed at my second graders and I know that if we do this the right way and get things that are developmentally appropriate then perhaps we can go to something like readers Workshop please just give it consideration when you're making decisions about curriculum thank you so much thank you thank you is there people onl are there people online the story right hello can you hear me yes ma'am yes this is V story I am so sorry I can't be there but I have covid with would you believe for three and a half years I managed to escape it and now I have it and I couldn't be there just when I desperately wanted to be uh for Dr Mcintyre all the new board members the continuing board members I'd like to wish you a happy New Year and I wish I could have been there with candy but I will hopefully be well enough by the time the next meeting to be back in my usual ual seat but I wish you all a well and a good start to a hopefully much better New Year thank you so much thank you happy you thank [Music] you good evening to everyone my name is G longtime resident of Hack and Sack Comet through and through educator at Fanny Meer Hiller School the academy on the hill for all of our students are stars Happy New Year to everybody congratulations to the new board members and to our new superintendent so one of the topics that keeps coming up is curriculum and one of the concerns this year has been the constant professional development sessions and so there's always a conversation about scheduling and about making sure we have enough time for instruction well it becomes extremely difficult to do that if our professional development sessions are pulling us out of instruction case a point Friday the 12th we have an all day PD and so we're just coming back to school in the New Year we're a couple of weeks into the new markting period and we're already being pulled and so it's wonderful to be professionally developed it becomes a problem when the people who are being developed are being exhausted in the development and it becomes a problem when the professional development we're receiving is really the Band-Aid and not really helping us to really carry through so we have a new curriculum and we literally didn't get a great deal of training and we talk about our children are most important and they really are but it becomes premental when the development that we're getting doesn't allow us to actually hone our craft we can't make our students successful if we're not being given the opportunity to become successful also and so if we're going to constantly be being pulled and we're going to constantly be getting bits and pieces of new stuff that we're getting it makes it very difficult for us to really carry out the curriculum that we have and so the other thing is that we we talked about the math curriculum and so there were some questions that were asked for example with reveal that as we looked at the curriculum itself that we found out that um the order of the material that's being presented is is not necessarily in the right place so for example I'm in second grade um we're talking about decomposing um we have kids who can't spell decomposed certainly don't know what it means however it would be nice if they learned how to add and subtract first and so just seems like there needed to be more of a review of the material that we were given to rearrange the order that it's presented in so that it is something that our students can function with this whole we we not not arguing about being professionally developed but there is a problem with not getting the amount that we need and so if you're giving us a new curriculum train us properly give us the amount of time to learn the curriculum before we're off the ground and running and that seems to be something in hack and attac that we're always off the ground and running but then we complain about scores not being where they need to be give us the right amount of time that we need and perhaps we'll be more successful in so our [Music] students hi can you hear me I'm sure can okay great um this is I am Chrissy Romano I'm a first grade teacher um in Hackensack schools and I've been teaching for over 30 years um and first of all happy New Year to everybody and congratulations to all of the new members of the board I'm here tonight to express my concerns and raise questions regarding the readers Workshop method in our elementary schools the reader Workshop method does not align with current scientific understanding and best practices in Reading instruction research and education and cognitive science has evolved leading to a more nuanced and evidence-based approach to teaching reading numerous studies and experts have highlighted the importance of phonics instruction systematic decoding skills and explicit comprehension strategies as essential components of effective reading instruction these findings have challenged the effectiveness of balanced literacy approaches like readers Workshop which had been debunked by scientific research as a first grade teacher where the teaching of reading is one of the most important things that I am tasked with I believe it is crucial for our school district to stay at the Forefront of educational research and provide our students with the most effective tools and strategies for reading proficiency it's essential that we base our instructional methods on evidencebased practices to ensure that all our students have the best possible opportunity to succeed in their education I am asking that the Board of Education thoroughly review the decision of readers Workshop instruction I urge you to consider the following actions conduct a comprehensive review of the latest research on reading instruction to ensure that our methods align with scientific consensus invest in professional development opportunities for our teachers to stay informed about evidencebased reading strategies and teaching methods Implement a datadriven approach to monitor student progress and adjust are reading instruction accordingly and allow for flexibility and instructional methods to ensure that teachers have the autonomy to adapt their teaching strategies to meet the diverse needs of our students I understand that making changes to our curriculum can be a complex process but we must prioritize our students educational wellbe beinging I have confidence in the dedication of our Educators and the commitment of the Board of Education to provide the best possible education to our students thank you [Applause] you uh good evening everybody uh my name is Tony Jackson hackin sack resident hackin saac teacher um hackin saac parent um I just wanted to piggyback on what some of my colleagues have um stated very well um and then just add a little bit um in terms of the curriculum the new math curriculum the reveal math um I some things that myself my colleagues notice um things like um as uh Miss Bert pointed out things that are out of out of line in terms of when they um sequentially when they when they happen you know we were starting some things with our students and then it would asked them to use division um which was not taught we were uh doing certain problems that might be addition subtraction and then it would ask them about uh perimeter and area um and then as we're doing multiplication which is one of the the largest skills that they're going to need we notice that there is um no regrouping so one of the main strategies I I've talked with so many uh grown-ups and said you know we teach them so many different ways so that they can find the way that fits um and now it seems like we have fewer ways to teach them um in terms of our materials uh and so um as well as with division you know we're looking for long division to find it um but please do not continually expect um that teachers should take their own time to put in whatever needs to be put in um in the past when we've had the materials that cover everything that we need to cover of course we're still going to supplement where is needed um but now it seems like we're we're we're given less and there's even more that we going to have to be doing so please consider that as well um I I think it was really well articulated by uh my colleagues before me but I just wanted to put that in because it's something that we're constantly uh seeing and having to deal with in the classroom every day uh thank [Music] you all right so seeing there's no one else online and seeing no one else in the room we will close out our um public comments for the evening thank you all oh yeah yeah yeah yes we're not done um I always like to to try to um see what we can address [Music] um [Music] so um as far as the curricul I mean it sounds like we have some curriculum uh things to discuss that may be something that you want to revisit I don't want to put anybody on the spot at all um just from what I'm hearing there seems to be a scope and sequence issue with math um but I'm I'm I'm not even going to pretend to to discuss the um readers Workshop stuff I'll let you handle that good evening everyone good evening is this yes all right so uh I've had the privilege of the past week kind of getting immersing myself in the schools and sitting in certain meetings and having conversations about instruction expectations curriculum and I would like to just to say when I first came into the district uh one of the things I asked about was the reading program because I am an advocate of the science of reading um I come from a city uh I'm getting so my background I've been in New York City for 14 years as an administrator as as a principal uh and we were the pilot for the readers workshop and Writers Workshop many many years ago um we've long since moved away from some of those practices because we've we've been heavily involved in making sure that we are providing the most accurate instruction based on research and the science of reading and so there is a a push around the country to make sure that we are in alignment with science-based practices so I am looking we we'll be having those kind of conversations to see what that will look like here currently I know that that's what you all were utilizing previously but it's it's it's top of mind so I want to assure everybody that my commitment is also to ensure that every child obtain the skills that they need to read because it significantly impacts uh a stu students's life trajectory specifically uh students of color black and brown um who are fairing the least amount if they are not being provided that type of instruction so uh we will be taking a look at that and you will be seeing some potential shifts as we figure out how to adapt and adopt and move forward in that particular realm secondly when it comes to actual scope and sequence of specific math content and we know uh we we usually rely on our math experts to be able to look at the uh actual scope and sequence to determine which specific movements can happen because no curriculum is perfect um just there's not one perfect curriculum they all have to be adapted uh or modified or adjusted based upon you know where kids are but also the actual looking at the curriculum itself and so usually the the process that we're going to start adopting as well is that there is a uh Committee of individuals of Administrators of leaders of teachers who come together to look at the scope and sequence for the year and make the actual adjustments to say well this particular unit doesn't make sense coming before this particular unit because you can do that you can be flexible um in ensuring that it makes sense um and we will be having those kind of conversations as well so I hear um all the concerns that people are having and I don't take them lightly uh I do understand that we have invested quite a bit of funding in this curriculum um and we will be figuring out how to make sure that it makes the most sense for all of our teachers because we don't also don't want to have them have to do as I heard triple the work of making adjustments uh but we want them to be a part of the process and be willing to come to the table to support and engage in the conversations with us um to make sure that we are all aligned with what should happen moving forward thank you thank you thank you all right so we will move on on to our [Music] um resolutions for the [Music] evening [Music] so so um the resolutions tonight are done um by consent agenda um you all have had these pieces so um if you will take a look at those and um if I can have a a motion to accept this consent agenda so I have a motion from we can't discuss until we have do we have a second and then we can second second so do we have a second now is there any discussion so so I have a question right on the difference between the schedule for 03 and the schedule for 01 01 are we saying where 01 is a request to move it to Wednesdays and 03 is to keep it at [Applause] Mondays no so the the only thing that we're voting on is um yes two there's 03 oh there's so that's why I'm asking there's 03 and 02 are we voting for one or the other no so do we say yes for one no for another yes no for for one either two or three so the it's the agenda that we have before us in the consent agenda is what you will vote on currently this is um the attorney's had them had missing put this in case this did not pass this was um proposed in um I don't how session so in December is meeting right discussing session it was briefly discussed and then we were going to have more you indicated that we would have more discussions nothing private necessarily about discussing it but we did have discussions yeah so nothing private about the calendar um it was this is the time of year that it comes up every year um Lydia Miss sing sorry I keep Miss sing's responsibility is to put it before the board each year uh she did that uh in December like is her responsibility and then as the conversation um was happening organically uh as we were discussing it it came about Wednesday um it was asked um by the former superintendent what is a night of the week that seems to be less school activities um for the um you know what's a least you know busy night for the district um Wednesday was thrown out there so people started throwing their calendars around the attorneys looked at their calendars um to see like is that a feasible night for them we discussed with certain specific board members in work schedules to make sure it's feasible for them we we we discussed with um that now Tak in mind there were exiting board members they did not engage in the conversation at all I made aware that um that there were two board members not present and then there were three board um candidates slash board members that were not here that were not um on the board yet that were coming on and so we um said that those would be contacted those were all contacted the um three new folks said it was not a problem for them and so when in discussion with the um we contacted the superintendent he um whatever the board wants to do and then um when in discussion with the attorneys we miss sing was like what you know what do we put on there and the the decision was made because um the um consensus was majority you know well more than five for the Wednesday that's what has to go on there um so then we vote and it either goes down or up and then so the suggestion was if it were to go down then we want to make sure that we have something in the wings I was never contacted you know I I find it I'm I'm so sorry I'm I'm really upset as I hear the process you respond to an email so you but and no one contacted me no one responded back to my email with my concerns as to I wasn't able to go to the meeting it was a flood my kids didn't go to school I couldn't go to work it was a terrible rainy day um so as I hear this you were able to contact people who weren't board members yet but people who are on the board weren't even given the consideration as to is this okay do you see any conflict so a consensus was made without actual board members who are here correct and I I mean I'll second but if you're saying that the board members who were leaving didn't have any say so then how can there be a consensus the whole point of the fact is I moved Heaven and Earth to move my schedule around to make sure that Mondays I am available right there's tons of other stuff that I volunteer for there's even the executive committee that oversees this committee that I sit on that I asked them to move meetings to Wednesday so I can accommodate a Monday meeting here that what committee to Bergen County Schoolboard committee right we have our meeting meting on Wednesday because it was Monday before and because of our meeting year that was moved to Monday I asked when they were scheduling to please move it on Wednesday so I could attend Wednesday is the one day that I commit to going to work because Monday is the day that all of our meetings are scheduled so I can't then ask my full entire staff to remove everything so I can now accommodate a Wednesday meeting at the last minute and I did specifically send an email to you guys asking why was the change why was the change being made and that I wasn't in support of it being moved on Wednesday because that puts my schedule in an upheaval and then we have also heard from people in the community that they were not asked as to whether or not a Wednesday meeting for them would be a okay right and that for church services and other things Wednesday is not convenient so again can we revisit this stick to our Monday schedule and we can have a full executive committee meeting to see if Wednesday doesn't work if a different day works but for for me Wednesday is just not a day that I can move around to make my schedule so president vicory can we just motion then because I think that is the actual point of why there are two schedules here right so we're going to vote as a group and if that is not passing you have your Monday schedule the the only requirement of you guys besides swearing people in in terms of what you must do at your organization is set schedule for the for the year so um you can't go you guys can't get up until one of these schedules are [Music] selected okay so um perhaps I might recommend therefore I'm sorry I did not realize that we had two different dates that's my eyes that we do 0 and 03 0 Z first see if it passes move and then I'll open the floor to open three time okay so then so we will move forward then with the vote on so do we need to break it out just with the c I would say I would say what you need is a motion for either 0 01 or 03 at this point and then a second what about all the other stuff in the agenda we can do that separately O2 O2 is its own we can do that or we can do that first and then move on to Okay so um why don't we handle everything else in the consent agenda except for the calendars so that we can move that part forward and then we'll um handle the calendars so can I ask you a question on the rest of the stuff in here again I was out for December and I fully understand that we cannot participate in executive sessions while you're out so I did join the board meeting but whatever you guys discuss in the executive session I was not PR so for the committee um the setup right we're talking about number seven on the agenda the committee reports and resolutions okay so question I uh personnel and policy put a motion forward to not have a Personnel in a policy committee we had a discussion and these guys are new and there's a few other people that joined out there when we first had our first retreat with the New Jersey school board and Matt Lee we had the discussion about structurally reorganizing the committee structure right and one of the things that came out was that we did not necessarily need to have a Personnel or a policy committee policies come from the state of New Jersey we either Implement them or we don't Implement them but it's mandated and it's a must we don't necessarily have a choice we can you know abolish a policy we can revisit a policy or revise a policy or we put the new ones in place and with the exception of the ones that we as a board come to or we make those things are mandated they are what they are so as they come up we discuss them the next is for personnel we do not oversee Personnel the only person that oversees Personnel in the district is the superintendent so for personnel all we need to get from HR and the superintendent is an update we're hiring five people there's three people that are leaving the only other time we may need to meet in the executive session to discuss Personnel if is there's some sort of a disciplinary action and that cannot be that's one of the outliers that we cannot discuss in public beyond that there is no rationale for having a Personnel committee so I am okay with curriculum and special education budget and finance building in grounds and community relations but there's really no need for us to have a Personnel in a policy committee Okay so [Music] um one this is all in policy so it's not that we can just say we're not going to have we we have to we would have to change the bylaws um to in order to do that okay um go ahead if you if if I may okay so so this the the regular public this is the order of the agenda um and uh your committees you can set them up however you want but your agenda is in policy it's it's 0164 um so and and while I agree that you know you can arrange it any other way I would like remind the board that you do actually have to vote on these matters so in terms of how your agenda is arranged it may still make sense that's fine thank you for the clarification I'm okay with that but I'm just you know making my point if we need to change a bylaw Scot we can revisit and have a conversation about updating the bylaws to you know discussion between all and come to a consensus but I don't think those two committees are needed they should be ad hoc when something comes up and then we need to have a discussion but to me to go over it is not necessary right we don't get to make those decisions on those two items there's no need to have a committee for it well so but for tonight's purposes this is I understand for tonight purp and but we would still have to for agenda reasons we would still have to report to the community yes so we'd still have to keep it on the agenda correct but we would just report out you know exactly in bulk but we don't need a committee to sit in and meet for those two items we don't oversee those and it shouldn't be necessary to propagate the perception that we're you know we're working on Personnel or dealing with Personnel that's the superintendent's charge and if something comes up that he needs to communicate to us I'm sure Dr MB would be more than happy to do so [Music] so do we have a motion to um accept everything other than the the the calendar of meetings yes say say that again I'm sorry so motion to accept everything on the agenda all the agenda except the calendar okay thank you Mr Carol do we have a second a second thank you Miss Cordo Alton so because it's a consent agenda we can do it all in favor all we don't have to do a roll call that all in favor say I all any opposed say no and there are none thank you so now we will move to figuring out the calendar um you'll never make my job easy um so we have say heav the head that where's the two calendars we have what this one 0 and correct Y and what's the first one1 01 and 03 so there's a I would recommend there's already a motion on the floor to adopt the whole consent agenda but we move forward we will consider um uh Miss somerville's motion and a a motion underneath that it was agreed that we would just move forward with the O2 so let's just let's reset what I would recommend and I think the most logical way to do this is that we would have uh after having some discussion somebody should move one way or the other for either 01 or 03 we would need a second to support it and then we would run the vote on that one and whichever one and if that one passes then that's your board agenda but I would encourage the board to have discussion um since we have two possibilities I would encourage the board if there's any further discussion to do so before this before uh any one of those motions are made okay so we need a motion on one of the calendars Wednesday or Monday Wednesday the meeting right yes I motion for Wednesday okay so that would be 0111 so we have a motion on the floor for the calendar 01 which is Wednesdays do we have a second for that calendar I'll second Mr Stein has seconded that is there any discussion around the Wednesdays calendar can I say something I've been listening can I just say something with schedules that I already set for some of us that are work and we have extended schedules at our jobs that's an issue it's easy to say I can just pick any day I can't say that you know I can't speak for anyone my schedule is set I think like for me my schedule is set days on the Mondays so it's a suggestion I'm given that if we stick with it one day and then we all speak about it give us a little time to change and if that's a different day better then we need time to make the changes but I can't just go to my job and say you know I can't feel like that that's all I'm saying just give us time and let's discuss a little more and as today just I mean it's not just yeah it's something we are we are we're getting there but this is just the discussion part yeah it's it's not not so easy just walking in and saying you know I need to move everything now to Wednesday and I know you said you know you reached out to Dr M right but that's in a vacuum right he wasn't the superintendent at the time now that he's in the district he's meeting with everybody there may be different items or different things that come up where Wednesdays is no longer a factor so asking a question outside the bubble of his job to say will Wednesdays be okay is an outlier was really you know wasn't really fact to base he didn't have a schedule or anything in front of him and again I wasn't part of the discussion so I don't necessarily understand why there is a need for it to move to Wednesday what was the precursor that said the schedule need to move to Wednesday so the okay so some context which everyone in this room has been a part of for over a year is the fact of the agenda it's very complicated for everyone to have the time to review um it's complicated for the um so when it comes out on a Friday we have it comes out what time four o'clock on a Friday that means everyone what time do y'all go home on a Friday four o'clock 5 o'clock and so the meetings are on a Monday and um so we either have to everyone's so everyone is responsible to review and figure everything out on them if you have any questions or concerns on the weekend well that do we have to bother the district Personnel on the weekend or we have to jump back in on Monday when most of us go back to work or we have to wait until we get here right before the meeting well most of the things we can't talk about in executive session because it's not allowed and so there's no chance to deal with anything prior to the meeting so we've had we've had I've heard many of you complain about the time frame and so this was a way to address because the committee meetings will still stand on a Monday so then we'll have the time frame so the week will happen and then the meeting would be on a Wednesday and that would allow additional time for the district to prepare things for the um board members to be able to do their due diligence and review everything and make sure that they're prepared okay so I hear I have a suggestion now uh like Reverend Davis was saying Wednesdays are difficult for the community so if we take any stakeholders and the community in consideration uh I'm not saying you have to be a hard set on a Monday it could be for example a Tuesday which should facilitate what same and it could facilitate uh like for example with job a lot of people are actively working so I I'm not saying that'll be on a Monday but about another day can I inter work for everyone yeah can I interject because I think you were there and you were present when we discussed it and I think the general consensus at the last meeting unfortunately you were not there and Marlene was not there but the general consensus was Tuesdays was not going to be a viable date for the simple fact that that's when the city has their meetings and people in the community want to attend that okay that right so so I I I completely agree with you but that was the discussion that we did have um and and to your point and to the point that was made you know um this was and and and and I understand what you're saying um Jen right but one of the first things that you you told me when I got on the board and we went out to you know have a bite and just go over like how exciting this time was going to be one of the things that you brought to my attention was the timing with which the agenda is given and how it is impossible to review the entire agenda get your answers question your questions answered by Monday's meeting so this was and and you know I I say to president vicory absolutely this was only an attempt to make a situation more viable because we are not getting the opportunity to change when we receive the agenda they won't budge so this was the only thing within our power as a board to bring up to say let's change it to Wednesdays then no harm to the community it's one Wednesday a month I completely understand but this was in an effort to make it so that we as a board could actually review contact different members of the Committees with any questions we might have because we are so limited in executive session both on time and what we're able to talk about the community is already complaining about executive session taking an hour and 45 minutes so that being said that is why it's no shade it's literally that was the whole reason so I understand one quick sec one quick second so if the issue is that you need time to reach out to everybody in order for you to get a consensus so let's then make a motion to move to a meeting of the whole right we just have a meeting of the whole we publicize it everybody comes in and there's one general meeting we don't need any committees you do a meeting of the whole everybody sits through we all review the agenda everybody gets the same information at the same exact time they can ask question with all the key players in the room and we're done the meeting can be on um a Monday 2 hours pick a Monday cuz we already had this discussion that you brought up in curriculum Jen you myself Miss parchment we all sat there and asked about moving the agenda R and we said why don't we ask them to deliver it earlier right it wasn't about moving it to a different date in the week the conversation right that we had in our meeting was to move it earlier and then miss Parchman said that it may be that we may end up with more of a draft agenda which we said was fine there was no issues things could change but we instead of it being the third Monday of the month it would be the second Monday of the month and this way it would give you a week span to look over review again at the end of the day we as a board all we are doing is approving bills that need to be paid we're approving rants that we have or stuff there is really very little on the agenda that we need to spend time invested in researching because again that is not our job right if it's a finance base and or somebody's getting something done that requires money that is outside the budget as a board then we need to review that but the agenda itself is stuff from the prior month billing that need to be paid a few grants that we have on here there's really anything on the agenda that requires that inth that we need specific days or bandwidth in order for folks to go over it so move to a meeting of the whole everybody it's publicized everybody comes in we have the one meeting we all get the information at the same time we can ask question to go back and forth and we're done it solves the problem and we don't need to then have committee structure and break up on Wednesdays to get anything done just move to a general meeting at all okay so hang on one second please so we're gonna have one okay so that was so we're on the Wednesday calendar so that was against so we'll have one more for and more against and then we're going to call the question so one more so who who has um for I already a statement for the Wednesday calendar anybody I seconded um being retired it doesn't matter I I second as well we go along with it I have I feel it's one one Wednesday out of the month uh and I and I do understand you know with the churches as well as my church uh do have those um activities going on Wednesday but uh um one one Wednesday out of the month because of the conflict with the council meeting more most people wanted to attend the council meetings as well and I remember way back that that was a conflict because they both landed on the same day and people was complaining about that that so listening to everything I believe that Wednesday will suit us one day out of the month and then and have our committees on a Monday and that I Doo I mean I'm busy over the weekend when will I get to digest the uh paperwork that come in I would like to digest it and ask questions if need be so I'm for the Wednesday as well okay so is there um another against yeah me statement I mean the issue is again board members who are current board members like myself was not notified of this proposal um it's definitely a hard day for me to come it's also a day where there's a lot of fundraisers at school there's clubs there's after school there's a lot of things happening on Wednesdays so I don't know where the idea that Wednesdays is not a busy night busy night Wednesdays are busy nights very busy nights even in my own District it's a busy night it's an hour to get here it's it's a huge inconvenience and you know I plan ahead so I you know it was anticipated that it was always going to be on a Monday and I understand yes we had the conversation that we don't have the time on the weekends to look over a very lengthy agenda and it's true you don't and you have to do research you have to call people and sometimes it's midnight on a Sunday you're like oh my God I have a meeting on Monday and I haven't looked at this long agenda what's going on and I understand that but again it's the communication it's the communication that upsets me because not everybody was considered and we are all a body we are a body we are all equal and people who were not sworn in yet were considered before people who are on the board right now and that's what bothers me so let me let me just assure you I'm not sure how you see it that way be because we Lydia contacted everyone at the same time again you mean the email that just went out hold on but she's it was just I'm sorry it was just an email that was sent out stating these are the things that we're going to be doing here's one and here's another that was it see she's I mean um can I please speak yes with your permission Mr President so um the the day that needs to be chosen is your responsibility my responsibility after the last board meeting the lawyer was there the had a consensus and it was agreed that I do exactly what I did at that point in time everybody was informed that these were the two agendas the two the two um calendars my expectation is that the board would look at these two and we would avoid this you would come to consensus and avoid this long discussion because it's just one of the other well and so and that's what we and so let me let me just um lead us through this we we we had a consensus we have a consensus and so we will just call the question and vote Yes will you do a roll call please sure so um do you did you have the who was the I need to the the first one 01 um so who1 motion who motion [Music] motion Mr seconded it okay all right so let's do the roll call Mr bendu is absent Mr Carol I have no problem with either War so I'll just abstain yes or no [Music] abstain Miss Ciro Alton yes Miss Jennifer Harris no Mr K Martin yes Mr Powell I'm staying up to figure out my Miss Shani Pringle yes Miss Marlin Somerville no Mr Mark Stein yes Mr James vicory yes so I have one two 3 four five I have five which is the consensus that we need so passes yes correct correct so the motion passes we had two NOS two extensions um we move to board comments and we will start with um I'm not going to put our new folks on work to start tonight um Mr Carol you want to start for us oh sure um happy New Year everyone um I'll be sure congratulations to our new trustees welcome um and congratulations to Dr McBride looking forward to working with everyone Uh current and new members um and that's about it for me thank you all right thank you uh yes Harris yeah uh Happy New Year everyone it's so nice to see everybody um really Full House when we first came in um a great way to start to have a congressman here uh to have Matt Lee who so um knowledgeable in the school board um ethics um you know as as a teacher this week has been and I'm sure same thing with the students it has been very emotional exciting to start the new year but also very draining um kids are getting sick teachers are sick um people are on vacation still children are half asleep teachers are half asleep um it's you know it's a very exciting yet just very draining um week um I do look forward to the weekend uh to kind of recoup from The Break um but I do want to welcome the students and staff back um to school and for a successful New Year um I also wanted to uh as I had mentioned before the December meeting I couldn't come because of there was a massive flood um unfortunately the area where I live it's a a flood zone uh didn't go to work kids my kids didn't go to school and other people in my area also were affected um and my thoughts go out to those kids you know the families when they see those things it's horrific if you've ever driven by those areas you know you you attempt to go through your car is done um so it is a very unfortunate time uh but I do want to be on the positive so I do want to welcome Dr McBride I didn't get to um say anything last month but welcome um I do enjoy your emails your calls your Outreach your presence and I hope it continues um to happen um and I wish you so much success this year and I'm sure it's going to be very productive um and to our new trustees um Mr Stein uh trusty Stein I should say um I'm excited to have an alumni to have someone who is experienced um I almost wish you would have also um maybe even try to be part of leadership I would have liked to see your experience in that role again um but I understand it's your first time coming back and you know observe and watch and be a part of the discussion is still um valid um trusty Martin um like I said alumni I saw you when I was in school um you know I'm a graduate of 2003 and you know and I vividly remember you being a huge presence um at school and it was always a good presence to have so uh huh oh and I don't know I felt like you look super taller when I was in school not saying that you shrunk but you know as a kid when you walk in and you see that you're you're like oh my God who's this person this toall officer um and Mrs Pringle uh also welcome I'm excited to get to know you I'm excited to work with you to get your thoughts to get your experience um on education especially you also have children in the district which is also a plus um so we talked about the Board of Ed dates um fortunately it's on a Wednesday it's a very difficult night I again I wish I was a part of that conversation or at least considered in the conversation um in terms of leadership I I do want to congratulate uh Mr James vickory and Mrs cardo outon um but my our goal when I first came onto the board was to have change to have constant change in leadership so that it's not always the same faces it's not always the same people in charge um and when I first came in we had change change was good then the second year I had requested for change several people have requested for change the community had requested for change and that didn't happen so by me voting no has nothing to do personally it's just the view that I have of the district it's to have a constant change in the role for leadership why because we are a body it's not just an individual person is the only person that could handle that position we can all do the same position if we're asked or if we're even considered in the conversation and with that I want to make sure that we are communicating more and would like that to be a more transparent thing between the board members not just to get a consensus and be done with the rest it needs to be communicated regardless of your feelings or if they're going to agree or disagree everybody needs to be a part of the conversation and that's all I ask for our new leadership um and I liked one thing that um our Congressman said we are setting up for the Next Generation we need to think about that as board members right the Legacy we leave for the next year for whoever is going to be inducted we need to change I don't know what's the word I'm looking for the dynamic it can't always be the same I am excited that we have a woman on leadership I'm excited that she's a Latina uh we have 65% student population of Latinos and black and brown children um and we all need to be represented so we need to keep that in mind for our district our district is a very diverse District this is why I'm still here and we need to make sure that we embodi that in what we say and in what we do every day um other than that happy New Year and that's it thank you Mr thank you good evening good evening for those of you who don't know me I'm Mark allenstein I'm a lifelong resident of hackensac born at hackensac hospital um I attended the Hax school system graduating from HHS um as did my mother I had teachers who saw what I could accomplish and pushed me in ways I could not fathom at the time I attended the UN University of Oklahoma attaining degrees in journalism public relations that's my brief personal history but there are people tonight I think I would be a Miss if I didn't thank them to Congressman Josh scammer and I told him this early earlier thank you for taking the time from your busy schedule in Washington DC to administer our oath of office this the tough one to my family always in there in support of my goals and accomplishments especially to my kids my son Shan who at the uh hackin sack Middle School set a goal to attend the United States Naval Academy he's currently station in Whidby Island in the state of Washington where in June or July he will become division commander of a naval air base my daughter Michelle who with the guidance of great teachers here at hackin high school instilled in her the goal of becoming a high school math teacher and for a number of years she got her start here as a teacher in mathematics she has since moved on to another District to my run running mates my brother from another mother Ken Martin you made this run for office much fun and to Shani Pringle a number of months ago we did not know each other but I have come to see the passion you possess and I have learned what a great Schoolboard trustee you will become to the 18 those were the people in the wings you know who you are who work tirelessly to get us to where we are this evening to Dr McBride you and I begin this journey for me again after number years together tonight any historical background I can provide to you on the hackin sack schools district I am here to assist to the residents of hackinson thank you in Walking almost all the election districts in this wonderful Community we call hackin saac you provided me with insight and concerns on how you want to see this school system move forward to my new colleagues on the board the only way we can move this dis District forward is by working together to provide the tools and resources to all staff administrators teachers and support staff we will need to provide our kids with an allinclusive education I learned a long long time ago elected officials should make no promises because it will come back to kick you in oh I'm sorry uh I don't make promises but this I can pledge to you and I think I can speak for my running mates as well we will work hard to make this District the Envy in the state of New Jersey thank you all who are left for being here tonight and to lend your support to this Board of [Music] Trustees um be very brief um I just want to thank everyone for coming out tonight Happy New Year's um I want to thank um my family of course um my uh daughter oldest daughter Taylor she's watching us as we speak I just want to give her a shout out thank you for your support and your love and um I want to also thank uh my other daughter detective Martin uh for coming out and uh being there and supporting as well and uh most of all of course uh we have people coming from long distance I want to thank Mr Jones my uh main man there Gary we grew up together he came from Atlanta Georgia his grandmother his uncles and everyone else went to hackas saak high and graduated and uh he came in uh their behalf as well as his own uh to support myself and my uh running mates uh to watch us get sworn in by the congressman again thank you much love I um my uh biggest fan mom my mother she'll be 90 and a couple months she wanted to be here but she yeah with this virus going around and a whole bunch of stuff going on she uh listened to her doctor and stayed home and she's watching it uh live too so again I want to thank her and uh to all the rest of the board members um communication is big and I I truly do believe in it as you said and uh yeah we we we should uh continue on communicating and I think we will and I think we do very well at we're going to disagree that's what we are we human beings as once said uh when I was in the police department we have to recruit from the human race we have no choice and here we are so uh with that said um again to our superintendent you know you do have my support and uh looking forward to working together with you and um our president I'm sure you'll take us to a um another level and uh this going to be uh I think this going to be a good year for us and I think that we're going to accomplish an awful lot and to our vice president as well good luck and you do have our support as well thank you good evening everyone thank first thank you good evening neighbor and uh thank uh first thank everyone for coming out you know and uh I'll be sure back my bride last time I spoke regarding you coming here I said and I'm going to say it again tonight thank you for choosing Ain Zac and uh first time I met this a first impression of last Impressions first time when you walked into the room you had a presence and the way you spoke very eloquent very knowledgeable very intelligent and not you know those are the things I was listening for and uh you are very impressive and we're just happy you're here with us and uh Mr Mar said I hope you could take us to another level I think we will do well I think Akin sack will continue to rise and I always believe in not destroying what's already accomplished but working on it and making it better I always believe in that and I'm sure that's a path you'll take and uh to all our staff it big shout out you guys for awesome job SP as always you're here with us always and to our uh assistant superintendent to our teachers see you guys are always here you know and thank you guys coming to the microphone and you know stating what the issues are and Mr mbde I'm sure we'll be working with you guys to figure it out for our kids you know nothing is perfect you can always improve you can always make things better and uh like Mr Matt Lee said earlier we're a body we're not one entity all of us are very important every single board member and if we work together if we collaborate together we can achieve great things and it's just moving forward what is done cannot be undone so let's move for forward together we're stronger together we're better and let's make ainar proud and it's very important to respect each other it's also important to respect each other's comments and uh constructive criticism is also a good thing we can learn from it if every board member agree every time guess what we're not an effective board you should have board members who will need more answers who will be inquisitive who will want to learn more that's what good board members do so I just want everyone to know that if a board member is asking more questions or just it's not a bad board member it's it's that's the way it should be but go back and read if everyone agrees on everything at all times then we we're not we're not a progressive team you know as long as it's not divisive as long as it's done in a good manner as long as we're kind to each other we can move mountains and when I looked at everyone here we're all good people we all volunteering let's respect each other and we can go far and the last thing I want to say is uh as we embark on this new chapter this new year let's make aide proud and uh my neighbor Stein trustee Stein I've known you for a while you're being you were on the board for a while you're back welcome back and I've had many conversations with you even when you were on the board I was not I used to come to the podium and I would ask for stuff from you guys very kindly and there's times you guys delivering so thank you again and uh trusty Martin congratulations and I'm I'm sure we will work well together you know and uh trusty Pringle I've known you for quite a while and we have our conversations too and um I'm very happy to have you here all through you and uh so welcome and listen we don't know everything but some of us have been around so feel free to ask questions feel free and whatever we can share we share with you we we we don't know it all but if we know something it doesn't hurt to Shar It sharing is caring you know and I've been on the board my sixth year maybe last year and I just I want to thank the people of akenac for uh giving me the opportunity to serve and it's not easy to see here and I I I don't take this lightly and uh it was my son went into the school system and that's why I decided to get on the school board I saw things I could make better and and uh I think we have done a wonderful job all of us I always like to say all and my vote tonight when I said I abstain I don't want anyone to leave here tonight please and take it personal that's just our life is we can't always vote together and I abstain for certain reasons I don't want to go in too much into it but I will say this and if I didn't say this I don't think I would sleep well tonight I have to go home now and I have to be back at work early in the morning but I gotta say this last year we sat here and we said to the people of akinc we will make changes and we'll give everyone an opportunity to serve I do research in other districts they flip around flip around and give people a chance to serve I'm not saying the people that are in charge are not smart enough that's not what I'm saying so I want to make that clear I'm sure you're going to go a wonderful job I've worked with uh president vicory Justus for a long time correct and we have done wonderful things together so I'm sure you'll do well and sure you'll do very well but what I want to make this clear every single board member here is smart and important and I would advise us or behold of us to give them a chance to serve next time around even for one year it's important that's all I'm trying to say and last year I advocated to have women running the board I did I've done it for two years in a row and tonight we have a woman on the board and it would be nice to have two women leading the board I don't see anything wrong with that you know and we they're all smart women I'm all proud of them and going forward next year let's just give someone a chance to serve that's all I'm saying it's not a slight that anyone after tonight we walk out of here it's behind me that's the way I am I will work with you 100% because it's for the kids of at I don't take anything personal that's why I'm speaking my mind so you know everyone understand where I am just give someone else a chance next year to serve that's all I'm saying Co is back zie increase be careful if you have to mask mask and just take your precautions okay and be safe of a wonderful New Year everyone okay thank you very much Miss prle hi um happy New Year everyone um short I don't see my daughter I'm hopefully she here somewhere but I want to um thank uh my children and um my family uh for their support um my friend Erica is out there Erica I want to say thank you from day one she's been um my transportation and support where I needed to go um she walked with me and Kenny one time too she helped hand out flyers and stuff um I want to say that um I'm excited um to be part of the board coming to Hack and Sack years ago I could have never imagined that I would be here um but it's a wonderful town um wonderful people um I just want as a parent going forward for the three-year term is to see if I can make difference a change and not sit back and continue to complain and not contribute to the change so hopefully um everything will work out I'm big on communication and respect so I'm glad that everyone feels the same way um and yeah it's past my bedtime I'm going to have to get used to staying up late for these for these meetings but you know I'm looking forward um to everything so thank you thank you thank you oh and um Kenny and um and Mark like those are I've like adopted two two brothers my those are my younger brothers now so um yeah so the older one and so I want to thank you guys for your encouragement and stuff like that and if my father was able to log in I just have to say my father was uh receiving dialysis for five years and last Thursday they called him for a kidney so he's at Robinwood Johnson right now and I don't know if he was able to sign in but he's he's doing well so you listening or watching daddy H thank you all right thank you hi good evening every hi good evening everyone so um first and foremost thank you everybody for coming out Happy New Year I sent a,1 emails to all of you guys since I was out in December for my New Year's um wishes for a happy and healthy 20 24 so I will just say um a quick introduction to those guys that are coming on you guys are new and like I said I I have lived in hack andac my whole life but I am a very reclusive person right privacy is important to me and this is probably the most public facing job or role that I have ever had and in some instances for me this is debilitating right because to sit here you have to kind of put yourself out and as much much as I am a social person and I can function in that atmosphere this kind of collaboration where you have to sit in front of an audience especially on stage and have a conversation for me is a little bit difficult so since I won't be the type to be out you know here and there meeting and greeting everybody I'm just going to do a quick for the three new individuals that are here just to kind of say who I am and how I ended up in this spot you know being on the board so my my name is Marlene Somerville I migrated here to the US from Jamaica when I was 7 years old right I hackin sack is all I know I have lived in Hackensack my whole entire life I attended you know hillers I attended the middle school I graduated from the high school and I went on the college from there and moved on into Korea my husband's family is from hackin sack like 10 Generations deep or however they go back I mean great grandparents grandparents everybody was born here the Somerville are one of like 15 cadrillion of them they are the summerill the malls the piffin the Ruffins there's thousands of us I've even informed my kids that they can never ever date anybody in hackin because more than likely we are related to somebody in that group right you need to find somebody from a whole other different state not Tri-State a whole other different state because we are probably at some point in time really Demetrius don't laugh he know this the truth we are related to somebody you know in this town I myself I'm a great proponent of Education right I graduated I went on I have a MERS in accounting I have a master's in public administration I have my MBA and in 12 months I will graduate with my Doctorate in Education it is important to me right I don't sit here because it was just a Nuance that I was just going to run for the board and I was going to sit here and have a conversation education is important I stress it for myself and I lead by example that I stress it for my children I have four kids that went through the hack Public School two sets of twins everybody went through born at hackin hospital went through Middle School went through you know hillers the whole hit kabood and everybody is now off because hackin saac sent them off to college and everybody's got a great start in doing what they're you know where they want to end up my son got commissioned into the Air Force and when he graduates next year he'll move into the air force as like a second or third lieutenant or something else along the line because service is you know in his DNA it is part of you know who we are and it's part of what we do so again I just want you guys to understand this is who I am and why I sit here I take this job this you know being elected by you guys in the community seriously and I expect that you guys have an expectation that I am supposed to deliver what you guys voted for right you guys voted for us to sit here and take your concerns into account when we make decisions here the students into account when we make decisions the teachers right the community as a whole the district as a whole and that's how we are supposed to function as a governing body to make sure that what we do is at the benefit of those we serve for at the end of the day people may always think that oh the board doesn't get along that's not true we all have a difference in opinion and a difference of ideas and we won't always see eye to eye on things I'm a firm proponent of you're supposed to be transparent you're supposed to say who you are say what you mean and stick to it and even if it is not in the best interest of the of everyone and even if you don't agree with me we can agree to disagree but we can be civil about it there is no need for there to be you know anything contentious there's no need for anybody to take anything personal out of it because at the end of the day any job that you serve in is never personal you're there to do the work and that is it at the end of the day that is simply it so I do understand that Mr s you know you're retired or Mr Martin is retired and you know the Wednesdays may not be a big deal right to Circle back but for me it is I am a graduate student I have class on Wednesday I leave work and I head to Jersey City because I have my doctorate classes and I need to be in Jersey City for classes I took classes on Wednesdays because the classes on Mondays conflicted with this board meeting so do understand the perspective of oh you know I'm retired and it is not a big deal but for me it is a big deal because I've already registered for classes for this semester and those classes are registered for Tuesday and Wednesday so if we now need to meet right even though this is voluntary that you think I made a commitment and part of that commitment is that I am supposed to show up to do the work so now that means that either I have to bang out of classes on the Wednesday that this meeting occurs in order for me to be here so the purpose of that little summary is that the decisions that we make as a board have consequences to other people even if it seems like it's a simple little a decision about a day that a meeting should occur on it has consequences for your other fellow board members because you're not always sure what goes on in other people's lives just like it has consequences for the people in the district who may need to go I mean I get church right if she is a minister she's presenting if somebody has a crisis and she needs to oversee and if Wednesday is the day that the church says show up at my door to get the service or the counseling you need then there is an impact so when we sit back here and we decide that we want to make decisions we want to make changes and we have challenges we do need to take the bigger picture into perspective that even though it is a small Nuance a small decision it can have great consequences on other people's existence and other people's lives it matters the decisions we make matters the things we say matters our Behavior matters and we should be very cognizant of that when we make you know changes or decisions here Dr mcbry I've told you over and over again welcome representation matters right and it is always good for our kids to see reflections of themselves especially in people of power right that is a very important thing Barack Obama did wonders for young children right when he became elected as the first president colen Powell did wonders for thats can lead you know in things so you being here right is a beautiful thing for our community because our children will see a representation of themselves when you show up in schools when you go to do presentations when you're talking these little black and brown kids will see somebody that looks like them and can see that you know there for the grace of God go I right so that is a very important thing so again we discuss collaboration we discuss cooperation and I'm here to collab collaborate well sorry I'm here to cooperate with you right because one person cannot collaborate so I'm here to cooperate with you on behalf of the board but the board as a whole is here to collaborate with you to make sure that this District right has success that we achieve you know the best for our students and we achieve also the best for the staff and the community right because the whole puzzle matters it's not just the pieces it's the at at the end of the day the Beauties in the whole development of the puzzle right even though there is substance and things in each piece that you put in it at the end of the day it's the finished product that tells the story so to close out sorry everybody for the long summary I'm going to let you guys go home you guys are tired like I am I just want to say thank you everybody congratulations to the three new members that are soring in uh here to help you guys here to work with you I wish everybody the best and for all the staff the district the community everybody else you know best wishes for successful and prosperous 2024 thank you um try some reveal so um there's [Music] a there's a lot to that I would like to say but I know that people are tired and I would um because repres representation does matter oh my gosh LTE I forgot it's your turn is it no I your nope nope it's your turn go that's thank you I'm sorry my bad um honestly I was I was really just going to keep it strictly to the the new board members um and and again to Dr McBride um just like so excited so I I'll start with Dr McBride um only because I was really glad to have Matt Lee here right so um New Jersey school boards Association ethics um a through J I specifically circled C D and H and of those um of the list those are the ones that I'm so very looking forward to hearing from you on collaborating with you uh and the board right getting your feedback um hearing tonight from the teachers about curriculum specifically uh clearly things need to change I love that you have ideas things that we don't know because we don't know everything but but that's what you're here for um so I'm really looking forward to it so when you get an opportunity again C D and H I said it I circled it and it's got mybride next to it so um uh for for the for the newest members um okay so we're going to start we you're you're going to be second we're going to start with Mr Martin so it's going to be really hard for me not to call you Mr Martin um I know everybody calls you Kenny or Ken um but your reputation and your name precedes you right so like my son remembers you and really quickly if the audience saw me earlier blowing kisses just so you know it was for my son who is I hope still watching me in Washington three-hour time difference and he was at work so thank you um I love you uh so so he remembers you obviously my husband um your name gets thrown around and there is a a huge respect uh that goes along with it unlike a lot of things that were said here tonight um so I am looking very forward to working with you and again you let me know what you want me to call you um I know a lot of people prefer trustee I only call people what they originally told me I could Jen if you want me to start calling you trustee Harris as opposed to Jen let me know same goes for uh marleene who at one point said it was fine for me to call her marleene but if we're going to be formal and you want trustee uh Martin I will learn that um K Kenny and thank you for that it was publicly stated um so thank you I am really looking forward to it and um I have a high regard for you already um you're up next you're up next um the only thing that I can say with regards to you Mr Mark Stein is that any time um in the couple of months that yall were campaigning and I needed to find out about uh who potentially would be coming on the board so I had to do some homework uh the only thing that anybody ever said about you is that you are or at least the takeaway I got was that you are the comet advocate period blank and that you will do that job and um I appreciate you allowing me to step into a a a role of Vice President uh because I think that one thing that I'm very much looking forward to is your experience your history your memory um and how we can apply it to what we're doing now and and I and I genuinely mean that so I appreciate the opportunity and I'm very much looking forward to working with you um and you know we saved the best FAS so so Shani Pringle and I have been in a group mom's chat for almost going on three years so there's four moms we each have daughters or granddaughters and they go to school together and they participated in hackin sack's amazing shared time program with uh bcts yes and at that point I only met her maybe once before and I think it was at freshman orientation and very briefly so the name and the face did not resonate with me at the time that she was running but I've been having conversations with her for the past two to three years um so I'm really excited I was really I felt stupid when I finally met you and I'm like oh my God wait you're in the text um and you are absolutely everything that I imagined you were in the text so now that I like I'm getting to know you in person um I feel very fortunate because I feel like if you are going to come onto this board and be the human that you are in your home with your family the woman that you are in your business the mother that you are I think that we are absolutely getting the gift so I'm really open arms and so happy to find finally put the face to the name and now it's like sidebar Shani so thank you very much um I appreciate you guys I appreciate the entire board and again to say it like everybody else has said we are just but one person in a group and you know we're all trying our best I appreciate that I will definitely continue and I only hope that everybody else can find a way to rise to that same level and I appreciate it thank you oh and by the way last but not least Scott congratulations uh Mr President James Vickery um thank you and uh I am here to absolutely support and continue doing the good work with you thank you um I am thankful to be um in this role again um while um no one else was nominated I'm not sure what that says um but um I will say that that I am thankful and um I I I hear the comment I'm not going to say they always feel good from other trustees um because I think that uh I I have worked very hard and um there are many time there are many times that I put in more hours doing this job than I do the job that I am paid for um and I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not sure that um I don't know Scott that sounds more like a time management issue than it does the bo um well I'm not sure that everyone realizes how much work um it actually takes and I will say the one comment that I do want to say is because I keep hearing that that we are one body and we are one body but we have to take personal responsibility for the work and [Music] so as we embark on this 2024 um I encourage all of you to put in the time and the effort and the energy um and if you are not here it is your responsibility to find out what you missed um to to call place that called the committee members to the vice president to the president um again we are one body but it is um about personal responsibility to make sure that you are caught up because your vote does matter um I thankful um for Dr McBride we're excited about the journey um as trusty Somerville said representation matters um we are thankful that you do represent a um a group of our students I'm thankful that we were able to hire um Mr Sanchez who also represented a group of our students [Music] um we are thankful for the good work that we know that you're going to do we're going to put that out in the universe now um you are going to do the good work and we are going to be here to support support you um we are here for you we are here to support you um and and I I I work very hard to keep butt out of my vocabulary so I always try to say and and we need you to tell us what you need so that we can support you um I'm going to cut it off there tonight thank you all for coming all those in favor [Applause] good night good night you know that's why was you know I'm going to beet you