the Board of Education recognizes the value of public comment on matters of interest to school Community individuals wishing to speak must State their name and Municipality of residents comments are limited to three Administration but an individual may speak a second time after all others who wish to speak on the topic have been heard all statements should be directed to the board president and no participant May address or question board members individually all speakers are requested to express themselves in a civil manner with due respect for the dignity and privacy of others whose legal rights may be affected please note while it is not the board's intention to stifle comment on matters of legitimate concern the public should be aware that if their statements violate the rights of others under the law of defamation or invasion of privacy they may face personal liability to the injured party if speakers are uncertain of the legal ramifications of their comments the board urges them to seek guidance beforehand from their own legal adviser and I just want to say somebody that was always on the other side of this that it is sometimes hard to keep track of your notes making eye contact and the time so I was going to give you all um like a 30 second heads up when you're getting close to three minutes is there any comments oh I'm sorry okay good evening most of this applies to probably the new policy as well so I'm just going to I'm sorry we we do leave your name and Anthony aine myself and others have appealed to you as the adults in the room and Gatekeepers to resin 5756 yet issues surrounding the policy have become contentious and misconstrued so I want to review some of those reasons you have been employed to act this policy is not mandatory attempts to fix the problematic statements and ambiguity would be met with a lawsuit the courts have ruled in favor of the right to abolish and a federal court upheld that ruling whether conservative or liberal you should take this opportunity to push back against government overreach or you will lose your local autonomy and discretion because the reality of affirming feelings based gender choices is child in danger because affirming gender experimentation and expression without question is answer pathetical to state law requiring schools to stress abstinence because we should not be lying to kids about something contrary to basic science the natural world around us and what is clearly stated in our Bibles because there is no possible way to change a person's genetic makeup the fundamental basis of gender affirming gender fluidity is absurd because these kids deserve the truth from those entrusted with their educ ation most actually know the truth intuitively because we are made in the image and likeness of our creator yet they are being encouraged to embrace a world of make belief because this policy is not age appropriate for K through 12 you need to stop the over sexualization of our children in school they may not realize it but they did not come up with these ideas on their own they are being fed social media talk [Music] to help protect children from the explosive rise in stvs if gender identity based on feelings is affirmed without question how can you expect adolesence to abstain from sexual experimentation to prevent further alienation of those children struggling through adolescence this policy actually creates a basis for resentment to prevent contributing to an environment of a in and giving attention to Young impressionable kids being misled and encouraged on a path that most will greatly regret this 30 seconds to refocus attention on the appropriate role of and function of public education and to avoid legal Jeopardy also keep in mind that none of the cheerleaders and enablers of this fantasy world will be around in a few short years when these kids graduate when Stark reality said in and he or she realized they cannot reclaim their childhood or heal the damage emotional or physical please represent the citizens who voted you into office and repeal 5756 and I might add any Replacements that don't really address the the problem in the poliy thank you thank you very [Applause] much hi my name is Kim Lenley I am from oldridge and I'm a former special education teacher so um good evening and I thank you once again for taking the time the consideration to resend this suggested complex issue of 5756 this particular school policy has many facets that cannot be discussed in a short period of time everyone I believe is concerned with the academic instruction and safety of each student in the school district policy 5756 affects all students and all parents that are within the school district as a former special educ education teacher as I mentioned last time the Dynamics of a teacher parent relationship will be broken especially trust students have been done Studies have been done which prove how vital the role the teacher and parent relationship have Upon A Student Success trust and clear lines of communication need to be open and remain open for the benefit of the student articles have been written which depict the impact of the teachers parent relation relationship some examples are as follows how parents and teachers can work together for the child's benefit by Amanda Morin building parent teacher Relationships by American Federation of teachers and the importance of parent teacher relationships a family lab by Elizabeth OB and how to communicate with parents effectively by Jennifer bz these articles highlight the areas which is students benefit some provide tips on how the teacher can build these relationships and why their relationships is important one main reason to having an active clear line of communication built on trust is that the student is more likely to academically benefit I would like to review some of the key topics from how to communicate the effectively by Jennifer Rando when a teacher has a good relationship with parent parents it will make their job easier it has been study the student we more likely them there show more positive increase in math and reading reduce absenteeism and student students more engaged in learning and the teacher that would be able to focus more on academics than behavior of 5 which 57 56 will la policy 57 30 seconds 5 756 allows a student to discuss their gender identity identify with their teacher and the other school staff without the parents consent and allows the student to decide when to allow the parents to be notified a teacher will be having two folders on the students with without the parents knowledge to name a couple of what 5756 policy pertains to this is a significant since the open lines of communication will be broken the elementary teachers value their teachers opinion as well as their parents these parties play significant role in your lives 5756 request confusion of who to believe especially by the parents man have to cour values ma'am thank you thank you so much for your time and I just have something to give you that okay docents thank you so thank you Dr Brown I reside in aine uh last time I stood before you I came with research and numbers about the risks of our that our lgbtq youth face today I'm going to speak from the heart I'm the mom of two beautiful children who just happened to be transgender and yes being transgender is real changing ing the language of policy 5950 to include the word parents significantly changes the people involved in the initial discussion if a child discloses that they are transgender this forces the district to out a transgender child to their parent without first Consulting professionals and legal counsel as a facilitator for two support groups for parents of lgbtq Youth I have learned that parents are often the last people that LGBT youth come to parents are supposed to love their children no matter what unfortunately that isn't always the case kids can be afraid of losing their parents' love when they come out they can be afraid of being told it's just a phase there are only two genders they can be afraid of being sent to conversion therapy of being cut off financially as soon as legally allowed being afraid of being disowned teachers counselors principls are not not promoting transitions or telling children that they are trans and they are certainly not prescribing meds they are listening to and supporting their students they are guiding our youth to discover themselves academically creatively and socially I'm a madaan graduate I'm a proud husky Matan has always embraced celebrated and protected the diversity of our student body no matter the race religion gender or sexuality of the person next to you they were first and foremost a Husky and they belonged here I ask of you to vote to protect our trans Youth and reinforce that they are huskies and they deserve to belong and be accepted for who they are and allow them to follow their journey in their own time and not force them to disclose before they are ready thank you hi G Simon I'm from Cliffwood um I didn't have anything prepared well want to say is that I agree with everything that was just said because I do believe that in a public school our main goal is educating all of the students and however they come to us that is how they are supposed to be taken that is how they are to be celebrated and that is how they are to be educated we don't get to choose as if it's not my kid I I don't get to choose for them I don't even get to choose for them when they are my kid um I have to accept them as they are yes I gave birth to them yes I helped them to build a life but that is so that they can take their own mind and go forth in the world and make their own decisions and Impressions and do what they need to do I don't have the right to tell somebody else's child how to be and I don't don't think that we can do that okay life is changing we all are learning and we just need to accept that and figure out how to continue to educate students we don't get to decide if you're girly enough or boyish enough or whatever it's just simply students and that's all we need to be concerned about thanks Jennifer would a business owner in mwan and a resident of Morganville Thank you new board members and returning board members um you were chosen because you're fair-minded because you can discern what's the best for the kids and we thank you for that and because of that I see that you're trying to abolish 5756 and do something different we don't know what the different is so I'm going to talk about why I think uh 5756 should be abolished um it only applies to a full percentage of the kids it's discriminatory it shouldn't be compared to special needs children and their rights as they are classified after a series of testing with gender identity that differs that differs from birth gender there is no medical or mental health diagnosis required for this category have special rights um there's already 20 Page anti-bullying policy in place that includes harassment intimidation and bullying when motiv motivated because of gender identity or expression parents should be not left should not be left in the dark I realize the policy does not disallow par rental advisement but it should not be discretionary it is very normal for a child not to want their parents to know what they are doing outside the home particularly in adolescence children should not be making the rules about parental involvement the schools have students for time the teachers are wonderful but their expertise is in teaching not psychology parents know what is best for their children and raising them emotionally is ultimately their responsibility schools are for the three Rs the goal of education is to prepare children to enter careers to be productive citizens of society it is not designed as a self help or counseling session we cannot feel ourselves through life following our feelings or following our heart may be culturally popular but is not good advice our hearts can be selfish our hearts can be deceptive and our feelings do not always point to what is best for us feelings change and feelings are not always good for the health and the welfare of the child kids go through phases adolescence is a time for kids it's a trying Time for Kids there's awkwardness there is a need for fitting in to be accepted it's so much harder for kids today they hear things that are not ready to handle emotionally or intellectually they are negatively influenced in so many ways by social media more than ever they need parental and adult Direction and boundaries let's not further complicate their lives and confuse the facts by affirming gender confusion and contributing to the rise in the Mental Health crisis of our youth statistics show that the longer a child child identifies other than their first gender the hard it will be for our children to reverse that um let's not open our children life changing decisions that will cause irreversible damage that's my alarm on my phone it was it's 3 minutes I be there the 30 second before okay thank you for listening let's not go down a slippery slope thank you hi my name is Katie Williams I'm a mwan resident I'm a New York City public school teacher I just think that there seems to be a lot of confusion about how this policy trickles into curriculum and everyday life for a student and teacher um I work in one of the most liberal school districts in the nation and we don't have these discussions on a daily basis I also think that we here everybody here are concerned parents um and in every school district acrosser America the ones showing up about the policy who are worried are not necessarily the representation of all of the parents in the district I personally have a very difficult time getting in touch with parents and I think that we're concerned because we're involved with our kids but that's not necessarily the case all the time um if a child comes to me and says something about you know their gender identity I'm going to the counselor the counselor is taking it from there because they are the professional I'm a teacher I'm not going to reach out to the parents and say they told me this today because that's not my position it's not part of our curriculum and nine times out of 10 if a child told me that and they were nervous couldn't tell their parents I wouldn't say anything because if they're nervous there's a reason kids are resilient and they are observant and they give us background without um always just saying it out loud uh we need to follow their lead um so that we can continue to have an accepting place and I I just think that everybody needs to understand that this is not a constant part of the school day on any grade level um I worry about who doesn't have a snack I worry about who doesn't have pencils I worry about whose parents couldn't find their winter coat on the coldest day of the school year and I can't get phone calls back and I know I'm in New York and I know it's different but it's only 20 minutes away it's not that different I don't talk about gender identity I I we teach the children to be accepting of 30 seconds those are the words we use accepting of all that's it the kids are not talking about this constantly all day every day it is not part of our daily life accept it that's all it is thank you are there any more comments seeing none move on respond to coms that well it be more that you would want to direct it to me but you can come up and speak again uh again it's Beth Brown I reside in Aber I just just wanted to respond to a couple of points that I had heard from uh those who oppose me um the first one is someone was speaking about the genetics of gender um and I guess the Simplicity of either being XX or XY and more recent research has shown that there is a lot more variability in our genetics than simply XY and xx there are people who are xxy xxxy uh there are people who are uh XXX it's a lot more complicated than we were taught in freshman biology um someone spoke about uh their religion only believing in two genders and that may be true in Christianity however there are other religions and cultures that do believe in what are called two-spirited people um and I do believe I I wish I read my Old Testament better and remembered it better I do remember though an example of um somebody in the Old Testament who did change genders um in order to support a newborn child um someone else spoke about regret rates of um transition um and I can I don't have it on me at the moment but I can provide to you the research article um I regret rates for transition are less than 10% I believe the number is 8% um the regret rate for total neighbor PL bement 30% just like to put that out there thank you you can also speak for a second time be few minutes second I just want to correspond when you're talking about students you can't compare elementary students to Middle School to also high school so an elementary student they they they they value your elementary teacher with their parents so it's not the same thing same thing and they are easily guided depending on the instruction and as I said before with the brain the personality development is not to like 25 to 30 and then your um hormones and everything that forms your identity and your personality things at 13 so you're you're wavering and as a teacher as far as running to the parent If the child says they feel like a boy or a girl you have to constantly observe you know the child Behavior how they're coming in it's part of your job and with the bullying that was mentioned before that also is a main thing as far as anybody's feelings so all this is the foundation is already there you know and teaching that was my my reason of why I want to do it to be inspired inspired children especially diverse Learners and then as far as I'm being able to participate in board meetings I was running around going to school teaching coming to home taking care of my kids thinking everything was okay but I was wrong I should have been taking part of the Board of Education meetings in my district where my children went I should have but they didn't but now I'm here and other parents too so I just want to thank you for your time again and and you're just very nice thank you very much take [Music] care oh um there is there's more public comment oh sorry Mr Finley good evening Dan PNY a uh because of the time constraint I didn't have a chance to say I do appreciate each one of you and your obvious efforts I know that it was mentioned uh you know previously by Mrs scy that you were working on a a revisions that addressed some of the the language and some of the you know some of the concerns uh people have about what was in the policy and and how that is problematic for kids and parents um so I really appreciate that I don't know what's in that this 5720 it makes me nervous but or 57 5950 excuse me but um I I just hope and pray that um you know that that we really do some soul searching and and are honest about what really the core issues are and and how we need to prevent uh strain from what the proper role of parents in school it are so that we can um help these kids through what's becoming an even more difficult WR of Passage um as they grw up and go through school thank you very much is there any more public comments I think there's probably more than one board member that wishes to speak but I don't this to well just speak as yourself yeah so um I just wanted to clarify because I think there is confusion um in terms of what's been done how you know uh as Mr had said you know we've been talking about sorry um we've been talking about this for at least six months potentially longer um we've had very in-depth conversations as a board we've listened to um numerous rounds of public comment we've gotten emails for respondents that we've also read through we really um talk this through as a team we had people on all sides of this um up here on the board so we really tried to work together um as a team to come up with something that we felt like worked well for our district um I don't know if it's clear and and that's why I just wanted to talk it through what's in this document is so basically we talk we took pieces that we thought would work well here and what we felt is that PK through so preschool through fifth grade is a young age and if those children um should self-identify as transgender um then a discussion would happen first with the principle depending on how that goes um then consult with I know we just added in the parent piece but but did think that as a board that having the parent involved preschool through 5ifth grade was important based on the age of the children 6 through 12 um essentially follows what we are currently doing in District which is um there is a um student support plan that the schools do use what we found and correct me if I'm wrong it's essentially the older grades um we haven't had um any questions come up in the elementary grades it's being the older grades so there is a student support plan that is is pretty in depth we've had an opportunity to see that I I personally really like that plan because as I go through it you really hits every aspect of that child's life when they are here in school or on school ground or participating in athletics or any of that it's very very individ yes it's it's very individualized for each student we've even talked about you know as kids are younger and it's even built in here that the accommodations of those kids 6 through 12 um can be made available for kids PK TI five it may need to be telled slightly um because it's so specific for the older grades currently because as I said we we haven't had it come up in the younger grades um so we really did try to F obviously follow the law make sure we were following the law but at the same time follow what we were doing in District that is working for us so and duv tailing on that just clarifying also since sounds like the majority of folks don't have the uh the the policy in front of them fair enough it's it's on it's on our website but it's kind of hard to find as most things are on our website no offense guys but um the uh did want to note with that one that I'm so sorry I just said that um but that the um the prek through five um accommodations that Mrs scy was talking about would be a parent request um just to just to clarify with that um where the the accommodations with the the older grades uh there's there's an encouragement to speak with parents and um uh the involvement of uh principal or and and their designes on counseling the student to speak with their parents um just wanted to clarify that anybody else have anything to say oh yes I'm sorry [Music] sorry okay does anybody else wish to speak while [Music] Mrs if anyone does any research on me online you will find that I've been working in the transgender committee for over 15 years and I just want everyone to know that we have been through so much passionate honest conversation as a board I want to reiterate that we compromised on this and I've heard the audience say I know as someone who has been working with countless numberb of transgender people that this is real and when they are affirmed for who they are the light of their life comes on finally and who they are able to be as students and people in the community is breathtaking and wonderful I do want to acknowledge that one of the places where I compromised is the people who voted for me knowing my background in the lgbtq plus Community would not expect me to say yes to a piece that would say parents and K five my best friend as a child who at five knew that they were a boy even though they were a girl at Birth they had been dressing as a boy acting as a boy and now is successfully an eighth grader where no one knows that they were born as birth as if they not that child is able to thrive so I just want you to know that I care more about having a policy in place that takes care of our children and if that means having 5950 with that word parent in it for PID through five especially when so many parents have come speaking that this is what we want that's a compromise I'm willing to make because what I know also is the children who make that decision at that age are doing it with their parents and those are the parents who are coming forward and we don't need to employ the policy because the students come with their parents and say this is what we want so I'm saying all of this just so you know that even someone who is so passionate about taking care of transgender people I agree with this change because I want our students to all be protected and I really sincerely thank everyone on this board who's worked with me and listened to me and I thank you and I look forward to taking care of our kids in many other ways in addition to this yes I would like to thank the Lord also we um like I said earlier we have taken a lot of time to come together we've listen to all the other comments we've listen to our own personal comments um and stories and experiences and um to come up with 5950 um and again yes it has been a comprom and we are um we are all on different sides of the um the aisle here up here um so we have compromised and thank you for recognizing that L that K5 I agree with you 100% um that you know the parents would not have been excluded from that conversation at such a young age take through five I mean what toddler while they're experiencing things are right next to their parent or Guardian experiencing those things so um I appreciate everybody for taking a minute before I know I think I upset the atam C but I appreciate everybody for taking a minute um to think about including parents in that paragraph and thank you all for doing that um however I also would like to that I don't believe a sixth grader or seventh grader or even eighth grader may be able to make um that affirmation of themselves as transgender also and would also probably need some guidance as well so yes p through five I appreciate that but I Cann um I do not think that you know a minor should be without should be the parent should be excluded [Music] from the conversation with a minor child in any situation regarding that minor um I would like to say that I love the teachers in this district and I don't think any teacher is out to rat out a child and by any means I think our teachers Foster excellent relationships with our students and I love that our students feel comfortable with our teachers and our Administration I think that's phenomenal but I don't think that the teacher is the substitute for the parent so that being said um you know we'll vote on policy 5950 and I want to just again than for and the administration and the public for all the time and thank you yeah I I also wanted to say thank you very much for the honest open discussions that we've had um we I think we've learned a lot I think we've been open to hearing different points of view so I appreciate that as well personal experiences um when I was born in my sole priority and responsibility to to the students of this District not to voters unfortunately for voters that's not how it works my responsibility is National students so there are some Impressions um that I wanted to clear up some of which have been brought up tonight um there are Impressions that um you know there's a feeling of fear phobia uninformed uneducated um none of that is is true as far as concerned um I only myself um I I don't think that any teachers are trying to S students in any One Direction or another and I also don't think that um you know there there's been all kinds of comments about you know teaching gender choices I I don't think that's happening in this in this District um I really have a lot of faith in our teachers that they're focusing on educating our children I'm sure are having discussions as they come up as appropriate um the idea that we're not celebrating individual students I think is a is kind of a mistake and impression um and I also think that there's a a really fine line that people are missing about the difference between the L the G and the B which refers to sexuality and the T which refers to gender um and I don't think it's the same outing a student who is LGB um because you're not really asking for different accommodations to be made in that case it's just a sexual orientation versus transgender which really requires a lot of differences um in accommodation so um I do appreciate the opportunity to create a policy that aligns with the needs of the district the concerns of the community the differences of opinion among the board members we really did a lot of great hard work over many many late hours um the policy still puts the district in a difficult position of keeping some parents Guardians in the dark about how their students identify at school um I just as a parent and as a board member I disagree with that um and painting all parents as some sort of people monsters that are just going to you know lash out at their kids for for coming to them with such a sensitive topic that everybody is now aware of it's not like we're you know even 5 years years ago and this wasn't a topic of discussion um everywhere so I think parents are are becoming more educated and I do think they need to be in the loop on this like they are with every other decision accommodation medication Tylenol can't have to get a parents permission to give tyol um and I I think I was inappropriate before when I locally um agreed with one of the public comments so wrong place but I'm going to say it here I have a message message for students um which was stated by one of the public comments there is no right or wrong way to be a boy and there is no right or wrong way to be a girl do not let anyone make you feel that you're not enough exactly the way you are thank you am I thank just comment oh thank you [Music] um sorry so again backing I agree with everything everybody said as far as um time I know we've talked about this before I appreciate it I was impressed um with this board on how we work together um because I've seen a lot of meetings not go well um in the past so I'm very grateful for that um um but with that being said where I get hung up is um we're here we're here um for all the kids so to me in my mind you know there's an umbrella and it's over the district and everybody under there um is our responsibility staff children um obviously uh their wellbeing while being fiscally responsible we follow policy um I I get hung up on separating kids into categories because I think the whole point is that everybody needs to be one and so when you start creating and this we've talked about when you start creating a policy for this group and then that group and but what about this group and like so in my mind it's very simple I took an oath um and basically every decision I make and this is from Dr mik said to me many rooms ago if every decision you make is based on the child then the decision becomes easy because that's your for that's what our focus is um so I too have complete confidence in our staff and our admin and I know for a fact regardless of school day time or whatever if a child needs something regardless of what it is and they come to an adult in our district somebody will take care of them or get them to somebody who needs to then take care of them um I've seen it myself my kids my friends kids my nieces my my nephews are here endless cin staff 100% all the time and I would be amazed if you told me something else um we and and as Mrs Hoy said we have a plan a gender identity plan so if the child comes forward it is critiqued to fit with that child needs which is awesome um every kid is different every child is different every need is different that created from our uh Administration in the older grades and kudos to them for saying hey you know we don't really have anything specific let's let's create something and it was an amazing document and I we were we loved it um unfortunately the state from the GetGo but from Co at least minimally on um has put so much responsibility on districts just in general um we're we're being told to make decisions um on stuff that they have not made a decision on and so they hand it down to us and we're supposed to figure it out because there's never any clear guidance and then we're met with threats um we're met with lawsuits we're met with oh we're going to pull your state aid or oh we're going to sue you um meanwhile in my eyes our jobs are only to educate these kids we are getting involved in places we do not belong we have these kids for 6 hours it is exhausting all of these things that we need to get involved in um the governor put down brief counseling that's coming down the pipe great let's add that into the day I mean it's just just it's it's unbelievable to me what we're supposed to accomplish in 6 hours on top of Education I personally I just want to get back to basics I want to get over this policy talk I want to do what we do every single day in this district is take care of the kids these guys I've been with for 12 years um I sleep at night knowing they're taking care of our families and I'm sorry I'm getting emotional but this means a lot to me these guys are the best um I just want to be here for the kids we're here to educate the kids that is it every kid gets the same rights same education we love them all they look different they act different who cares when they're in these buildings for 6 hours it's an education um and I just all of this noise it's got to stop just has to stop kids need to be kids tomor is sorry Nellie is snow day um go out play in the snow like go slay riding be normal be kids just do what kids do um and and then everything else will fall into place so that's all I have to say with my hands going and my Italian I'm sorry that did anybody else want to comment I know had another no it's all covered it's all been covered okay does anybody else okay I need to keep track of where we're at um motion I don't even know what we're doing anymore on like there was a motion that we had earlier and a motion to abolish okay all right myad okay I'm just going to list tonight's event so you know what you're all voting on than okay so we're going to take action on curriculum and instruction special services personnel with the walk-in item policy let's review policy so you already have taken action on the motion to strike the sentence the boa with the sixth grade done the next part is to add the parents for 5950 and then to abolish 5756 as well as approve the finance agenda and that would be all the things you were taking action on parents they already took action yeah we did okay strike the parent part but everything else we're add 5950 yeah it's on resoling yeah okay can we do that as a single Vote or are we doing each of the agenda separately we want to do everying curricul instruction you can individually make different motions throughout okay just just so everybody hears it so you can you can make individual when you you vote Yes or no you can clarify um within so we're going to motion it all with one right and then if there's something you want to switch just say'll note it roll going on we've already motion yep Miss files do you agree to all items yes so not Miss Martinez uh no I I do not agree to [Music] 5950 I would like to I agree with appealing I I agree with adding the verbage but I personally cannot agree with 5950 and I'm also abstaining from Personnel um sorry I oh it's right uh number three admin with P I'm abstaining from that section okay so no for the policy 5950 and then number three you're abstaining and everything else is a yes correct thank you so noted Mr mcover you have a question no I thought you raised your hand no no I [Music] just no for p 5950 and yes for the rest of the agenda for this evening so noted Mr Monon yes for all understood Miss SC I just have a question if I say yes to everything and I would not want to abolish 5756 if 5950 is not accepted is there a way for me to do that can I say no to be abolished sure okay great so I'm saying yes to 5950 yes to I'm saying yes to everything except resending [Music] 5756 okay no to resending 5756 yes to the rest so so noted Miss Bell Okay so um I'm voting toal 5756 so that's yes and then I'm voting no to 5950 and I'm vo yes to 5250 so everything else I guess is yes okay so the only no is 5950 everything else is yes yes so no D Miss War yes to everything except 5950 so that's a now for 15 [Music] minutes so noted Mrs yes sir m p yes [Music] sir [Music] okay so [Music] 5950 test yes and 5756 is abolished abolished [Music] okay so 5950 policy 5950 that's on the agenda passes 5756 is abolished okay um sorry I'm trying to find my agenda uh is there uh any new [Music] business yes um so I just had one thing I wanted to say last night was the um High School husy experience um for seventh and eighth graders and um I thought they did a fantastic job job um they presented the new Pathways um which is essentially the new Academy structure which um the rest of the students and parents will hear about shortly um but I wanted to thank um Mr Wells all the administration over there um the staff um they did a great job presenting everything and the students because the students were great they had Civic leaders doing tours the chorus was there the band was there performing they had so many student um different athletic clubs um different clubs that the kids were presenting to other students that came by to get the kids excited so I personally thought it was they did a fantastic J so great um I had one um and then other people can too um the uh for the last gosh not not quite a year we've we we started having a board Facebook page and um Mrs scy has been the the keeper of it first as as board president now as board vice president it's a fair amount of work and so um I don't actually know if I I I can't remember I spoke with with M Rubin about this is whether we need to vote on this but uh wanted to advise Andor ask for a vote um to have the responsibility move to miss wari um who uh has some expertise in this this field and um to relieve the pressure especially with Mrs Coy heading up the contract negotiations right now um should that be a vote no okay all right well there you go okay wait can I just say I would love to do that thank you very much and thank you andette for kicking on and thank you very much Mrs War um okay I would like to say that in the last four or five years I haven't had a worry about a snow day and um I and Nelly and I have been talking about it a lot the last few days I'm just happy that Nelly will be able to sleep tonight um because uh we were discussing she how many times do you get up during the night and check out the window and I'm sitting there I'm saying holy smokes I I I look out the window all the time so uh sleep well T is there other new business I just want to say congratulations to Mrs SC for losing in Facebook page you're just dropping things like great hey negotiations I know only kidding she does a lot of work but I'm glad for her you'll have more done um just one thing in the vein of the Facebook page and Communications out to um the district um we I did want to address the website if there's any information about working with the vendor to improve the look I mean I I just had staff member um asked me the other day about how why is it so hard to find things because she's trying to tell the parents where to go for certain information and it's so deep down several layers and um just hoping we can really streamline the website make it more user friendly make it searchable archive old information maybe make sure it's updated so when it's time that prom contracts are due that's like right on the high school page up top and front center things like that can a board M do that I'm sorry would actually do that no right no it's um District employees the so we're in the process we will be switching over from Blackboard to um final I think it's called um Final Cut final site um so that'll we will start off with the committee working in March and training will begin uh in the springtime that was discussed this morning actually Lindsay and I discussed that um with technology director so then we will have a fresh new um web page for the fall Sor one absolutely do we have a committee yet is the pr committee formulated because I know that always she always you know we're got to be very proactive with the prom committee so that's something we can get on our wheelous to make sure we're spearing or some somebody coming us I I will report back out next board meeting talk to Mr great thank you yes I just have a request for something keep in mind um my phone call for the 90 minute delay didn't come in until 10:15 at night which I assume I am not the only one and that is really W for the par Community to start making BS for children in the morning so if we could please make that decision earlier I think the community would be very grateful for [Music] that this the first part of your St that I first my call for the delayed opening at 10:15 at night and that's a late time to make K to the next morning I thought that was on the early side thank thank you I I remember getting the calls at 1:00 a.m. sometimes I wasn't commenting because there's always different um perspectives um so some parents want it the night before some prefer it the morning so I've kind of come to the um conclusion that I'm not going to get everybody 100% happy so um the you know in terms of making the decision my focus going to what Miss Martinez says is ensuring that um the students and the staff around drive to school safely and we can dismiss um safely making sure the buildings are clean so and there but there was an um there was a tech glitch glitch on that second call um so we're aware of that thank you if if I may just comment for all of us people who are of my age do we all remember when we used to hear the fire alarms 6 a.m. 6 a.m. remember um listening for the fire department at 6:00 a.m. and doing the dance so yes that's for us full those of us done in southy would listen to 1060 radio to listen for their school number um is there is there anything any other new business um I and old business I skipped it again um is there any old business okay um you have to do an exact session so be it resolve that a closed session be convened for the purpose of discussing privacy personnel and attorney client matters the subject matter of these discussions will be disclosed to the public when the reason for confidentiality subsides although the board cannot guarantee that the length of the executive session is estimated to be 30 minutes 30 minutes after which the public meeting of the board shall reconvene and proceed with business action will not take place I need a motion and second to enter executive session second all in favor thank you --------- [Music] welcome to the Madan aine Regional School regular Action meeting on uh January 18th 2024 the time is now 633 um the New Jersey open meetings law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest and is discussed or agreed on in accordance with the provision of this act the mwan abine Regional School District Board of Education advertised this meeting I don't think it was on June 20th 2023 but it may have in the Asbury Park Press and the Star Ledger this notice was sent to the municipal Clerks of the burough of manwan and the township of aine and the Manan aine Public Library the notice was also placed on the district's website can we all stand for the Pledge of Allegiance Al unit States of America [Music] standy and justice for all thank you can we have roll call Miss Vias here Miss Martinez here Mr mover here Mr Monto here miss Scot here M Morell here M Mor here M goie Miss p oh here thank you thank you be resolved that a closed session be convened for the purpose of discussing privacy personnel and attorney client matters the subject matter of these discussions will be disclosed to the public when the reason for confidentiality subsides although the board cannot guarantee it the length of the executive session is estimated to be that U 20 minutes maybe less after which the public meeting of the board shall reconvene and proceed with business action will take place um may I have a motion and second to go into executive session I'll motion I'll second um all in favor need a motion and a second to return to um the public meeting all motion second thank you I don't think I've do all a favor do I okay awesome um okay oh yes I I need a want at a time okay all right I need a motion a second to approve the regular Action meeting minutes for December 21st 2023 and the executive session meeting minutes for December 21st 2023 Mo I'll second Miss Vias yes M Martinez yes Mr McGovern m Mr Monon yes Miss SC that's okay yeah we go back to her M Bar oh yes Miss wari yes Mrs gie yes Miss B yes yes and the correspondence to the board is listed in the agenda packet um you a motion a second to approve the correspondence list motion I'll second all right um the the student representative is um not present agree to approve the minutes for December 21st and regular in action minut thank cool um so I'm just going to move uh straight to the superintendent's report thank you and good evening everyone before I introduce our district CPAC meeting and our director of student services Miss steich I would like to take this opportunity to express our deepest appreciation by acknowledging our board members commitment to fostering a positive learning environment their hard work and the impact they've had on the community Through the service on the school board I don't know if anyone knows this but January is um recognition for School Board Association board members so we wanted to thank you um together we have had um been able to expand programs services and facilities in our district to ma maximize learning opportunities for our students um and support our staff on behalf of the administration and the staff we thank you and are so grateful for each of the each of you and the time that you put in in order to help us um run a very very good District I'm very proud to be the superintendent here in Manan Aberdine we've given you a little token of appreciation um there is a lanyard on your um that's why the lanyards were on here with your name and your ID badge um so you can wear a community EV events so that the community can also recognize board members and thank them for the thankless work that they do um each and every day and there's also a little pen that is on there that we ordered you guys are the first to have and it says building connections so um I appreciate that I've had the opportunity over the last 8 and 1/2 years to build connections with each staff member each um board member here tonight but also our previous board members so thank you very much thank thank you thank you with that said um Miss stepich if you wouldn't mind um introducing our district CPAC hello everybody good evening thank you for having us here tonight um we have two representatives of our cpag which is the special education Advisory Group um we have miss senson and miss barala um so we talk about building connections when I first started in August this is one of the first community members that I had the pleasure of meeting with and working with so um she was very welcoming and it was exciting to hear about the work that she had started in the spring with the cpeg and um been able to continue that work throughout the school year um we've got quite a few times to make that connection between the district as well as the special ed Community to ensure that we're working collaboratively to support all of our special ed students so without further Ado thank you good evening um thank you Mish um so my name is Letta senson and I do have the privilege of being the president of the cpag um and I want to thank you for giving us the opportunity tonight just to kind of explain where we are and what we're what we have in mind to do we are essentially reconstituting um the seat bag so basically a new body um we have in addition to U Miss Mero is here today we also have three other officers we're not able to be here and we have Liaisons for each of the schools and we're working on um working with them to start to make more connections to the schools um just quick background you're probably familiar with with cegs but just run he's not the state of New Jersey requires every District to have a cpag and with the purpose of providing input to the district on any issues relating to students with disabilities so that really is our goal to be a parent group to um to talk to another talk to the district about any topics of Interest any questions suggestions and I'll speak to that a little bit more um just quick background our district had a cpeg at one time and for various reasons it has not been functional for several years so we are effectively starting again um so we are in sort of the baby stage of um kind of um building up parents awareness for example people don't necessarily know we exist um building up connections to the school district to staff to principals and other staff um teachers and so forth I didn't even know there was a cpag and actually the way that we got started just is that in August of 22 actually the student services office reached out to parents and asked parents um basically introduced the idea of doing a cpag again and that was actually how we got started happen to be the person who followed up with our then director of student services and so last April we had our first meeting which was just an introductory meeting to invite parents tell them what it was and kind of try to find people who would be willing to participate in getting this group going again and we were very fortunate that we had just a few people there but they were people who were committed um and so we then were able to do bylaws our bylaws are now on the district website on the CPAC tab which is under student services and um to elect officers June so um so again we're still in the process of building awareness with parents looking for best means of communication how do we reach people um and identifying more specific goals um in terms of what we would programs or policies we be looking at so I'm not here tonight to make any specific recommendations just really to introduce the group um and in general the goal is to do what cags were created for which is for parents to have an effective communication with the school dist District about any topic related to students uh with disabilities so this would include um any special education program from the most of the at least to the most restrictive also 504s it applies to um every grade level so preschool all the way through a transitional reach program um and every school so it's not specific to one school to one group to one level the special ad but really is intended to be for the whole District um and just kind of addressing anything um that might come up um um so we might for example identify maybe a need that hasn't been met for whatever reason and then have a conversation among each other as parents how might what might be useful to have how might we go about that and then take that conversation then to miss steich or possibly other staff depending on you know what kind of topic it is and just sort of lay that out and um so far we've had a great start start we've had a lot of support um we haven't made a lot of recommendations we've had a lot of support in getting the group going and um so I'm looking forward to building relationships um with the district um we might end it in the event that there's ever something that's more like an issue or real concern you hope would be to have just a constructive discussion and hopefully kind of um do whatever needs to be done so also sometimes what parents most need is just information information about how to navigate the system information about District programs how do they work how do you get your kid into something um and there's lots of stuff like that that parents often have questions about information is not always available he's at least not you at least you don't know where to go to get it so you don't know to ask the question until some other parent says oh you can do this but you didn't know so another thing we hope to do is to help build um to be a resource for information for parents um and part that comes from talking to the district and getting information um so that's something else uh that we'll be doing and and um so in order to try to get a better sense for parents about what their interests are we did survey in November we got about 60 responses and we're just kind to get a sense from people what are your concerns what are your interests what would you like us to be tressing I know what things that are on my mind but I don't necessarily know what other people are thinking especially if your children are very different programs or different schools um um not surprisingly the number one topic people wanted information about was IEPs um but very close after that sort of group together transition to adulthood mental health after school activities were all things people have lot interest in so we'll probably be talking about some of those topics um and then other topics as well in fact our next meeting will be in the end of February we're having someone come to speak to us about the reach program so a lot of parents even with younger children want to learn more about what what coming up down the road what does that transition look like what does that program look like so I'm the director of that program is going to come speak to us I'm transition being one of the topics that people have a lot of um a lot of questions about a lot of interest in um and that also part of our trying to do information as well as to discuss with other other EV we're also having a meeting later this month just to give this is some what's going on for the parently aison to the schools because so far they've not been very active we've had to kind of figure out step byep how do we do each things so next step is what should the Leons be doing how do they build let's say within Cliffwood or Lloyd or whatever connections to other parents and then maybe identify within individual schools there might be some things that might be nice to do or to change or whatever um you know maybe there's something in another District that looks great we might want to say hey can we do that here and and just talk about it what would work um so we hope to be able to have those kind of conversations as well um yeah so that's really about all I wanted to say um I want to thank you again and I also just wanted to bring up a request for the board to maybe consider whether you might like to um designate someone to be a liaison or it's not strictly necessary we can just report you but you know maybe um you consider having some of you might like to be our kind of point of contact we can be in touch with that person and bu relationships particularly need them so just put that on the table um and then if you have any questions I'm happy to answer them or Le try yes the meeting meeting that inform our next meeting is February 20th it's going to be at 6:30 in Cliffwood and it's primarily going to be to um have a presentation um about the be program yeah we may do a little business but mayly it'll be the information okay great thank you in the library again yes okay thank if that changes we'll publicize if that as that well thank you very very much um you guys seem to you're off to a great start and um we really really appreciate especially me everyone knows that I started here as the Director of student services so um to hear that um we able to get up and running again um is really really makes me really really happy so I'm very happy um and if there's ever a point um that you need to communicate with me or anyone on the on cabinet um please feel free to reach out and um we'll help and support whatever we need thank you yes thank you I just have one comment yes um I I just want to thank both of you um I uh most of you know I have a 46y old sister with Down Syndrome that um lives with me and I heal care for her and when I tell you 30 40 years ago um it was not a good environment for a special need Student to be in a school my sister was in a basement um she was made fun of all the time and one of the things that I myself on in M on working with Nelly the last eight years is the tremendous relationship that we've established with with families of All Families but with special needs because um I believe they're what make the world go around and uh so thank you for all you do and uh anything you need for me to say a word thank you um and move to the board president for court um I just wanted to highlight I I had shared with uh the board the beginnings of a just a basic list of of important dates to keep in mind of you know things happen and then you hear about great things going on in the schools or in the community and you missed it and so uh just along those lines between now and the next board meeting um this Saturday Lloyd Road school PTO is having their pancake breakfast and craft fish this is the first year they're doing that but they're hoping this will be an annual thing um the on the 31st the Ravine Drive Elementary school PTO is having um a Harlem Wizards game over at the high school those are always fun if you've never been to one a highly recommended um and then on more of a a business side on February 3rd that is the njsba mandated training day as I I've been calling it as an opportunity uh if you need to do governance one that is a good time to do it um it is a weekend though and it's in person um but um that's something that's not the only time that that'll be offered through the year but you do need to finish it soon H Chris um but the uh I'm sorry I should be more formal than that Mr McGovern The also um governance two and four are being offered I believe those are hybrid so if you want to stay home you can do them um three is not being offered this time so miss Fus and I are out of luck uh but at some point that'll happen and then another thing going on on February 6 M County School Board Association is having a virtual meeting um they're usually iners meetings and but this one is virtual and U those are highly informative I recommend them um in addition to that I just wanted to thank everybody for their patience I'm still getting used to this and um I I really appreciate every everybody's communication and support and then um also I'm I'm building a uh hopefully the figuring out is is a a kind of a place to hold documents that are helpful for all of us we're all pretty new I mean aside from M Martinas and Mrs scy and and Mr Monon the rest of us don't have more than two years under our belts so um there's a lot of of policy and and even example agendas from some of the more notable meetings from this past year that I think might be helpful for folks to look at to get a sense of how this District Works um so I wanted to give give you guys a heads up about that and then aside from that um I was I I'm sorry I have to apologize to Mrs scly because I think I'm giving her just a quick like look at her face but I I will have Miss Martinez go first is a very quick update on our ad hoc committees um um yes thanks m p so our ad hoc committee um we created for policy and basically that is a separate group of us that is no more than um usually four and we will get together and go over the policies that are um either new that need to be updated um so just for instance right now well we obviously have been dealing with um 5756 but that we did as a whole obviously um but the substance policy and dress code so like we're looking into doing that um kind of updating language not necessarily changing it but things need to be updated unfortunately there's more options of things that kids could have so we just type of idea and um so miss wari uh Miss gr and Mr mg govern and myself will be doing that um and then once we gather we're having our first meeting on Thursday then we get all of our thoughts and ideas together then we share it with the board in admin and then if everybody's in agreeance then we would U move forward with the changes um so yes so looking forward we're starting next Thursday it might be a zoom meeting but either way we're we're going to start that so thank you thank you sorry Hi um I am chairing the negotiations um and we our contract um with uh with the Madan a educational um Association is up um at the end of June and that um consists of the majority of our staff minus the administration um so that we are beginning uh we just had a very initial meet and greet meeting and um four board members are on the committee um supp total um and we look forward to a um a a quick hopefully um settlement um one that's Equitable for all of us on both sides we want to make sure that it's be to our staff that shows them our appreciation for all the hard work that they've done over the years um and continued to do um as well as that um puts our students first and make sure that you know their needs are addressed um and that there's a lot of student contact time that sort of thing and also that it's physically responsible so we look forward to um taking that off as I said the the current contract um expires at the end of June um and we will provide updates um as thank you so much apologize again I forgot to give her a heads up about that um so now uh moving on we have uh ethics training with our uh representative from Bush Law Group um I don't makes sense if everybody can hear sure um okay so I'm going to talk a little bit about board member ethics so this is the ethics uh rules and laws that the board members are required to abide by um generally it's mostly a list of things not to do that board members are not supposed to do but in discussing that we also discuss what board members are supposed to do uh which is and really and how it back is so limited um so to start with we we it's important to remember what the role of a board member is and this kind of a theme that goes throughout the the discussion of what a board member does and board member eics so board members are uh the board is a policymaking board board members are here uh in a policymaking and oversight role only um so there's no executive Authority there's no administrative Authority now um personal level I think there's few exceptions to that but as a general rule that's really kind of what the um what the ethics rules and uh laws are based on so uh and then the other piece of it so that's one piece of it we'll talk about is uh the idea of that of the board members limited role the other part of it is uh that board members should not use their position for the wrong things and the wrong reasons and that includes both um prohibitions on things that might make it appear that a board member is personally gaining or someone is improperly having a personal uh benefit from you know the rules the as a board member um and um and and and it touches on things like uh negotiations and so when we're talking about Board number ethics where do we look what do we look at so each board has their own policy so the board has it own policies talk about um uh there's an actual ethics policy um and there's also administrative codes not administrative codes um there's other board policies that talk about I'm sorry the Mas uh about um about different Financial Obligations so for instance um uh anti- netism policy there's a board policy that talks about anti- netism which is uh which is one of the sources of a lot of the conflict because we'll talk about um so so there's the board policies at the local level and they are required by state law so we talk about education law usually we're talking about New Jersey statutes that are 18a that's like the title that all the mostly education laws fall and of course there's all kinds of other laws that board members and Boards have to comply with like the open public meeting that's not within that title generally when we're talking about education laws we're talking about 18a in maurity statute and that's and there's two big ones that we talk about um talk about board member ethics njsa 188 col 12-24 and 12- 24.1 um so well uh the first um all right so the first one is the more negative one uh so it it requires in it requires in part that no school official which includes board members shall use or attempt to use his official position to secure unwarranted privileges excuse advantages or employment for himself members of his immediate family or others so that or others is uh what's litigated all the time when we talk about board member ethics and close calls and what what ends up going before the ethics commission and for it it's so much it has to do with that uh that term others and it relates back to that anti-nepotism policy that I just talked about because um uh it's all interrelated and basically the eth school ethics commission has looked at these different regulations and laws and they have come up with different advisor opinions over the years to talk about who is another for for and for what purpose so what we're talking about uh um if we like if a brother-in-law you uh works in the district is that a conflict and if so what does it mean so um like immediate family members board you cannot be hired to the board uh once a board member is on the board if a board member already has an immediate family that works for the board they can still become a board member uh but they are then have to recuse from anything having to do with that board member it also applies to superintendent so if you have a conf if a board member has a conflict of interest because of a relationship with a current employee then they would be uh conflicted from taking any actions or making any decisions that have to do with anyone who uh supervises that family member because then it could at least appear like they're trying to exert some kind of improper influence on the management or supervision of their family member um also union membership so if a board member is a teacher in another District chances are they are a union member um and or it could be your uh board member spouse is a union member in another District or it could be a uh even more tenuous relationship so um there too the school ethics commission has said has looked has said that in certain cases those people are also others and uh to make sure that there's no appearance that we're giving an improper benefit that a board member gives an improper benefit they have to recuse from things like negotiations uh with the same Union even though it's not the contract that's going to impact that board memb relative in another District uh it still might appear because um unions use and and uh deals and in other districts to help themselves and to base their own uh negotiating off of that it might be trying to give an improper benefit um okay moving on that same statute also provides um actually just to keep it quick so the next statute the 24.1 is is the code of ethics and that talks um more about the limited role of the board so I it provides in part I will continue my board action I will conf confine my board action to policym planning and Appraisal I will help to frame policies and plans only after the board is consult those who will be affected by it it also requires that board members carry out their responsibility not to administer the schools but together with my fellow board members to see that they are well-run um and that board members recognize their Authority rests with the Board of Education and they will make no personal promises or take any private action that may compromised the board um so the standard when we're talking about Board of Ethics is always appearance it's not actual conflict it's not whether or not uh there was a um an intent to uh be unethical it's not whether or not there was um uh an improper benefit bestowed the the the standard that these things are always uh examined under is whether it may have appeared to a reasonable person that way um the idea being that anything that might even cause the community to question the board's ethics should be avoided uh entirely um so one of the areas that we often see issues with board members confining their their um themselves to their the role as a member of the whole board and not taking individual action and also confining um to not overstepping the administration is social media comes up all the time um and there's there's different ethics opinion one of the big issues that we see all the time is disclaimers so real quick uh board members generally are required if they are speaking to to not speak on behalf of the board unless they're doing so in an official capacity and have the board's approval that doesn't mean that board members cannot speak as a as an individual privately but when they do so it's important that they uh put a sufficient disclaimer to make it clear and what the ethics commission has said is that that board members should uh identify that they are a member of the board and then also make it clear that any opinions they're expressing are their own and if they're not speaking on behalf of the board if that's the case um I think how we you on time um [Music] so um oh uh so also important is confidentiality that board members keep all m is confidential so that includes Student Records student matters uh Personnel matters is a big uh thing also anything that's discussed in close session so in Clos session there's a there's a statute the open quote meetings act that restricts what can be discussed in closed session but anything that is discussed in there uh must be kept confidential and should not be uh discussed um and also talking about the appearance issue it's advice that we often give to board members is to focus on that standard so and also when we're think about other laws so um like the open public meetings Act and the way you conduct yourself during a meeting it might comply with open public meetings de might be ethical but if it appears like you're doing something that's trying to hide from the public or something like that uh you can cause issues and raise so uh something one thing I always try to one idea I like to raise is that when we're thinking about these standards and the board members think about the standards of appearance and what's important is that you're not it doesn't necessarily need to strictly relate to the ethics code um but it's also all the laws and all the issues that that the board members deal with it's something that is constantly having to uh you have to always think about and apply it to make sure that we stay in line with what's expected and don't get ourselves in trouble um any questions can you just address um the appearance of like me running into each other at a school event and refraining from like Gathering groups and things like that sure um so that that's really more of an open public media act issue than necessarily an Ethics act issue um and to the extent that you know I don't want to give legal council out here in the public session but I I I'll talk about a little bit which is um what the AL public meeting act prohibits is board members meeting uh to discuss board business in private without giving proper notice and Public Access so theoretically you know we don't recommend it but theoretically if every board member gets together and is there to discuss the Yankees and there's no discussion of of of the school district that that could be okay um but in terms of running into each other on public I board members I think need not be so concerned with that it's it's it's issues uh like oh let's all get together not that this happens here but just generally at at the at the diner to figure out what we're going to do about this teacher or what we're going to do about the p and not giving the public notice an opportunity to be here and to see and that's what open public media Act is really meant to perfect so I think as long as board members kind of keep that General um purpose in mind you'll probably be okay but if there's any specific issues let's we can talk about them um now I will say one of the issues that comes up in ethics is volunteering can a board member volunteer at the school and how does that impact um the the the prohibition on administering the schools and and the generally the answer is board members can volunteer um but the role that they volunteer in uh is somewhat limited so they cannot have any kind of supervisory p uh authority over staff um so for instance a board member could not or usually shouldn't uh volunteer to run a school play if there's going be different staff members who are doing different things under them that they're going to have to oversee at the same time though uh there are opinions that say a a board member can be a PTO member or even officer president it's just that if that happens they have to kind of recuse themselves from certain uh topics and limit their role more so than other people in that uh position might have so that they don't end up uh having a direct interaction with the administration or staff of the school that's outside of what's appro for a board member thank you [Music] thank you as a parent and the board member if I want to ask the parent specific question I know I can go through the chain of command like with you know my my children I can go to their teacher they can direct me to the principal but if I want to address the board can I write an email with my mom hat on to the Board of Education that's okay or no um technically I think there are so a board members are allowed to advocate for their person for their family members in front of the board board members can even sue the board uh in very very limited circumstances bring something to the but at the same time right [Music] so so from a conflict perspective it's not necessarily an issue where it becomes an issue is where there be becomes an appearance that a board member is seeking to kind of Leverage their position for special treatment so if if I think you the test ought to be uh if if I wasn't a board member would I be doing this this way and if the answer is yes then chances are it's okay but if the answer no if the answer is hell no if I didn't know the superintendent I wouldn't just be sending them an email I wouldn't be you know R all these members of the board like uh then then probably you shouldn't do it um uh but but when we're talking about reaching out to the board usually the issue that we deal with board members is not that writing a letter to out the entire board but them sending an email to the superintendent individually um those types of things where which is not to say that it can never be done but that um that that it's those situations where it becomes a little bit more of a slippery slope because it's it's it's just imperative that the board member kind of make it clear Which hat they're wearing during those conversations right so that's why you would like as a as a parent you would email the board entirely and not go straight to the superintendent because then it could look like a little bit of like a slippery like a slippery slope right like a misuse maybe is that what you're saying well no I oh I mean so you get a lot of emails as a board member from Individual parents about individual parent issues there's communication that comes from and do they go to right yeah so I and if you as a board member know that if you got this email you would be foring into the superintendent to handled it's not really a board issue and then I then as a board member I probably would not advise you send me that type of email to the whole board that you don't think is like really appropriate for board level issue I would you know then I would probably talk to the superintendent okay um but but at the same time what I wouldn't do is not talk to the teacher first not talk to and just go right to the superintendent because you have the superintendent sell so that's where the issue is follow question you just asked because I'm not understanding because there have been some things as a parent going wait a second that seemed weird so do I write to Miss Perez rather than the board I'm not understanding from your answer what the right thing to do is if you have I I think when a board member has a parent issue with their student the board member should should try the best they can to do what they would do if they weren't the board member so if you know for me as a parent I I would expect that most of the time parents are going to be addressing their concerns to the parents teacher this isn't more of a district if it's more of a district yeah if it's more of a district goes to the superintendent yes but you're you're a board member so you can raise if you have if you as a board member have a district white issue that you want to raise and for discussion amongst the board I don't to me that's you as a board member raising that issue just because you're also a parent that's kind of half the point so I I wouldn't say that you you need to start writing letters the whole board um do I do it in public session here yes yes I mean there's there's there's a thousand different ways to to to do it um that get up there or should I go around the table only if the only thing is is if you're speaking solely as a individual so you know if you have an individual issue that you think you're going to you know be against what the rest of the board is saying or or is against it you know that's when very very rare and it's never a good situation so uh what I would I think perhaps it's it's it's we're we're reading a little bit too much into this which is if you as a board you're a board member if you have an issue that you think should be discussed that's a district white issue you need not jump through hoops to bring it up as a parent and and go through the proper you have you can bring that up as a board member that's kind that's what you're here for it's only when you're dealing with an issue that's specific to your family specific to your child and you're have that parent hat on that you're dealing just with your your family your child that's when we say well wait a minute you want to act as a regular parent not as a board member but otherwise you are a board member so that's well within your role thank you um can I just ask a question so am I right in saying that as a board member we really are not supposed to be discussing our own personal children because we're here for all kids so it's it it's something that's personal with family would be something that you would go through the normal chain of command teacher then principal then escalate discussing discussing when or with who I I mean I you probably would not be discuss during public session things that are individual to your student and and and and your child um you know like I i' I'd like to make a motion to revise my kids science grade no what I'm saying is as a board member I am not going to Advocate as a board member for my kids exactly I'm advocating for all the kids exactly so if I want to advocate for my child then I'm a mom and then I go through the the normal mom channels exactly okay I just want to make sure that's that's absolutely right thank you yes thank you thank you okay in that case uh if everybody could look probably at the bottom of their paper pile at this point there's a school ethics training certificate there that um you to sign has nice little tabed on it and send one copy to Lindsay just like send it down the line no there's some coming in [Music] already we're the Board of Education members that's the I need the pen stop [Music] spiling almost okay thank you everyone we're now going to move to the agenda um the agenda portion of the agenda um curriculum and instruction should I we not have curricul instruction there is no curricul instruction it's out of order okay oh okay anyways curriculum instruction thank you and good evening we are asking the board to take action and approve items a travel and B the revised field trips I'd also like just to point out the board under travel there are two staff members where it's listed they're attending the njs l s Ms PD I'll give you what all those up that suit means um so that's the New Jersey student learning standards Science middle school professional development um this is a fantastic opportunity for our two staff members not everybody gets to go to this in New Jersey so we have our two teachers from mwan aine attending this uh PB in Princeton where they have a seat at the table with a handful of other districts where they can influence uh Science assessment science curriculum some science instruction uh the fact that they were selected and are attending this is a big deal for not only the two staff members but it's a big deal for our district so I just wanted to highlight that for the board because that's an important opportunity for all of us that concludes curricul of instruction I have a motion to approve motion I'll second okay um is there any discussion on this agenda moving on um student services thank you we're asking the board to approve and take action on items one 2 3 and four that concludes student services I have a motion to approve the agenda motion second is there any discussion okay okay um oh there's okay Personnel good evening everyone tonight we are asking the board to approve the superintendent recommendations under the walkin items that you see in front of you and also we're asking the board to approve the superintendent recommendations under item a b C1 through 8 and items 1 through 7 under D that concludes the person I have a motion to approve the Personnel agenda a motion okay um and is there any discussion especially I don't know if everybody found the walk-in items um it includes the calendar part about the M's conferences okay all right just making sure everybody's seen it um okay so policy agenda good evening again uh we are asking the board to approve the superintend recommendation for the second reading of the policies as listed policy okay motion have a motion to wait first that's okay I'm still learning too um the uh a motion to accept the agenda motion a second okay and now is there any discussion or comment questions yes hi um I would like to motion to strike um the sentence after the policy number 5950 um under approach after approach section c the paragraphs starts with District supports I would like to motion to strike the sentence the board of education has determined that sixth grade should be considered a presumptive threshold we have um from the policy we have a second on that second have a motion a second this is an amendment so we're going to vote on it now um so um I think we need to do a roll call on the uh motion to amend policy 5950 with the removal of that sentence M yes M Martinez yes Mr MC yes Mr yes Scott yes M yes yes yes yes so that motion passes um are there any other questions comments criticism politicism like to make a motion to adopt policy 5950 okay so now there's a motion is there a second to ad adopt yes 5950 okay um now do we do that now okay all right we will do that part after all right thank you I would like to make a motion a motion under the next sentence well the second well in that same paragraph the principal shall cons with the superintendent the district's legal council if necessary to determine the legally compant for some action of like parents so it would can you can you re can you reread the sentence with the with parents in there sure the principal shall consult with the superintendent principal shall consult with the parents the superintendent and the district's legal counsel if necessary to determine legally applying for of action so we have a a motion for that change is there a second I'll second okay there's a second so then we need to uh do a roll call on this [Music] amendment right I have a question oh we have a question about the amendment yes um I don't believe this is what we talked about in our executive session right so if we put this in I just need a moment to process putting this in because then that may affect our votes in the end whether to accept 5950 it is correct to assume this is a substantive change and I feel uncomfortable moving ahead that conversation as a board about this in public this [Music] time um somebody could motion to table the policy at this point for to the next [Music] meeting we able take a vote on the change we have a motion second on the floor okay sorry just we need to figure out what [Music] [Music] we're [Music] [Music] all right just to share the information what what we were just discussing is that if the change was actually made to the policy as it is on the agenda right now then that would likely the best course of action would then be to move this it that into a first read and so then we we would table the actual vote on the policy until we can share with the public the policy with all of the changes in it um May I so just just so hopefully everyone's clear about what's happening um on the agenda tonight was a new policy that that was that's if if pass would be policy 5950 um regarding transgender students and that the language in that proposed new policy was published prior to this meeting and was actually discussed at the last meeting um so tonight there's been two motions made by the board to modify the language that was posted last time before it's voted on finally the first motion um was to delete one sentence that motion was already voted on and the pass uh so the the proposed policy now is slightly amended and now there's a motion to amend it again by adding an additional word and that's what's pending now so board members have to discuss that Amendment and then have a vote on it the proced all right so at this point we have a motion on the floor and we have some discussion is there more discussion on that motion is everybody clear about what what motion is on the floor at this point is it possible to have a public discussion about the change that's being proposed and maybe we can move forward rather than just moving to table it or not it is possible to have the public discussion we just need to have it organized and uh so people would uh I recommend that we follow stricter Robert's Rules and actually do um points so that I can call on people and the only other caveat is any specific legal guance should not be happening in public yes that's be better not to move ahead with discussing if there's any legal I think the motion is the motion is to um amend the language so we could vote on that and right right so all back to my call for Robert's Rules I can do that and so um if people would yes yes M real quick um I think that in my opinion we already did discuss this in the back um and I think in my opinion that we were going to come out and vote and so I feel like if we go back we're we're going to be in the same place we were with the sentence prior um so that's just my thought I'm fine either way but I thought that we already did that okay we were told we had please everybody everybody please please say Mrs pel did just say that m p yes okay we we wanted to do our best as a board to be respectful to all the in here so we only had 20 minutes and we even went over that so I feel that much more discussion was needed with the policy in front of all of us we were scrambling to all get copies and understand what the language was going to be and what was going to change so I feel like we've done such a good job together talking through this and understanding and that talking about this change 20 minutes before the meeting deserves more this policy has been in front of us since Christmas time and now the language changing I think makes a difference for someone like me so I don't feel like we had the proper discussion just now and I'd be happy to have that and I would love to be able to come to a compromise that we are all happy with I just feel like voting on it right now is not fair without the proper conversation with our lawyer yes I agree I think I think this needs a little little bit for for me personally this needs a little bit more time and consideration and conversation because of potential leg legal rication so yes we have taken a lot of time to come up with this policy I think worked very hard and I really appreciate that I do not we did talk about it in the back and I do not see how including the word parent in that sentence changes what we spoke about in the I I said I I think if you read it including the parents the parents should be included in this conversation of 3K through five population and also in you know and above in my opinion but this policy in that paragraph is talking about 3K through 5 and I think we should include the parents and I thought that we could come out here and vote on that in public and so that's why I motion for it if everybody needs more time I'm can that and I you know Miss P I'm sure you'll make the decision that best fits you know the board and the community and so um that is thank you well to be clear I I was not suggesting that we would have another exact session right now um we have a motion in a second on on the floor there could be a motion to table the amendment certainly if a board member wanted to they could motion to to table the whole both things that are currently pending in terms of this policy which is the resolution to uh approve the new policy and the motion to amend it uh for until the next meeting we can we can do that could table that could or you could right or you can you can I think you started having discussion about the amendment you can finish that and then have a vote on the amendment and then decide what to do with the rest of the policy but in the outcome of that okay go right on ahead yeah this time I would continue an entertain discussion I mean this is this is what we're here for can we make a motion to um table the discussion on that particular Amendment and go with the policy as it stands with the first sentence stricken I think that would be a motion to close discussion on this but same idea um which we'd have to take a vote on so they are you making that motion no I think you I I don't think you can table the motion to amend and vote on the underlying policy so I think if if you want to vote on the underlying policy now you're going to probably ought to vote on the motion that's pending before that which the motion to amend okay so certainly you could vote no on the motion to amend with the idea that you're going to sometime you know in the future amend the policy you approv tonight um you know there's different ways to get to so can I make a motion that we vote on this second to the policy so you're so you're motioning to yeah you're calling the question um I think we take a vote on that yes so I don't think of calling the question requires a second just stop talking about it I think that's what that motion was am I right right right that's what I mean but wasn't can we on that no I know you need to sorry I know you need to roll call on the motion to amend the policy um the the proposed policy but I think that you also can make a motion to close discussion and call the question and I think that's I may be wrong but I think that's what wari just did what do you want to do I don't know I'll tell you what motion you to make if you tell me what you want to do well I want to vote you want to vote on the amendment but I don't want to cut off discussion I don't want to cut off discussion if there's more people that want to discuss amending the policy to add the word parent there does anybody else want to discuss that not at this time without legal councel in executive session so I think the vote is to make the amendment of the sentence to this with including the word parents and we're going to where the trips fall yes this morning if you could just it seems to me like I didn't understand the two things you're saying that we wouldn't do something without legal council yet we'll vote clarify we're voting the the motion on the floor is to make an amendment to a sentence of the procedure that would be follow followed for PR prek through five students to include the word to include parents in that procedure to amend the sentence to include parents so that's the motion it's been motioned it's been seconded so now we vote if that amendment is to be made that's the vote and okay yeah and that is and that is and the uh question yes we also other amendments and changes also correct so we have one has already passed yeah that's I thought we were doing a roll call on that one as well I'm sorry that's okay it's a lot um okay so at this point we have yeah we have a motion in a second for an amendment to the sentence immediately after the one that was struck um to add the word parent um as a somebody that the principal consult I believe um is there any more discussion I'm trying to pull it up on the policy here can you please say again what letter and print out of Poli yeah I have an extra here okay so um I'm going to confirm before I send it down the line I've made the change since we've already struck this sentence want to confirm where the room parent goes I'm sorry pardon my stepping I read when I read it I said the parent the principal parent supera pass this down so I'm forgive us sometimes it's how things have to go I I think that and you all like you you all know what this okay so I will send this down for the the rest of the board to [Music] review right we're not taking a 5 minute it's the same [Music] idea yes I've been asked to read the statement out loud so you can all see it I'd like to read the whole paragraph okay with the amendment sorry yes okay sound so what it will now read officially I if anyone is looking at it I am on page two under c um after the invented text so it will say the district supports a student approach to the accommodation of transgender students if a student in grades prek through five self-identifies as transgender to District staff the staff memb shall contact the principal to discuss next steps the principal shall consult with the parent superintendent and the district's leg legal counsel if necessary to determine a legally compliant course of action and U those who moved that that is what you confirmed okay that was the intention okay and the word parent is in the place you were asking for this that I believe yeah okay so that is the so everybody confirms that's the motion and the second that's on the floor is there any more discussion okay seeing that I think we're ready for roll call this yes Miss Martinez yes Mr McGovern yes Mr Monon yes Miss SC yes Miss barell no wait oh yes this is your motion M War yes Mrs  yes M yes the motion [Music] passes okay thank you yes that was the two amend okay so with that okay we have a ended two spots uh 5950 is there um any more discussion on either of the policies on the agenda comments and um Miss pal I'm sorry but I just have one more motion one more motion okay can I motion please to resend 5756 in L of adding 5950 thank you so much for reminding me with everything going on yes so the um the motion all there's a motion on the floor to uh resend 5756 uh policy um in this same agenda as there said I have to motion to adopt 5950 that's yes yes there's a motion to adopt 5950 a motion to well prender abolish I guess the right term 5756 and then um the amendment to um say there's a motion is there a second PA second wait that was your motion I'm sorry okay um do a roll call for that can you repeat what we're oh yes the vote is on um abolishing policy 5756 which is not on here that's that's the uh uh policy that we currently had in our um in our policies yeah that uh policy 5950 is an updated version of how to treat transgender students versus propy 5756 yes so my concern is if we all vote now to Res 5756 and we all vote Yes and then we do not unanimously or whatever we call we have the proper number of people to adopt 5950 we will be left without any guidance for our staff which is a huge legal let me ask our legal council to tell us how to do this right there's no right or wrong one way you could do it is you can vote on the new policy first as amended and then decide whether or not you want to vote on the other issues depending whether you want to keep moving on the other ones so you saying that we would 59 possibly or we just leave the motion there but we don't vote on it um no and wait till I mean we have motions adop I wouldn't get too concerned I I wouldn't get too concerned with the technical Murphy's Law issues okay let's what is it you're trying to accomplish if you want to the opportunity to vote on the polic on the new policy first before you vote on resing the oil policy then I would do that I wouldn't I I I'll I'll make it clear that the right words are said but so or if you want to vote on everything Al together we can do that uh where everyone at the same and people can still vote Yes for one no for another because that's how you usually do all your voting right which is that everyone at the end says yay to everything or if there's something that they so you you just have to if you want to do all together you want to do one at a time can we hear public comment before we vote well yes that that part I was absolutely I think we ought to hear public comment before we vote l on those are two big pieces so we just think we've got members of the public here like is is that okay with you miss martinz um I'm fine with that if that's what the Bo want to do I feel like we have heard a lot of public comments but I'm more than welcome to hear it again before sure well I mean on the agenda like before we typically we get public before we yeah I don't care where no that's fine whever want that time okay so we can just do the finance agenda okay sounds good okay so we'll do the finance agenda and then we'll do that I'll make Finance super quick so Finance we're looking to approve items 1 through 7 we want to thank Remax for donating 11 chairs to the high school uh audit is almost finalized and budget has begun we've already had meetings with departments and principls and getting Cs and having all the insurance start to move along and that's all for thank you very much and yes I I hope that Remax doesn't get short shipped because we uh started talking so much that it really was great um so is there um oh can I have a motion to accept the finance agenda motion and a second motion okay all right great great um Okay so moving on um