all right good evening everyone I will call this meeting to order at 52 in accordance with the state sunshin law that this meeting was provided meeting January 4th 2023 December 22nd 2023 and January 3rd 2024 notice was provided to Board of Education members Township Clerk Rockville clerk Public Library Township posting scho posting PTSA officers CER news pres packet Trent times and starer the board reserves the right to enter into executive session during all meetings of the Board of Education this meeting is being reported for the purpose of Board review future reference and to assistance preparation of minutes this time I will announce the results of the annual school election of November 7th 2023 Montgomery had three threeyear terms up for vote the winning candidates for Christina Harris Victoria cookie Franco Herman and selda Spence Wallace at this time we will swear and all you guys got to help that will support the constition of the United States will support theti of the United States and theti of the state of newey statey and I will bear true faith and Allegiance I will bear true faith in Al the same government establish in the United States in this St the same the government establish in the United States and this state under authority of The People Under The Authority people I st Mar I Victor franman do you swear do swear that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law I possess the obligations prescribed by law for the office of member of the board of education for the office of member of a board of education and not disqualified as a voter and not disqualified as a Vo pursu to RS 1941 pursu to RS 1941 and I will Faithfully partially and justly perform all duties and that I will Faithfully partially and justly perform all duties of that office according to the best of that support to the congratulations to the new and members roll call as we have a full board first time in 2024 so Mr Carlson here Miss D here miss F here miss Frank president Miss Harris here Dr SPS president missina president M Jan here thank you we have nine members president Mr I'm thank all right so we will conduct the salute to the flag everybody America the stands one nation with liy and justice for all at this time the board will be going into executive session expect to be executive session no longer than 30 minutes this replaces the executive session at the end of the agenda the open public meeting chapter 231 of the laws of 1975 provides that a public body May exclude the public from that portion of the meeting of which the public body discusses certain matters which confidentiality is require as permitted in section 7B of this act the board will be discussing Personnel matters individual privacy and HIV could I have a motion to move into executive thank you and I have a motion to move the board session at 619 all in favor at this point we will open the floor for nominations for the president I would like to nominate Patrick Todd for president of the Board of Education thank you I have any nominations thank you to rev the procedure we will vote we have a moment to talk about since there are two so are there any further nominations we close thank you I will close the nominations and open the floor for discussion so over the last cou we had theas and I guess I'm wondering are you not hearing told I don't speak loud enough there we go I gu I'm wondering what what changes you might have in mind or what you think needs to be fixed or his working just F try to understand the differences let you start appreciate it thank you uh thank you for your question Carlon um it's really not that difficult this board we're going to have differences um there's nine different opinions um but we need to communicate better as a board speak freely but speak intelligent intelligently with each other um the bottom line is we are here for the students of mon that is our goal that is our mission our mission is to make sure schools are run well not to run the schools but to make sure they're run well and to do that as a board we must be together we're not going to agree on every single aspect but we'll disagree on the road of how to get somewhere but the destination has to be the same and again is to to speak to and speak more of these children so do that continuation what we have with the major changes what changes are looking I mean there there's different different leadership styles it could be a million different things we'll have to see as a goal you like me to answer so I think being on the board for the last 12 months has definitely opened um a lot of learning and opportunities for myself um I think for the school district that is going to be very important to focus this year on our strategic plan I think uh last year we attempted to have do a better job with communication I think Michelle has always been very vocal about the fact that we haven't quite uncover how to this uh do that we have outdated policies that I would like to uh tackle uh we have some misprints we have some uh areas that we haven't been reviewed over the last few years and that's one of the things I've been asking for as well and we'll continue working through of reviewing all of our policies and ensuring that they are up toate valid truly represented as a mandate or as a uh recommendation Etc and I think the the last part is for us to really function as a board of nine um my vision is for us to have a very good and clear path to continuing to work together and address issues together committees are one thing but I think we have an opportunity to improve the way that we distribute that knowledge across the entire board and not just vote but really have those discussions um and really collectively make these decision so thank you for the question I appreciate [Music] it is there any further discussion so the first so we will vote on the nomination for Mr Todd first Mr Todd not reive maity V Mr Cross Mr Miss D yes Miss F no miss m yes Miss Harris yes Dr Spence Wallace yes Miss finina yes Mr to yes m l no thank you the motion carries 63 Mr [Applause] cdat thank you board members I appreciate it look forward to working with everyone in the community and it's time to get the work we'll start off now with nominations for first vice president nomination sorry before we vote for first vice president discuss the idea of having one vice president versus having two would anybody like to can we discuss why that is since we've had two vice presidents over the last two years is there a benefit to having one versus two I personally don't and why we have two vice presidents IES only one then their leadership as s and then hopefully the communication will be better I age I the inag for the two vice presidents was when we came in we felt that there were things that were not be done as quickly because there no at that time so we decided to have more so that President assisted but things have changed over the past coup years I don't I I have that's why the poliy says this so should we vote on one or two vice presidents or you like to make a motion ition there motion there's motion on the floor to change from two vice presidents to one vice president is there a second but can we keep back in the policy so that future boards can decide whether want microphone I'm to have one vice president second second been proper second to have to move from two vice presidents to one Vice President are good questions and that to change the policy yeah he just he leaves other future Bo the option to have one board do depending on what youde you know we're not going to be brother so whatever Bo decide what works best for them any other questions or discussion any other questions I think it sounds we would you to a your motion for the 2024 calendar year but again we vote from year to year anyway so I I would keep it Mr poliy discretion you're not the policy you areer whe you so the motion as stated by D STS questions and discussion on motion you ready for vote Mr TR Mr Carlon yes Miss Dy yes Miss filac yes Miss Franco Harman yes Miss Harris yes Dr Spence balls yes Miss Nina yes Miss Jan yes Mr to yes thank you Mr next item of business is accept a motion for items organizational items 8 oh I'm sorry I'm so sorry the floor is now open for the first vice president nomination vice president nomin I would like to nominate I would like to nominate Mar well I'd like to nominate coun do each of the nominees accept the nomination yes yes yes questions or discussion for nominations Mr bar I I'd like to ask this same question I I know the VP is is doesn't have as much responsibility as president unless the president done side same question I think we question nomin here um what would you change or say what your what are your general thoughts the direction of the board and yeah that's it but what Chang what what what do you do um I think like as a board we need to invest a lot of time in professional development so uh in my role I will support the bo president and bringing the best train possible for our board to not only understand better that the school the rules but also be able to find resources that will allow us to connect better with the community and I do want our board to be more conected with the community we do have ability to bring more concerns to our country and just keep the parents who Ved for us to sit on the board platform be heard to have their issues addressed I know Mar was very very very hard to to to make the best possible decisions school district and I thank her for that and I know that Jack is an incredible addition to our district and you know his contribution to what he has already accomplished are just amazing but I do want to feel more connected with the community with with the administrators and I do want to feel like one big Union you know of words but um but that's one that in supporting pres and the enti I think that again should forward with communication transparency with um with each other in the community and uh within our committees as well as in our board meeting and all of that is very IE with that there are some policies that toghten work that really is important to be done and I think that figure out how to forward that work as well as which has been so far um you know going well that we had our first meeting we want the community input we got so many people that came and provided that input so I would I would really for communication our strategic plan and to tighten our col I agree with both of my colleagues I would just um further to exercise my leadership skills in being able to build consensus as a board uh I think we really turned a quarter and I I think we had the opportunity to be able to speak uh with one voice and so I'm really looking forward to just being able to um better build a sense of trust among all my board members um to really give each of us uh an equal partnership in the work that we're trying to do and the work that we're trying to move forward uh to empower our superintendent to be the vision uh and the voice of our schools and um to be able to see the Strategic gr um I really look forward to putting the right people on the bus uh and in the right seats to be able to to move this more forward thank you any other questions comments I also had a question about voting I was a little surprised that we we could vote for one person then another the normal seems to First voted for the question is why do we vote on one person and not the other because the first person gets the majority of the votes it's not a popular contest persones first person received five votes more and then the second person might have received six Mr would you like to help me with this together the no do responsibil any other questions comments all right now close Mr Tren yes the uh first vote is Miss left Mr Carlon yes M no Miss yes Miss frankco Herman no Miss Harris no Dr Spence Wallace No Miss finina no m j yes Mr top no thank you motion does not carry second set of voting is for Miss Mr CR no Miss D no Miss F no Miss Frank Herman yes Miss Harris yes Dr Spence Wallace yes missina yes Miss J again no Mr C yes thank you motion carries all right next on our agenda entertain a motion for organization items 8 through 20 second proper second to accept uh organization items 8 through 20 call for the question any questions discussion he none Mr Trent Mr car yes M yes Miss V yes Miss Frank Harman yes Miss Harris yes Dr yes M again yes Miss minina yes Mr to yes thank you motion carries thank you next item is the NJ SBA code of ethics for school board members Mr Tren yes so everybody has a copy of this at their seats will be here January 23rd uh to give the train have tonight conflict and that's why we had move to janary 23rd as I thank Mr next item is appointments the board president in consultation with the vice president we'll make the following committee assignments for 2024 we will attempt to get these out within the next 72 hours I think there are some committee meetings either Tuesday or Wednesday so we'll try to get this out as soon as possible UMES are members of the assessment and construction committee ACI Equity committee members of the H resource committee members of operation facilities and finance committee members of the policy and Communications committee legislative liaison for the purpose of receiving materials board liaison to the Montgomery Township PTA PTSA and or PTO board Theon to special education PTA Theon Montgomery Township Rocky Hill Municipal Alliance committee negotiation CWA mtea and apmt voting member and Alternate to the New Jersey school boards Association member and Alternate to the executive committee of the Somerset County School Board Association delegate and Alternate to the Somerset County Educational Services Commission and liaison to Montgomery Township municipal committee all right uh item number 22 is the annual ethics training Mr Trent has stated Mr F will be here on January 23rd meeting to give us our annual ethics training all right board and public comments members of the public are allowed at one opportunity to address the board regarding the action agenda or any other business up for maximum three minutes during this period of the meeting all comments must be directed to the board before you make a comment please state your name and address and the right vote in the Chrome V provided being mindful privacy rights regarding students board employees and board members and to avoid any potential liability on the part of the speaker the board discourages infammatory and discour remarks the public common portions of the meeting are not structured as question and answer session the board may need to refer an issue to the superintendent if issue has not been handled through the appropriate chain of demand usually starting at the school level response to be be provided at the end of this session you sign in on chome you did okay and just so any other um any other citizens wishing to make comments please line up so we can move through this and sign up hi uh my name is Alex wolson I live on kofx road I have two kids in the schools I have an eighth grad and a fifth grader and I just want to say thank you for those of you who are doing this especially if you have kids in our school I think it's important that you partake um so I'm here to talk about school star times I also start running the Montgomery Township health and I'm a physician by training and I understand that the Board of Health has sent a letter roughly two years ago to you guys to look at our school start times um there are clear and distinct recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics that school should never start before 8:30 in the morning it leads to increased suicide depression obesity rates among teenagers especially I understand that busing is a problem um but I think it should be looked at again I also understand that um there may be some resistance from the high school teachers I think this should be looked at again as well um I think something to be looked at is whether or not we really need two separate buses for lower and middle schools and if whether or not one bus can take kids to both locations um but hopefully this gets looked at again this year it's a really important topic thank you thank you all right good evening uh Joe bucks Springfield Township I'm actually a northern Burlington Board of Education board member I not been authorized by that board to speak on the beh uh speaking tonight on my own I'm also a certified board Leader by the New Jersey School Board Association um congratulations to those that were sworn in tonight and uh and new president vice president uh I make it a habit of kind of making my way around the state to rewards to kind of see what I can learn maybe what knowledge I can share with other boards and and um election of officers always seems to be a an ongoing problem where even my board my original board um we got it wrong a couple times and I i' invite you guys to kind of take a look at your policy and looks like it's policy 152 and in that it calls out there's a verbal wall roll callot and under Roberts rols that roll call vote is the nominations are put in and then a vote is cast by name for the purposes of avoiding that sort of um imbalance or advantage of being the first one to be nominated so um it might be something again I think stra Esme is maybe um a source for this and why it's a problem for so many boards um but it might be something you guys might want to revisit so next year when you come back around for this um that it kind of gets executed properly and it does get lost because the language in the policy really is so um that was all Wonder kind Comm to you guys so congrats and uh good look good uh good luck serving the the students of thank you thank you for that information can you repeat that policy number2 thank you so much glad you do [Music] that oh hi everybody Jeff Grant say living Drive what the heck of we spent a Friday night huh it's great good seeing you all here I'm a single father so uh this is my entertainment for uh first congratulations to uh Mr Todd and uh Mrs Spina on your election to the board officer roles I appreciate that very much your service and as I appreciate all the board members your service here so thank you for your service the um past year has been marked by I'm going to say uh acrimony and I'm going to state that I think that the cause of that acony is a lack of transparency and a lack of listening on the P of the part of board and more specifically a lack of listening to the parents so some of the pictures I heard from those that were trying to advance your C Poli these officers positions I heard one mention of transparency one mention of parents and I would argue that these board members here are here as a proxy for the the parents when you talk about yourselves you talk about getting on together in one voice it's not about I think it's not about you as board members it's not about even getting along with yourselves as board members in fact if you all agree I'd be well but I think it's about listening to parents and acting as a proxy for the parents and I appla your remarks about transparency if you are transparent not much can go wrong that's being truthful that's being honest that's speaking straight forward not much can go wrong there could be some discussion and some detension that's okay that's good but not much can go wrong if you're honest and transparent way so welcome to your new roles I look forward to being with you as you progress through this current year and once again thank you all board members uh for being part of our community thank you good evening good evening um I also want to pass on my congratulations to the reelected board members and to the new officers uh and to the rest of you who are serving and uh good luck in this coming year um I really just wanted to say that I appreciate that the district has begun the strategic planning process uh I was at a meeting that was held earlier uh and I think that there were some good things that came out of it I think that the issue now is to keep the moment momentum going and to really decide where are we going it's good to know where we're coming where we're at now but it's really a discussion of where are we going what do we think the ways we can improve or do uh better for our students uh and so I would hope that the next meeting has a wider turnout from the community uh there was a good number of community members there was a number of Staff members that were there but um I think it would uh inove the community to uh come out and be a part of the process and so with that thank you very much for your service and just as a reminder the second strategic meeting is January 31st 53 73 good evening my name is Dr Adam hle I'm a teacher here at Orchard Hill Elementary and the vice president of the Montgomery teacher she Montgomery Township Education Association I'm speaking in behalf of Jim Dolan our president who is ill um I just want to say on behalf of the MTA thank you all for your service for the time that you put in both during these meetings and the time that you prepare for these meetings and the time that you prepare for the correspondence I also want to thank both of the officers who have served she me the three officers who had served in past and thank you to the officers who will be serving in the future we have had a wonderful relationship with the Board of Education and past Boards of education and the MTA greatly looks forward to working with the new officers and the new board of education thank you very much you any other comments from the community hearing none public comments yes the first request about school start time so that did come up a strategic planning but I want you to know even in addition to that every year we look at the busing and we look at the different scenarios and it is something that has always been on our um plate so thank you we're continuing that work public comments propos moving on I will entertain a motion for Action items 1.1 through 4.3 second proper second any questions on the motion any discussion we as a want to get clar had disc all can I so there's no chance sum I know in favor any other comments questions so on action items 1.1 4.3 hearing none Mr Trent Mr Carl yes Miss D yes Miss beac yes Miss Frank Herman yes Miss Harris yes Dr Spence Wallace M Jan yes Miss minina yes Mr to yes thank you motion car thank you ladies and gentlemen and Bo we have come to the conclusion of the reorder meeting any other comments questions board members I would just like to make an announcement that our high school girls and boys basketball team we encourage you to look on the Athletics page of a website to donate for coaches versus cancer I know the program has a goal Target goal of raing for um thousand dollars and believe they um submit that 100% of the monies that are donated to the Robert Johnson as it's connected to um the r University um Cancer Institute so I think there's a girls game tonight A bars girls game tonight at the M high school gymnasium 8:00 I think the taking on the the Mustang so man and then tomorrow is going to be a very exciting meting the boys Bost basketball leave thatting is at 8:00 pm 2 at the high school gymnasium and I believe they're taking on number four ranked um Len or Len Valley so if you're available and for those single fathers out there make it a Saturday night or Friday night go out to the basketball game any other comment question from the board heing none I will entertain a motion for adjournment [Music] second we stand in the tournament 656 p.m thank you all for coming out be safe with this impending weather thank you again