all right good evening everyone and thank you for attending tonight's uh Montgomery Township school board meeting on January 23rd 2024 time is now 71 p.m. we're now reconvening an open session roll call please Mr PBA sure Mr Carlson here m d here m here miss Franco Herman present Miss Harris here Dr Spence Wallace Miss finina present Mr Todd here M here thank you Mr please rise for salute flag flag United States [Music] the thank you we'll now have our MTSD student report Miss R good evening Montgomery this January has been well for the students of Montgomery High School as this month is Muslim Heritage Month MHS is celebrating the cultural and religious diversity that encompasses our community with very various events hosted by the mus Muslim Student Association throughout the month students have also continued that same spirit in celebrating MLK day and recognizing inational Holocaust for's day students had the amazing opportunity to hear from Eric leand a New Jersey native and former Rockers football player who suffered a career-ending injury on the field that paralyzed him from the ne down in 2010 the R's icon and motivational speaker addressed the St addressed students in all grades sharing his story of resilience and perseverance our student athletes played for some amazing causes recently with the n9th annual salute service hockey game against too Valley and a recent coaches versus cancer basketball tournament against Su we are wishing all of our St Happ the best of luck with their upcoming Sports the first robotics kickoff event was held in the season this is the team 14 and 3's 20th anniversary having having been founded in 2004 earlier this month our model United Nations team traveled to Hershey Pennsylvania to compete attend the YMCA model conference the 98 students earned 20 Awards and recom in total with Junior David G earning the title of Secretary General of the conference of over a thousand students students from the 10th grade English recently had the opportunity to travel to New York City and do a walk through the Big Apple through guys the hold new C field the protagonist of the CER and the r a novel read discussing in class the MHS Pier program had their annual Pier 2 flower sack baby project in which peer two students construct a baby out of flower and a responsible for uh throughout the week students were required to carry their babies lovingly in class and throughout the school day and take them home with them they took pictures every day to Chronicle their flower babies lives providing them with a real life perspective on the many responsibilities of parad the MHS vocal program held a very successful winter choir concert showcasing some of the amazing talent our school has this month there was no school on Tuesday the 16th and Friday the 19th due to snow and no school on the 10th due to flighting which was a nice break as the end of the semester approaches and semester 1 grades are coming out soon soon we are looking forward to a new semester of continued success for students in thank you thank you m Rob we now move to superintendent reports presentations good evening everyone there are two presentations tonight one from the New Jersey school boards about policy and the other from our Schoolboard attorney Mr Rod Hara on uh School Board ethics role of the school board okay but I'm going to start with just a little quick uh overview of what's happening in the schools so as we all know the weather has not been clined to us this winter the 23 24 school year calendar had three emergency contingency days built in and we have used all three plus an additional day as the calendar outlines any additional days past the three built-in days are taken from the spring break week beginning with the last day of spring break which is Friday April 5th 2024 communication was sent out today that notes the days that school would be in session due to having the four emergency days there have been some inquiries on why we do not have virtual days instead the reason is that the option for virtual learning is limited um school districts need to be closed for three consecutive days before the virtual option can be permitted to count for the required 180 student school days the exception to this is the if the majority of schools in the district are used as a polling place for on Election Day that's the only exception to the three consecutive day rule um in that instance schools May apply for the virtual day to count towards the 180 days so unfortunately or fortunately we have never had to close this year for three consecutive days um so therefore virtual is not an option at this time another question that that is coming up is why the last day of spring break the first day of spring break Friday March 29th and then the Monday April 1st are contractually days off for staff members um some of you may see them on the calendar they are good Friday and Easter Monday so those are contractual days which is why we start at the end of spring break this year if it was the opposite if spring break was the week before and then the Monday we would start at the beginning of Spring break so each year that will change well hopefully we don't have to do this again okay at Montgomery High School our science supervisor Jason Sullivan and the high school biology teacher Mr Chris fresh were honored this past weekend with the inaugural brunswig parplus award for excellence in stem teaching and Community leadership we are so proud of this recognition that highlights their hard work with students and teachers in the stem field students of our Science Olympia team travel to the elite MIT Invitational they actually left at 5:00 a.m. to get ahead of the storm on Friday which was awesome this past weekend and plac in the top 10 earning them an invite back for next year and a great deal of respect from the schools Across the Nation this weekend our Science Olympiad team will travel to Colombia to comp so a little Clos students and staff had the opportunity to listen to New Jersey native Eric lran share his story of personal Triumph hope strength and perseverance Eric suffered a life-altering injury while playing R football at ruers University that left him paralyzed his life story has unfolded differently than one than he once thought but no but with no less Joy personal satisfaction or success we will all experience adversity throughout our lives we continue to encourage everyone to continue the conversation that was started with Eric's presentation and hone in on the fact that it is our reaction to those difficult moments that will ultimately Define who we are as human beings this was a great lesson for all of our high school students this past week our Orchard Hill the schools Cubs participated in their annual week of service to honor the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr students participated in service activities to support good citizenship and service to others our Cubs collected items for the monar food pantry and colored designs for our color a smile a local nonprofit organization that distributes cheerful drawings to senior citizens US troops overseas and patients in local hospitals to end their week of service the clubs participated in a March for acceptance displaying their handcrafted scien for peace friendship and kindness at LMS the black student connection has been planning celebrations to honor Black History Month the Caston crew for the spring play Finding Nemo Jr have been busy practicing LMS is excited to host the 2024 winter Bowl on February 9th they are also hosting um the naturalization ceremony scheduled for March 20th and the honored host is our mayor Nina sing I would now like to call up New Jersey school boards for our presentation on policy Services thank you for coming thank you good evening you hear me um thank you for having me I'm a I'm a mover so this is static so I'm going to sway a little and I apologize thank you for having me here tonight for the opportunity to present you with information regarding the policy services offered by New Jersey school boards Association additionally inadvertently you've offered me the opportunity to take a driveth through of the campus of my college tcmj as I came up this evening I thought let me take a little uh a little tour and it's very different in the many years since I've been there so a little um stroll down memory Le for me tonight um I do have handouts that everything that is printed if you would like I could pass these out yes just by way of a little background my name is Kim Gaddy so I'll start with the introduction I put the the little thank you first but uh I am been an attorney for um many years practicing an education law and then I took a little detour and I was the coordinator for the State Board of examiners for about 10 years um and I am now with the Jersey school boards Association is the director of policy um feel free if you have question question as I go through the slides to interrupt me I don't mind taking questions as we go or however the the chair would like to to handle that um I'm going to start off by talking about some of our dues Based Services your dues to New Jersey school boards Association does provide you with a wealth of information and benefits um so this is just the home screen sort of the landing page that can help you see where you can navigate to get to the policy section um it's just njsp.org you can go to our services policy um one of the newb services that are offered is the critical policy reference manual which is available to all members when you navigate the policy you'll hit that planing page that will give you a link to the C what we call the cprm it contains model policy language uh annotated legal references and many of those have a hlay for you with a separate legal reference page that not only includes legal citations but also uh information regarding case law that is related to the reference and then there's also information on a policy update dat less as you know laws change RS change guidance changes and when those things happen you do update the policies um and they are put on the web uh whether depending on the service that you have you can get an alert for them or they are always available when they are issued you can see them in every year annually they'll go in sort of chart looking format um this is just a sample so you can see what one of the cprm looks like and this is all still in the DU Spas section um we design policies in this way they have a file code uh system so that uh topics are organized uh we call it categorically for their words um and that's just sort of a a quick look but you can see you can download that as a Word document as a PDF document there are attachments so there is a different additional functionality in what your what you just saw on that screen um this is the legal references which I think is important so that you know where your policy is coming from we do notate when it's a monitored policy as well so you'll see there information on where it is monitoring qac you can see the blue language under M or the links I should call them under mandated so that it will take you you can see the actual language of the the the statue um additional newe based service is the manual for the development of job descriptions um there is a specific amount of types of job descriptions that are available online but um you you can always reach out to us we do have a multitude of other job descriptions that may not be what you would call the more standard we get requests um from across the state and we we do have additional sort of um less common job descriptions that could be available should anybody need to see any of that and that is also available to you like I said DS based uh policy consultation so we attempt obviously not on a weekend but um to give you a response even if it's we need to look into this more within 24 hours we also have what we call the electronic Clearing House we have access to National information regarding what other states might be doing with regard to policy so not just limited to New Jersey uh counterparts may have things that they're addressing and dealing with that New Jersey doesn't have yet or we we share information so we can um access some additional information that may help you as you're developing some of your policies depending on what they are um drafts and samples of different things samples of regulations the job distri that I mentioned we also offer what we call a wellness check um and that's we can review your manual and go um policy by policy to to determine whether it's missing content it's not to date properly um and indicate where you're missing information or whether you're missing an entire policy um and provide you with some feedback with regard to the status of your entire medical um the fee based polic service so now we're going to discuss those are all the things that are available toci member to New Jersey School fors Association the first is we have a customized policy writing service we also provide the policy update notification so although the updates do go up online there's a service that will notify um your District that there been an update and online uh manual publication and I apologize I think the centering of that is B although I thought it was correct so my apologies um online manual publication as well so if you offer a service um where your manual will be serviced online so we'll talk about um each one of these um as I don't have to tell you I'm sure you know that one of your primary responsibilities is uh establishing policy and we can assist in ensuring that your policy manual is in compliance with federal and state laws and then also reflects your District where you have the space to uh have discretionary policies and make additional um modifications and things that are unique to your District uh we can coordinate your man manual and you can coordinate it because cust manual aligns to the information that's in the news Based Services so you have access uh to that you can apply the policy updates and that's not an additional cost that's included as part of the custom manual contract um all of our policies are reviewed by our and Labor Relations divis ision or unit and the cost of the conversion uh from another vendor is $9,000 and we can spread that over to fpal years um we develop a manual we attempt to develop manual that will communicate what your vision is for your board um we can evaluate what existing policies you have I'm sure there are a number of discretionary policies you may want to keep and some you may want to get rid of um we can look at all the policies and make sure that they're up to date for compliance because a policy may have a minor piece that was updated and wasn't properly updated you can identify where that Gap is and add the information um we try to preserve your content where possible um for instance if there's something you need to your District regarding uh you know certain information if belongs to the superintendent or or is is distributed by superintendent whereas other districts can do by a business administrator we try to you know acknowledge those nuances inin each district so that new manual reflect some of those more practical aspects as well um we do do we do do we uh provide you with uh some information that we ask as a questionnaire so we can understand um some of the details of your District in terms of you know P 12 information on school choice uh different programs and offerings so that way there are policies that are not required but relevant to your District we can include those um we say that your policy histories were M the system does allow you to show that a policy is retired so it doesn't just go away forever you can kind of keep that historical link um that you can look back and say well that was retired or that was amended or that was modified um and we can assist in developing new policies that help meet your needs going forward um I know I'm talking very quickly so if there's any questions here'll take of me um the addition of critical policies that aren't in your manual is one of the additional benefits we can remove or um redundant policies sometimes as goals change new policies are created that might relate to something else but they've just been added on as a new policy so you could have three different sity policies that relate to three different units or in some way and so we attempt to sort of consolidate all that that way when your public you as board members your community goes online they can sort of find the universe of everything that relates to that issue because as you know sometimes there's bits and pieces everywhere so the New Jersey school board tries to assimilate that so it's so you're not hunting for different policies and um we prefer the idea of one policy over four uh if we if it makes sense we can fit into something else we try to assimilate them together um I said before the legal citations with hyperlinks which I I value that because you know where it's coming from you know why you have the policy um we can assist in evaluating updating any regulations you might have as well as like iess said the discretionary policies that you may want that you may not want anymore we have an alphabetical index that's also available to you um and again you have access to the assistance from oural policy and Labor Relations professionals um we work with you to the extent that you prefer uh you can receive ongoing support during the project after the project um we call or an email away and and we are here to help you regular updates so we I refer to uh the update process this is just a sample of the page that as a due pay member you'll see what that update looks like and kind of see the bottom of the chart there um and you can see historically that we have update lists that go back to 2013 um we call it the par Service uh it comes as a custom manual contract it comes as part of that service so you will receive an email alert ifications of pting policy updates and changes um the uh the updates generally are related to Legal changes uh changes in guidance changes in regulations um you I would say you know every quarter or so you would get them that information unless there is a the need and we're just coming out of a bill season where there's been a lot of passage of new things so you can expect updates sort of as that High terms it kind of comes hand in hand with that the online manual publication um it's uh if if the board uses the service called board docs which is a diligent brand company um if you have that this is no cost to you you can service your policy manual through that contract that you already have um if you do not it is a cost of just shy $2,000 it's publicly available on your website you click the link you get three different VI editor view a public view you can say things in draft and you can make them active you can retire them you can create your own table of contents um you can provide authorized users to make certain updates and that allows you to limit some people can and cannot make updates um you can cross and another important thing is cross referencing to policies that I for to mention to the point of having one policy and then knowing that there might be something relevant in another we'll have a list of cross ref at the bottom that you might look at and go oh there might be something else on this in this policy um keyword searchable as well and again hink La regulation does anybody have any questions um how long does it take to do a full review of all the policies in the district uh the full review what I reference is the wellness check so we um we have a Q system we do so first come first serve um we are working on about September requests right now so I would estimate it's about 6 months right now they are um especially when they are converting a different file Code system they are time intensive yet so that's because there is a queue but like once you once let's say like you know you take on uh the district then you actively working on it so how long does it take to do that if if we're um customizing your your manual and converting it to New Jersey school boards Association the contract can be anywhere from 6 months to to a year so it would be about about the same time frame I thought you were referencing the the wellness check which is the duuds based so they're sort of around the same okay thank you thank you Miss G um on slide four or five um the categories monitored and mandated are these your own classifications right at this can yeah I was going to ask can you define what mandated means is that your definition of something that is a federal or a state law that is required or how do you define mandated mandated is is the policy itself is required by law federal state state law yes I I guess I'm wondering did I understand that all the boards would be able to see proposed updates to the policies the you operate in committee correct yeah um well when you say proposed updates in terms of when when New Jersey school boards makes a potential update um yes the the board has access to that yes but the adoption belongs to you obviously right I mean the question is because if you're on the policy commit you see the you see the changes that are proposed but it's been it's been fairly limited District sees those so so under this system we would all be able to see the proposed changes we I mean the way it is set up with an email alert so if if it's a custom manual contract and you get that par Service as part of it which is included um the system can be set up so that emails go out to the the full board and then you get a what we call clean and markup version so you can actually see the distinction where the changes are so you're not sort of looking for what those changes are great and just about the portal um it sounds like you keep the policy that is being updated with some potential red lines and then the final version is that kept historically so that if we want to go back and reference the policy that we change that we can actually see that yes it would be if I can go back to it there um so on the left hand side of the columns in 2016 has that little chart um that and the links that if you were to will scroll below you can see the actual documents that are loated to it so you could go back to 2016 and see a chart that contained all the updates that had been made over time and that is on uh on the njsba for stud right now and then also you said that within 24 hours let's say we identify something in the district we feel it's important to have a policy there will be resources available to us to help us write that policy and run it through the standard yes I we strive to get back to you even if it's just up you might need time because there something that's going on but to get back to you within 24 hours to let you know we can provide you with samples we don't we can give you samples but we can't write the policy for you we always do also recommend that you consult your board attorney because we we do not provide legal advice as legal sufficiency in terms of how any changes you're making and what you're including what you're taking away um but we can provide you with samples and if it's sort of a novel policy meaning you don't have it before there might not be one like it in the state like I said we do have access nationally there might be a national policy in another state where there using something that might help you get some ideas of what you you know you want to look at and and kind of talk things through you know one policy that's it's hot topic now is artificial intelligence you want to policy on that there's other states we have access to a lot of information there's a lot of work across the country that's Happ policies like that could you just clarify what kind of uh so you said the policy you don't write the policy that you would recommend for us to coordinate with a district attorney to do that we provide you with whether it's a critical policy we a sample of or we provided you with the the policy manual and give you a recommendation but if it's something unique or novel or new to your District that needs customization that's different um we can certainly talk through and provide some consultation to that but the end result we always recommend contact thank you and you also provide the push kind of push updates so if something comes out from New Jersey legislature the updates are being made it's a new mandate let's say or there's a guideline that's being provided you communicate that to us via a push message and do you differentiate between the guideline and the Mandate yes all policies will have that header um so if we make it up into a policy you'll see that little three three box monitored mandated or critical other and it will have you know the X and the designation um you also have access as board members to New Jersey school board notes so that when those go out um we would if we're making update we would include information there's a new bill that was just passed on X Y and Z here's more information about it potentially link to an updated policy things like that right thank you very much any other questions Sor just one more so now you say that you you you search through the policies and you find duplicates or or things that are are duplicated how would that work I mean then then one of the policies would be uh dropped at that point so that' be a proposal yeah sometimes over time there's a something that was changed and there was a policy that was left under an old code and then a new one was inserted and if we identify and if there's a conflict and there's one that says something slightly different um if if it's different because it's passed law or it's been changed and updated we would obviously go with the one that was valid you know for the time that you're in if it's something that's unique to your District you would certainly talk about which which is the one that you're that you're that you want to apply all right thank you very much again I appreciate question so um I guess like uh by by talking to to to other districts there seem to be a lot of districts interested in in your services so if you are I guess I what to asking is how capable are you to take many more distri that's a great question we are working on increasing staff and I have staff that are are coming aboard um I caner I begin uh in September so I am fairly new to New Jersey school boards Association um as a director and we've identified a need for additional staff and we have um taken action to get that b together all right thank you all very much have a have a great meeting and um for thank you thank you thank you so much thank you so much next up we have a presentation from our board attorney VOD Hara good evening everybody I have been asked to make a presentation on the school ethics act and what I have before you is a PowerPoint presentation that I would like to to follow but not necessarily read to you I trust you all are able to read on your own so what I'm going to do is to try to highlight some slides that would be helpful for you to better understand the school ethics act and I think for specifically new trustees you're in for rude awakening you know about schools there are controversial issues you have certain thoughts and opinions how schools should function and then when you get elected to the board you're ready to set the world on fire and then all of a sudden there's a harsh realization that there are limitations in what you actually can or cannot do and I think it is something that is very foreign in the concept because you are expected to do things to make the school better and you perhaps had a a campaign focusing on some issues but then the harsh realization comes in is it's not as easy as you thought it was the most important thing is to recognize it does not necessarily mean that your enthusiasm of what you're trying to accomplish should be forwarded is just a matter of understanding what a role is of a board and once that understanding sets in you would be able to find function and be more effective as a board member so the first slide we have is what are Boards of Education board's authorities are dictated by Statute and in the slide is specific states that boards enforce the rules of the New Jersey state board of education and it says that you make amend and repeal rules for the government of the board otherwise known as board policies or Reg so far so good it seems pretty easy but the third bullet says to perform all acts and do all things consistent with the law and the rules of the State Board necessary for lawful and proper conduct equipment and maintenance School District seems like a pretty broad charge so while it's clear you devolve policies it's clear that you follow the law how do you navigate that last bullet which seems to give you directions on basically accomplishing what we thought you could accomplish and that's where my presentation is going to try to somehow reel it in somewh and what I mean is that you have to channel your energies in a certain fashion within the confines of what statutory Authority is doing so in this Slide the most common obligations that we focus on on what a board is obligated to do would be approved curc second would be adopting budget hiring the necessary Personnel of the district after considering the recommendation of superintendent and develop policies those would be the four major respons responsibility of a board of education and the problem becomes how do I do all of this when the school district functions and has to be administered and that's where we look at the line of what you can or cannot do to be creative because all four bulleted items require you to take action satisfy all the requirements but each and everyone inquir weely you to follow the recommendation of the superintendent of schools so what and how does this all happen the board is a collective entity each trustee in and of himself or herself does not have the ability to make decisions in what a board of education previously has been authorized to do adop policies higher personnels and the budget each trustee is one of a whole and What needs to understand that you have to work within the operations of a whole and the decisions made by a board are made at a public meeting the presence of the people in the audience so they can see what is being done what actions taken what Del ation conducted to make them understand how you as an individual trustee and the board collectively is fulfilling the statutory obligations there's always talk about the open public meetings act and that means that board action has to take place at a public meeting the yes there are exceptions and deliberations that you enable to engage in executive discussions without the public being present but the final action very limited exceptions would necessitate public action at a board me so you may have committees the Committees are less than a majority it's not subject to open public meeting act but the Committees do not have authority to bind the board the Committees would be making recommendations to the full board and the full board will be acting at a public meeting to determine what acts has to be taken as a result of the determinations made and issues by the committee one of the dilemas board members face is Yes actually had to take place at a public meeting but how do I otherwise communicate with my fellow trust and administration in assisting you making decisions at a public board meting and one of the dilemas is how to properly communicate with your trust on issues before the board and the biggest problem that board members experience is the natural inclination to communicate with trustees on board level business by way of email or text you are not able to communicate with each other on board level business by emails or texts where you're effectively discussing the merits or lack thereof on any issues that's before the board so the proper method of communication has to be where there is any questions comments or concerns that trustees would have they are fumbled through the administration and then the administration would then be able to determine how to disseminate the information with the fellow trust so recognizing the infrastructure you work with is important because if you engage in emails messages to all the trustees you are going to run the risk of them responding to you and effectively de facto engaging More Level bu so the tenant that we need to be certain is that we understand that public action takes place at board meeting discussions and deliberation or agenda items are taking place at a public meeting with the members of the public president so how do the board and administration function well it's a board's direct responsibilities are to make the policy both plan valuate outcomes but not man to day-to-day operation that's the Mantra of a board member it is so easy and tempting to want to inject yourself in issues pertaining to the administration of the district but it's got to be a little po here that says you can't do that if you do have concerns you can share those concerns with the administration and the administration would determine how the L address it but you cannot micromanage the administration of school district even though you have an opinion and a belief that certain things should or should not be done in a certain way your comments can be shared but you cannot superpose your judgment upon the administration and how you believe the school function the board specifically Bates the responsibility to administ school district you have the superintendent who deals generally with the educational issues and you have the business Minister that deals with the functions but when you come to the realization also that even though you are a trustee and you think there are certain ways things should be done that little voice has to tell you that you have to temper your concerns and VIs and that is not your responsibility to administer the school dist but to see that the schools are being properly ad ministered some board members believe that a trustee I have the Confederate right to go to visit schools is it classrooms that is not appropriate and it's considered to be act Min School dist as a trustee basically you have no different Authority than a member of a public who does want to visit the school we have to follow the presentation of school's policy if there are issues that you have let's say containing to Something in the school that you would perhaps want to observe in your own the best you can do express your concern to the administration and the the administration will follow up determin what think should be done address that concern are you at an individual trustee and administration going to agree on every single item and the answer is probably not but it is important that there would be a Cooperative relationship where there would be an exchange change of information that doesn't arise to be in an adversarial situation now it's easier to communicate privately uh and engage in that discussion but the B of caution would be that when we have an agenda item before the board and it requires questioning of the recommendation perhaps the trustee debate on a recommendation you're entitled to question but you need to question in a way that professional not adversarial because one of the tenants School ethics act in the code of conduct would be that you're obligated to support your staff and particularly the administration in performance of the duties it doesn't necessarily mean that you would be agreeing with everyone in the decision but you need to treat your Administration and talk about staff in a professional manner that's how you would convey to the public your support of your personnel theoretically if they are performance related issues you have to the staff member it can be the subject of an executive session discussion where privacy noce are respected in the rice notes but it's not something that should be Asser manner of a public discussion people see your name and phone numbers on the website there is going to be a tendency for people to contact me about problems that be experence and maybe people who supported you in the election process and there would be an expectation that I bring a problem to you that you do whatever is necessary to get the problem resolved while on the one hand you are not going to be rude and insensitive to that inquiry once you aware of the concern of a of a parent or even just a resident you would Point them in the direction of superintendent schools and have their concerns addressed by the administration chain and command you have to resist every Instinct in your body you want to help it's incum upon you to hear what they have to say but make sure you explain to the president uh or the parent of what your limitations are you would be more than happy to share the concerns with the administration who they follow appropriate procedures so I think it really requires you to understand what you can or cannot do and not necessarily be incentive or ignorant to what that concern is but to hear and listen and then make sure that the concerns are appropriately fed to the administration to the followup the code of ethics has a mon I will support and protect School Personnel in proper accordance of their duties and that's concept by alluded to you before and that is that you not going to be critical of Staff members while in the public but to the extent of which there's a concern about staff members for that could be addressed appropriately with the administration and it could ultimately lead to an executive discussion depending upon what the circumstances so it doesn't mean that any concerns you may have would not be hurt is just to follow the appropriate form concerns address remember you consider the recommendation the but it doesn't necessarily mean you're obligated to accept every recommendation of the superintendent keeping in mind that superintendent is hired for her professional expertise and is giving you her professional recommendation it doesn't mean you have to accept it but you can't reject it for arbitrary unreasonable or cacious reasons or if there's other reasons that are not reflective of your assessment of what is in the best interest school isue what you want to make sure that any disagreement doesn't result in a perception that Administration and is not specifically only superintendent but it could be the buiness or the principles are not supported by the board because that would then undermine the effectiveness of that administrator and perform the duties for which you hire how does the board act well the board is an entity one individual doesn't speak on behalf of the board and accordance to your board policy the spokesperson of the board is the board so to the extent individual board members want to uh reflect the position of the board your policies delegate a responsibility the board president to speak on behalf not only does that make the most sense in terms the orderly operations of the communication with the public but you don't want them run the risk that individual board members would be making statements inconsistent to go the majority of the board or Inc consistent the board president and sending mix messages to the Pu as to what is the position of the board so that policy is hard and true that enables a district to function uh no matter what the issues may be another common area on the school ethics act that you run the risk of potential violation is the issue of confidentiality the three areas that are par confidentiality our Personnel matters students and negotiations those are sacet and that to the extent to which there are any discussions by the board and particularly individual trustees that involve any of these three it's taboo stay away from it it's going to result in ethics violations and privacy rights violations if fact viol so the easiest Mantra would be anytime the subject involves those three prude your discussions now you are going to beos with a lot of knowledge in your head when you discuss these issues in netive session and it's sometimes very very difficult to separate what you know at a public meeting on what you know Inc session my best guidance would be rather than try to words ask yourself does the subject matter involve any of those three topics and if it does even remotely that's something that you would not share with anyone else outside the board session code of ethics there is school ethics act and there is Code of Ethics that govern conduct of Trustees the biggest problem you have is how to navigate through prohibited conducts and code of ethics violations the prohibited conduct is specific and designate as what conduct is prohibited not taking any action that we benefit you or a family member when such complaints like that are filed the school ethics complaint would be reviewed by the ethics commission and if they made a determination that the facts if thege are true would constitute a violation of the school ethics act a complaint would be issued and the deputy attorney general from the state would prosecute that complaint on the other hand the violation of the code of conduct that is something that a private person would file a complaint against and it will be a dispute between the private person who FS complaint against the trustee and the trustee and the Attorney General's office is not involved in that defense or or prosecution the board is not a party to school of Ethics act complaint or an alleged violation of student code of conduct it's up to an individual who believes that the ACT has been violated to determine whether the power complaint and it's not a complaint against collectively the board it would be a complaint against individual board members so which is why the focus on what you can or cannot do is not collectively the board but you can do individually because the vulnerability to potential violation lies on your shoulders and you have to make a determination as to whether the conduct may be subject to a violation in school ethics at sometimes you may not know because I made reference how you have that third authorization on what you can do and it seems give you a license to do an awful lot and then when you look at the school ethics Act and the code of ethics you realize it's being whittled down and somewhat limited and particularly a new trustee who's just elected and doesn't understand the nuances you had and understandable so one of two things can be done you could either seek assistance with the consent of the board president to get a legal opinion or whether the condent you're contemplating may be a violation in school ethics act or you could seek an advisory opinion from the school ethics commission to give you guidance before you take action that may be vulnerable to a violation School ethics act so those are two mechanism Z exist to help you deal with potential violations I talked about the code of and the code of ethics the real I would say the the checklist on what you can cannot do because our work from deception when we go under priv conduct we're not dealing with a trustee who is who is intensely going to take action that's going benefit him his family or our family member the biggest problems would be how to navigate through the Cod of eics so the first Mantra of the code of ethics I would hold and enforce all laws rules and regulations Board of Education and court orders containing the school so what this basically means you may disagree with the law or regulation but you have a legal obligation to follow and enforce the rules that have been adopted by Statute and propagated by the State Board of Education that is going to be guiding principles that you have to comply with the law even though you may not agree with the provisions B I will make decisions in terms of the educational welfare of children and would seek to develop and maintain public schools that need the individual need all children regardless of ability race Creed sex or social standard that is a guiding principle but more often than not this does does not present an issue for trustees complying with it because the vast majority of the time this is why you're elected and this is what you are required to do and that's why you become a board member B is it's compromised if you make decisions basically for selfin and it's not with your overall welfare so I would like to give all the truste doubt that it be is something that they would adhere to because that's why we wanted to be trusted see more difficult I will confine my board action to policy making planning and appraisal and I will help bring policies and plans only after the board hased those would be affected by them you had a presentation before whether it was intentional or just happen that way about the importance of policy that is the overall framework upon which you do operate that's that's one of the most important functions is to develop the policy and equally as important to adopt them and applying consistent with how D is the one section that result in the most ethic complaint to file against are we care I car my responsibility not the mid school but together with my federal board member to see that they are run well I think it's easy to say you should the minister schools but you it's got your head inside how do you see they were run well and I think you resolve that dma is the end product that if they're not run well there will be a problem or an issue that would be brought to your attention and then will be incumbent upon you to apply the policies to make sure that they are run well it's it seems inconsistent but see that they run well is kind of the end part when the determination is made it didn't run well and it results in a problem that would need to be addressed so it almost seems counter ruied but whenever those concerns are about the administration of the school it's best you could do is surprise the administration of what the problem is but you can't tell them what should be done but indicate that there is a perceived problem and delegate that responsibility to them for which they're hired to to how to properly Minister the school I will recognize that Authority rest from the Board of Ed and will make no personal promises or take any private action they may compromise the board it's kind of easy to say that I recognizing Authority will be the board but the other as to make no promise or take private action that may compromise the board results in a perception and what I mean by a perception it may very well be that you yourself are not engaging any action that will benefit yourself but it is the appearance of imp priority that would trigger the prohibition and the application of this aspect of the acts even though your tent may not be to do so if your actions are perceived that is deemed to be a potential violation of the f I will refuse to surrender my independent judgment to special interests or partis some politics group or use school for personal game or the game of friends while literally that seems to be easier to apply once again it's the perception that the independent judgment may be compromised even though your acts did not have the intent to convey a special benefit to a friend group or organization so when you take an action it's not really you believe that my intents are pure you have to then ask the question differently how is the public going to perceive my action would we perceive that there was a the purpose behind it that wasn't pure and it didn't involve a potential action that would compromise your independent of judgment and if you look at the ACT even though you don't have the intendent if it places you in a situation that it could be perceived that is the situation you want G I touched upon it before about the confidentiality follow the FL bullet points that would be the item that would be taboo that you stay away from H I would vot to point the best qualified Personnel available after consideration of the recommendation of the chief School ad Ministry the process is the superintendent makes a recommendation it doesn't impose an obligation upon you to accept the recommendation but the consideration has to be given because professional who hard to make that recommendation so long as your reason for rejecting it wasn't arbitrary eligible I have support and protect School personnel and proper performance in the duties I alluded into before that you really can be over critical of your administrative staff in the presence of the public and would remind ability it doesn't necessarily mean that you would agree to everything that you're doing but if there's a concern about whether you are pleased with the manner in which an administrator has conducted the performance those would be subjects of a rejected personal decision because the moment you unduly criticize in public you'll have the public question as to whether there legitimacy kind of criticism and would undermine the effectiveness of the administration who are opposed the responsibility of performing their duties to the best of their ability and J test upon before any complaints refer to the administration for follow this slide basically put [Music] into into perspective what you can do in terms about the voting I touched upon it before so I'm going to go over very quickly examples of violations you can't directly order school Personnel or become in daily activities or functions of the school there have been e complaints have been filed where a trustee has decided to confront an employee of what the trustee believes that the employee should or should not do that would be a violation you do have a concern you bring it to the attention superintendent and the investigation would be conducted I you can't take any action that will undermine propose compromise arm School personnel and per performs and duties IED to that before Jay referring complaints in school so I'm going to quickly go over just some examples of some of the concept and this advis opinion the E commission concluded that board members cannot participate in exit ands of Staff because of the high number of resignations in this particular School District the trustees want to understand what's going on and while that may be a legitimate question the trustees cannot conduct an interview exit interview instead the appr approach would be the instruct the superintendent to conduct ex inters and staff to get the answer to your concerns as you taking the initiative and want to do it themselves second example theis that there was Board of Education who decided that they do want to have invol interview committee when established by the superintendent to assist the board in the determining uh who the next superintendent will be and although the superintendent will make a recommendation there was a concern as to whether this was a violation of the school ethics act they said it wasn't a violation per se of the school ethics act but the two trustees that were committed to be involved were strictly lied to an advisory role as opposed to be involved in the interview or the deliberation process of the committee as to who we recommend to The Next Step this next slid show some examples trusty can volunteer for for extracurricular activity if would result in directly ordering or directing School personnel as the perception would be then that individual who Direct School Personnel would be consistent with the rolling function of a board member truste cannot volunteer to be a leader of school club a volunteer could however be involved in the construction set ofal place because that would be ministerial and not directing a trusty could serve as a member of a local education uh Foundation it's not a per se conflict even though there an overlap but what happened is that board member who may be a trustee of a local Educational Foundation would have to accuse himself a personal commun decision but it doesn't preclude if in fact the trustee does want to get involved just very quickly if you want to look at some examples of how School ethic decision actually dealt with complaints and they had violation here where an executive session that a board member engaged and was involved in executive discussion involving their child and even though that the board member was not involved in the discussions of deliberation the mere presence of that board member was seem to be a conflict remember the discussions that take place if someone is affected by that fors the free exchange of information during an executive discussion so we believe that so long that person involved wasn't a conflict but for mere presidence another example you just take a look at where a board member was recommending using the board email to plan a Unity walk from school grounds it wasn't District sponsored but gave the impression that it was board sponsored once again board member utiliz position as a trustee to gain participation involvement in an activity that wasn't the board sponsored activity there was criticism of the superintendent on what the superintendent did in terms of changing uh graduation and again that is an example of undermining the superintendent of having uh compromised the effectiveness of the superintendent those concerns could be dealt with privately but not at a public board meeting in another example a board member shared confidential information about excuse me a board subsequent both on the agenda of a facility project in advance of the board decision and that was a deting of confidential information so how do we deal with the Dilemma of free speech of a board member and free speech that would otherwise be respected by individual trustee well it's been held that a board member does not sacrifice his or her freedom of speech but as a trustee will have to qualify and provide a disclaimer and the disclaimer would have to be identifying oneself as a board member indicating that the position taken by the board member is is that of an individual who doesn't reflect an opinion of the board and that would be the bareb minimum requirements how to have an effective dis disclaimer it doesn't mean that the disclaimer itself will be foolproof but that would be the minimum it be posting on a social media page a letter to the editor or any other communication with the public more often than that a trustee is going to be known that you are a trustee and without the qualifier your words are going to be repeated to the board unless you qualify that it's your individual State there's a little consistency with that concept and what I mean by the consistency with the concept there may be members of the public who are not aware of the fact that you are a board member and by virtue of the fact that you are identifying yourself a board member that you make it more knowledgeable to the general public but because trustees are elected they're on the website the prevailing Viewpoint of the commission is that most people going to know your trustee you have to have a thisif fire because the most important thing is to not Place yourself in position that would compromise the board so there's social media guidelines for social media there we can't avoid it it's necessary Evo so I've indicated to you some bullet point suggestions how to navigate through it don't post anything that would VI any District's policy award making dep patory statements don't dispose confidential information do not use refer to the board member title anding for business refrain from communication through social networks with other boarders regarding any board business don't respond to any postings regard board School Board business on any social network don't post any information on social network determined by the E commissions to be violated by the act so you say to yourself how do I know it's a violation of the ACT well if you don't know and before you do something it would be more strong recommendation to authorization from the administration to get advice so that you don't go in the area that you didn't conly get into the langage share would be the disclaimer that I mentioned that would help protect you from improperly conveying a message of whatever you're saying ref that of the board it's helpful but it's not foolproof because there have been instances of violation in school ethics act but it do not be an absolute defense whether there was or was not a disclaimer but at the absolute minimum that disclaimer should be if in fact a trustee created a campaign web page while there's nothing prohibiting the trustee from having a campaign web page my suggestion would be that once the trustee is elected you lead that web page and any Communications you would make on your personal web page be mindful of the fact that involves School business uh board business then you should have your disclaimer on there to release insulate yourself from a claim that you're speaking on behalf of the board but you're simply speaking on behalf of of of yourself and individual situation hopefully that will prevent a EIC clim being fed against you be to naive to say okay just avoid all the prop is not being on social media but you can't with it you can't live without it you'll have a hard copy of these guidelines you may want to use as a checklist and look at the language disclaimer that would be helpful because it's going to be a 10 weed so that hopefully would give you guidance on how to navigate here's a checklist on recusal for conflict of interests you can read down in your own it should be understandable if in fact you do have a conflict and Trigger this again if you're not too sure how to apply it please uh seek advice uh as to whether you can or cannot participate and also created a teaching in the event that your personal situation would apply and that may save a phone call to the Miss Administration to seek advice to see where you're wise F in I try to cover the highlights with some practical applications I don't know whether anyone has any questions uh I'd be happy to entertain them now or after the date because I know I probably overextended myself at this presentation but I felt that to be comprehensive and also fulfill the obligation to provide you with training uh I just didn't want to read off slides and say okay you never done that I tried to give as much practical application as possible and hopefully you learn Maybe a handful of things then successful and you did it I'm sorry questions be super stuck I need at least one question to make sure everybody was listening just one um on slide 15 when you were talking about code of ethics um a okay and it is pertaining to let me just get back to there too um enforcing laws rules regulations of the State Board of Education court orders pertaining the school's desire changes shall be sought about only through legal and ethical procedures when we are voting on accepting founded and unfounded HIV cases if we are like we are required by law to vote on those based on our own personal opinion or based upon the law I'm I'm having a pause because when I read that I was expecting a question on this and this is a it's a from from trustees and the hip statutes are very controversial and some individual trustees May disagree with the law the way you apply this code of ethics is that you you have an obligation to enforce the law so simp because you disagree with it is not consistent with your obligations to to enforce the law that's different as to whether you agree with the conclusions so if you get a hip determination and you reject it because you believe the facts are not supported for the statutory criteria that's your prerogative matter of fact that's your obligation because otherwise hibs will not be submitted to the board to accept reject or modify on the other hand if you're not voting for him because you philosophically disagree with that my humble opinion then you are disagreeing with the law when you have an obligation to uphold an enforce the law and that if there's a disagreement with the hi law we're M morals we're just applying the law it's up to the legislature to change the regulations to be revised and the process for changing it to perhaps reflect a reason why anyone May believe that the law that they disagree with the law so it's really a two-prong aspect of it not saying that everything that comes in the hip investigation ver stamp I agree it uh but in in my opinion you have an obligation to determine whether to accept reject or modify and not simply because it disagree with the law because there are a lot of laws we may disagree with it and we can't subjectively say we like this we don't if you follow your obligation to comply with the law that is the not only your your legal responsibility but it helps you navigate to a lot of issues where there are going to be legal requirements so would it be fair to say then that if a board member was um specifically voting um um no on any founded cases over and over again that would be a prach of do I can't reach that conclusion because I don't know for each hi what was the rationale behind that trustee and when you vote you are not obligate to say why you voted so theoretically I can understand what you crush question are but it'll be very hard to determine what was the basis of that trustee v no simply because they don't know all hiss okay okay thank you I hope Maria hasn't opened the floodgates on so I I have a question about enforcement of policies on occasion you wonder if a policy has been followed What would be the procedure to pursue enforcement of policies that that you've seen in your experience well it depends what the violation of the policy is you don't determine whether the policy is violent if you believe that the policy has been violated you you sharing concerns with the administration to find out uh whether in fact a policy has been violated again again we talking very general but then they would have to ascertain what policy is leg violated determine what the violation is and who's potential uh individual who's violating the policy but that's how you would determine whether the policy would be implemented you're not the judge and jury if there's a concern s the administration r a quick question U can you explain um the proper use of abstaining from voting on a matter sure and an extension could be for multitude of reasons an extension could be that you not able to make a decision uh uh on it and you have an an extension sometimes people stain because of conflict and as a result of which they are were not we not voting on it there are other situations where someone who has a conflict could recuse themselves and that removes that board member from from the Corum requirement so the exension is that's not an exension accusing and V is got is not deemed to have the effect of the absens it would be inacurate an Obion is basically taking a step back and publes AC acing to the will of the majority so that's an an exension vote does not necessarily require an explanation because once you do a roll call vote yay may obain there's no discussion and explanation if in fact during the discussion of a resolution you inclined to State you want the record to reflect the reasons why you can say it during the discussion but when the vote comes around y y or thank you wel any other questions board members thank you next item is action agenda items public comment the Board of Education welcomes and encourages input from the public members of the public are allotted one opportunity to address the board regarding the action agenda items only for up to a maximum of 3 minutes per speaker all comments must be directed to the board before you make your comment please state your name and address and write both in the notebook provided be mindful being mindful of privacy rights regarding students board employees and board members and to avoid any liability on the part of the speaker the board discourages defamatory and disc courtious remarks the public the public comment portions of the meeting are not structured as a question and answer sessions but rather are offered as opportunities for the public to share their thoughts with the board the board may need to refer an issue to the superintendent the issue has not been handled through the appropriate chain of command usually starting at the school level responses may be provided at the end of the session if you are going to make a comment please State the action agenda item number prior to your comments are there any comments from the public on action agenda items only any comments from the public on action agenda items only seen in here at n we shall move on it's a committee reports first up MTA report Mr do good evening board members community members um a little delated happy New Year but I took a little Co break during uh the holidays so it's good good to be back here and sorry I missed the reorganization um congratulations President Todd and congratulations uh vice president Spina for U being inducted and voted on um I want to give a special thanks to our ground our maintenance and custodial Crews not only through floods that they've had to deal with here in the community but lately with the weather we've been having we have Acres of parking lots and miles of roads and walkways that really need to be tended to um they've done a fantastic job obviously sometimes doing it in the pitch black and doing it early in the morning in Old Times to make sure everything is ready to go for our students uh there even have been times where our schools are ready but our roads outside of our schools are not so we do a wonderful job here to make sure that uh schools are ready um I also want to thank superintendent mclin for really dealing with some challenging decisions you know when we have to look at what do we do with schools do we do a late opening do we do an early dismissal do we have to close schools um so I know that mlock M uh superintendent mlock is doing a fantastic job with that and also putting student and staff safety just first and that's really wel deep we have you know so many students here we need to take care of and staff need to get to the buildings and buses on the roads uh constantly sometimes very early the morning when it's dark out and IC see so we do appreciate that um obviously it's giving us some challenges with snow days but that's just the way it goes we hope that mother mother nature will be kind to us for the rest of the uh the season that we have um some other news within the MTA uh just want to let you know that we did have a um a partnership with the twine a little gift shop in Hopewell uh during the holidays and they gave us part of the proceeds uh through that partnership I went to our MTA assists um little group or fundraiser and that actually helps people in Montgomery who have some food insecurities or even problems paying some bills uh and we're able to support and help them we also partnered with the Els Club um over winter break and helped five families in Montgomery um with some food insecurities as well so uh great Partnerships that we're doing and we have that MTA assist to help uh you know our community members uh last thing we uh will continue our read aloud series that we've been doing uh we had a a book reading this month as a matter of fact Amara and the bats um that took place and then all the recipients uh all participants do get a copy of the book um those who attend we have three more coming up that will be posted soon on social media uh we also advertise on through the PTA they're kind enough to add it in there as well uh those tit are the poorest color I'm sorry the proudest color uh beautifully me and Leila's lunchbox so those are for Orchard and Village School uh parents and students who would like to attend uh and like I said it will be posted soon for anyone that wants to sign up and and uh attend and also get a free copy of the book and we're trying to get some different members from our association to volunteer so it's always nice to see those uh for kids to go on and see their teacher or someone they they have like a related arts teacher um to get some variety on there and makes the read aloud even more exciting so thanks for your time and have a good rest in thank you Mr Doan representative reports uh going on to board member delegate representative reports Somerset County School Board Association PTSA Mac legislative uh New Jersey School Board Association Educational Services Rocky Hill um mcgomery Township Alliance I know there was a Somerset County School Board Association uh meeting attended by myself uh board member ala Jernigan and board member Spina there was a lot of information covered I'm not fully prepared to discuss everything that was um dis uh discovered in the meeting um either one of you have any comments we can certainly wait till next month we we fully digest everything that was discussed I mean it was last night yeah I have like two three pages of notes there was a lot of uh information so I'm I'm good to hold that remember like a I I'm in agreement thank you uh any other reports I'm just going to share I addended the first Montgomery Rocky Hill Municipal Alliance and Services Commission and in um meeting and in attendance were was our high school youth action board uh committee led by uh Mr lenau I make a recommendation to Super Den BL perhaps invite them maybe as we get closer to the May um month when they're celebrating we're recognizing rather Mental Health Awareness Month um the youth action board is doing a lot of work with the municipal Alliance and um that you know our high school students are really doing a lot of good work to support um their peers and even middle schoolers I think it'd be nice to hear from them if we have the opportunity to see what uh they're doing um for you know the high school and middle school thank you board member Franco Herman we now go to board committee reports excuse me sorry may I report please thank you um for president I just wanted to report on uh MPA uh also had a meeting and uh really important they're having transition uh and turnover in terms of leadership and membership uh so they very much are pleading for people to uh reach out and uh join MTA they absolutely need volunteers to be able to uh continue that committee and they are having a dance on March 15th so I'm also announcing that and details are on the website thank you and my apologies board down next we have board committee reports assessment curriculum and instruction committee board member down thank you um so I'd like to thank assistant superintendent uh Damen papa for facilitating our first meeting as I transition into the role um we spent a lot of time going through our ACI Norms um um which were quite impressive in my opinion uh and we talked about um just the idea of decorum in terms of when we uh when we come together as a committee uh there was one addition that was recommended in terms of using um addition an additional Norm that really uh talked about the idea of um coming in with best intentions and Trust in terms of um the the committee board members we then moved into uh learning more about about the high impact tutoring Grant um that was led by Fiona Borland uh again really impressive and that is about to launch uh and take place there will be more detailed information posted on our website so please um look for that so that you have a good understanding of the grant that we were awarded to uh support third fourth and fifth grade uh students and uh tutoring initiative uh we also heard uh details about the high school choir performance tour to Ireland no we don't get to go uh fellow board members but it's truly extraordinary and once in a lifetime opportunity so we are going to vote on that later tonight is my understanding uh and then lastly uh Corey Delgado in his new role talked about um his sorry yeah we did yeah he just mentioned that um he's going to be part of this committee um with the intention of not just uh talking about our academic goals but also our health and wellness goals for our students um which I wanted to duy note and then we just talked about uh future meeting dates uh which we all uh put into our calendars thank you any questions comments thank you again board member ding up next operations facilities and finance committee no longer me it is now board member vac thank you um so our off committee U met on Friday on a snow day uh so even though the school was closed we all gathered together and we had a really really productive meeting um we actually been over time by like half hours uh so uh our board administrator and superintendent uh shared an update about the recent school closings due to the weather conditions the superintendent explained various considerations is taken into account before this decision is made to close schools for half day or full day for example we have a three tiered bus schedule our youngest students get on the last bus rout to return home when the weather forecast projects heavy snow the administration evaluates earn dismissal versus full closure they must consider projected um weather i s for the time when their last bus leaves the schools and they always keep students safety first as a priority in their decision making the administration is uh identified a need for the additional playground at Orchard Hills this is really exciting the existing playground is too small to accommodate first and second graders and who they Kindergartens students so director of facilities Mike O'Neal already took action he met with the architect to identify a viable placement of the new playground he created various proposals of the playground design and the administration requested input from The Orchard Hills teachers about what type of design would be best fitting and engaging for our students Mel shared some preferred by other by our teachers Design Concepts with the committee the designs were great they offered a lot of options for students to play they took into considerations that they would engage as many students as possible at the same time to engage them as a team to play they also took into consideration the physical abilities of all students to make this playground friendly fun and engaging for all children the business administrator shared update on the status of high school Third Field replacement as well as purchase of the new radio and security cameras for schools as we discussed last month both projects proceed as scheduled the thir replacement is scheduled to be completed over the summer so we will have something to celebrate when the new schools school year start the committee received an update about an outstanding balance in the Lun accounts a few months ago this issue has been brought to the board's attention when students come to school there are given food even when funds in their lunch account have not been replenished we want them to feel well during the school school day there is unfortunately in the a substantial balance that keeps accumulating in the unpaid Munch account we are asking parents to help address this issue the district has reached out to the parents reminding them about how to access their pay school Central platform to review children account balance check their balances account account balances and set up autopay replenishments thank you to all parents who already took advantage of these instructions and have been monitoring their children lunch account balances if anyone is uncertain how to set up this account or how to use it please reach out to our business administrator for assistance we are here to help the last item on the agenda was the business administrator's update on his discussions with with the van harlean Historical Society regarding Schoolhouse next to the Orchard Hill School the historical society is energized to upgrade the schoolhouse we understand they have a vision for new programs to offer our residents and students and offer them new learning opportunities this is really exciting we have reviewed the existing contract to evaluate what what responsibilities the district has for maintenance of the property surrounding the schoolhouse our business administrator will extend an invitation to the representative of the van harlean Historical Society to attend our next off committee meeting to discuss the vision for the property learning opportunities for our students and the terms of the contract any questions next very comprehensive very comprehensive thank you board member up next policy and Communications committee co-chair well Jour thank you um so we had a meeting and uh we have a a couple members that had to accuse themselves from the policy part and Patrick uh joined me to the policy discussion uh there were four policies that well actually two policies um um similar policies for staff and for um teaching staff as well as um work staff we had some updates these are not mandated policy however the there has been uh a recommended update for both Examination for cause as well as right of privacy for both teaching and support staffs which we will be moving forward today for approval um it is the I would say the portion the big portion of the discussion that we had during the policy was um around the updates and the review of our policies and how do we proceed with that today we heard a presentation from njsba uh and their uh approach to continuous checking and and updating and refreshing policies making sure we don't have redundancy making sure that all of our policy as for the ethics um is really relevant for students going forward which was also part of the discussion Somerset uh session so I think that will continue that conversation but I just wanted to bring it out to the board that that's something that we really want to focus on this year uh and spend some uh time on that and if you feel passionate just as I do about policy feel free to offer your assistance um because there will be all hands on deck as you heard there's a it's an extended process I think the lady mentioned uh six to 6 months to 2 years years it would take for us to go through all of these policies so this will be something that uh will require some um heavy lifting so I would appreciate if any of you are interested in that uh please let me know in addition to that the second portion of our meeting was around communication and cookie joined me for the communication part um I think we talked about Mary did a comprehensive uh overview of the calendar which I think Joanna validated with some of the discussion you had in off as far as how you go through the process of assessing that we appreciate that and understand that uh also we talked about the Strategic plan and our next session is coming up uh in January so for the community just so you know January 31st is our next session please register uh even if you decide very late to come and join and the registration is closed show up there'll be plenty of room for you uh to participate and there will be also linked in emails now to the first session and the results from the first sessions which are already available to you on the website that you can access um and the last piece that we discussed was around uh communication uh the survey The Specialist that we've hired and how do we continue improving that I think over the last uh 12 months we talked about having a communication survey with Mary and she's uh of support for us to communicate with communicate to to share with the community and get your feedback directly of how you would like to be communicated with uh I think we have so many Avenues now through social media emails websites we want to make sure that we do the right thing and that you are all aware uh in the timely fashion so that will be uh coming through as well and that is all for me thank you thank you um you mentioned policies could you just give the the public an idea of the vast number of policies there are in this District um thousands I mean between bylaws which are very much focused on the board um uh rules and regulations there's also policies Associated not only as we heard today with staff teaching staff and then our students and then broad school policies and I think what we've been finding out as we review some of those there's a lot of updates that are being sent from Strauss esmee just little tweaks based on the new language like Mary brought it up pupil versus a student right so these are all things that need to continue uh being updated but it would be nice for us to really connect them as njsba representative stated we do have a lot of policies I was just looking at the attendance policy and uh you know I noticed that there's a a broad scope in different parts regulations versus policy so you have to kind of play in between those two it would be nice to have a path for us to combine those have them in the one place reference to other areas where you can find the information you're looking for so I think it would be worth our while to kind of re-evaluate it and try to do a better job and having them be easily accessed more easily accessed I don't thank you so much any other questions for MERS I don't have a question but I have a comment and so I do agree that maybe it's an opportunity for us to go through the policies and see um which ones require that day it is a major undertaking but by listening to the njsba rep I'm thinking that maybe there was an opportunity to do like a hybrid method we can use partially their assistance for the review and then some policies we can review uh between us and we can maybe chip in you know create like a app committee to kind of help you know ex just of hands uh so something to consider I think for f all right last but not least Human Resources committee HRC met on January 9th virtually uh first item we talked about was uh two hiring issues the first one was the director of special services um that posting is still open we're still looking for candidates the current the interim director of special services uh while she would not be on that committee she will be um giving her observations and input throughing that process um secondly U we have hired a supervisor of Maintenance and grounds um his name is Drew vandery and he is on for approval on tonight's agenda he will be the supervisor maintenance and grounds and reporting to Mike O'Neal uh other big item we talked about were the upcoming recruitment fairs um well Kelly Mattis the assistant superintendent of Human Resources said that our hiring um we are very good at Staffing levels right now however we do um regularly attend recruitment fairs uh the first one will be at stock University on March 5th second one at the College of New Jersey on March 6th mam University on March 15th Central to Central to Jersey program for the recruitment of diverse Educators Fair on March 21st Jersey Corps educational career fair April 4th New Jersey school jobs virtual Fair on April 18th and one of the exciting things that we also talked about is having um committee members um when they can attend those um fairs um just to get an idea of the improvement process I'm sure if any other board members were interested in attending just let me and or Kelly know and we can try to feature in those as well last item we talk about is Personnel budget um actually the next meeting she'll be sharing HRC with personnel has been requested and what she thinks will be recommended and that is it for HRC any questions comments from the board very none we'll move on at this time I will entertain a motion to approve uh the following board board meeting minutes to December 19th 2023 executive session meeting December 19th 2023 business meeting January 5th 2024 executive session meeting January 5th 2024 organization and business meeting so moved second it's been a properly moov in second any questions comments roll call please Mr bbo Mr Carlson here I mean yes Miss D yes Miss F yes Miss Franco Herman yes Miss Harris yes Miss finina yes Mr Todd yes Miss will Jour yes motion passes thank you the board acknowledges all correspondents emails to the board next item up new business from the board I'm Excuse me new business from the board and the public the Board of Education welcomes and encourages input from the public members of the public are allowed at one opportunity to bring any new business to the board for up to a maximum of 3 minutes per speaker all comments must be directed to the board before you make a comment please state your name and address and write both in the notebook or laptop provided being mindful of privacy rights regarding students board employees and board members and to avoid any potential liability on the part of the speaker the board discourages defamatory and discour remark the public comment portions of the meeting are not structured as question and answer sessions the board may need to refer an issue to the superintendent if the issue is not been handled through the appropriate chain of command usually starting at the school level responses may be provided at the end of this session new business public comment is now open and we do ask that if you do plan on making a comment if you can please line up so we can get an idea of people that will be making comments so we we try to move this along as expeditiously as possible John mner uh 694 milstone River Road uh I just want to compliment Mary and Dwayne Washington and Mike O'Neal um for cancelling school for making the delays um it does make our job easier um it does keep the kids safe I know I see a lot of people always say oh why' they cancel you know it's your kids on the line going they're all responsible for them um and most people don't know it the salt doesn't work after 25 degrees fahit so you're stuck with slippery conditions so anybody visiting the facilities gets hurt you're responsible for that the kids everything so I just want to say thank you I think you guys all three you made a good decision that's it thank you thank you good evening Scott sugerman 137 Bridgepoint Road uh I'd like to address the board specifically about special education um we have a neuro diverse child in the school district uh classified with dyslexia um and the district is working to declassify her special education using the discrepancy model with no policy even though the state legislature has passed a a bill saying that the discrepancy model should not be used as the stole version if a child is outside of the discrepancy but two years behind in their reading the district is saying there is no need for special education um this has been a very frustrating process for us we've worked with we tried to meet with superintendent mlin we are in a due process uh hearing now so she denied our request as concerned parents um um we have gone through multiple IEP meetings um in our latest IEP meeting we were informed that in a staff meeting the director of special services said the district is declassifying children because there are too many white children classified with speci special education she said this on record both the district and us have it on recording she then clarified she did not deny it she said I informed the staff that there's a disproportionality in this district and it was later confirmed by other staff members that secret uh superintendent M bin said the same thing in staff meetings so our daughter who is 2 years behind her reading level is not getting special education or is being denied because the discrepancy between what she needs or what her potential is and what what um she is testing at is not far enough away even though she has a 2-year discrepancy in her reading level so um I would really like the board to look at a policy around this there is no policy on how this is done or anything um we have so we were not at SEPTA but we were at the other um group who um is supposed to partner with this um it it's been just just such a challenge like our daughters being left behind and it is extremely frustrating and I thought it was something that fortunate thank you thank you Jeff Grant six Livingston Drive good evening everybody uh last year around this time we were talking about the South African Democratic teachers union and a trip to South Africa that the board had planed to take and we found out about it and kind of it's secur this way it wasn't uh transparent that that was what was going to happen members of the board members of the staff went to South Africa around this time planning it around this time last year at the time I talked about South Africa having had military exercises with Russia China South Africa being a member of bricks Brazil India Russia China uh South Africa now Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are joining bricks it's really an International Community un see the US dollar as the international currency um I talked about how South Africa was uh systematically torturing raping and murdering Farmers white farmers and I talked about how South Africa was in the verge of making it a constitutional uh amendment that you could actually confiscate land from White Farmers well they haven't done that yet as far as I know but they did they did make it a law that if you're a farmer uh 51% of your of your farm has to be owned by a black person if you want to export to the European Union and uh in Great Britain that came out in the epoch times a month and a half ago so with that under our belt I think it's pretty clear that South Africa is an enemy of our country in many facets economically morally uh racially U the list can perhaps go on so I want to get some clarity from the board about what they might be planning to do this year with the potential trip to South Africa or any similar country uh is there anything of that nature planed and I'd like to get some clarity in the fact from the board about a relationship with South South African Democratic teachers union who was pretty clearly been uncovered by people in the community as being a communist organization so and it's sad to talk about South Africa like this I have to say because in spite of all the best efforts of Nelson Mandela it's sad to see what has happened to a country that once was a great country with great potential and and what what has happened because of uh the racism that that they uh that they had become subject to so I like all the facts about uh any potential trips to South Africa or any other country of that nature and the facts about our relationship with the South African Democratic teachers union thank you you just please sign yes I did you okay thank you than uh good evening everybody this is Raj cultur uh 24 CH sh in me um thank you for the opportunity again happy you to everyone uh couple of things I wanted to bring into at Le my opinions and uh what I thought one um I I mean I've been sending emails I think in the correspondence I was one of them regarding tennis facilities Improvement like PLS and having a tennis facility or tennis education at early like or something like that and even like um having a fulltime coaching that uh fulltime coach for MHS the second thing is on stem courses so those are the two correspondents so one of the question that I had is when I make correspondence and stuff and when uh it's board looks at it and board sends it to superintendent for recommending that they can do about it I didn't know what the process was in process involved was as if it starting from correspondence or stating it here to eventually if it uh you know what is whatever is a process to get to even if it gets implemented or what it does not get implemented whatever happens i' would like to know what that process is that that would be great uh second thing I think one of the things I've been hearing about the policy um is why I think one one uh one of the board member recommended that we work with njsba Hybrid models I was just wondering if you're looking at policies I mean considering last year with the ranking and stuff right can we look at the top 1% or 2% of the schools like in the top in the ranking in stem or something and see what their policies are and how we are maybe that'll give us an opportunity and this is just my opinion but but give us an opportunity to see how what are the areas where we can improve or what areas things that we can help kids to actually you know get to an next uh in education thank you thank you so much any other questions comments from the public any other questions comments from the public any more questions public SC to comment from the public sorry public comment session is now closed superintendent mlin would you like to respond to any of the comments questions sure so um I just want to go on record saying that I would never refuse to leave with the parent once something goes into a legal um situation I am not permitted to meet with the parent without legal representation I also want to go on record saying that I never have nor I never will publicly state in a meeting or even in private that anyone should declassify by a student I am not part of an IEP team and I would never make that recommendation and I am appalled that somebody would come out publicly and say that I said that when they never heard me say it thank you oh and Sir about the tennis courts um Mr Jack Trent our business administrator is going to be reaching out to you about the whole process and moving forward and thank you for the um input about the policiy and thank you John thank you superintendent mclin now move on to action agenda items I'll entertain a motion to approve action agenda items 1.1 through 4.2 Mr T want make a note that there needs to be a correction on personel agenda item 4.1 page two item C1 salary should indicate 110,000 thank you Mr Palumbo and let me add one addition to we will consider yeah we will consider this um item number 1.1 D this is Hib resolution that was discussed in executive session be resolved that the board denies the appeal in Hib number 251 836 92820 23 that's it so a motion second second it's been properly moved and second to approve item 1.1 through 4.2 with the addition roll call please Mr P Mr Carlson yes Miss D yes Miss beac yes Miss Franco Herman extension on 1.2 3161 4161 3324 4324 and 4.2 yes to everything else Miss Harris yes to everything and I have stain on 1.2 3161 4161 3324 4324 and 4.2 Miss spe yes Mr Todd yes with extension from item 1.3 as well let the Jour again yes and I would like to have a discussion on item 3.8 just from a uh election of delegate um as we're approving the board member to uh represent us I would like for us to understand what that role is because I don't think we've ever discussed in the past the roles and responsibility of an um election of delegate position so as delegate that that person will attend all Somerset County Educational Services Commission meetings um that person will be empowered to vote um as the Delegate for the mgy Township School Board could that person also represent any potential um changes that we would like to make as a school district as part of that process is that included or is it just purely a voting function I believe it's a voting function um I can do a little bit more research and get back to that would be great absolutely so if we have to do a little bit more uh research uh should we be still voting on item three she would have to make a motion I'm just asking if you don't want to Mo you have to make a motion to withdraw yeah I would like to make a motion to withdraw this item from agenda today like the second can we have a conversation Absolut questions on motion um when is the next voting session of the NJ SBA commissioner you specifically talking about suers County Educational Services commissioner yeah um I don't know what the next meeting is i that's find I mean if it's before CU we need to have a voting member delegated correct correct so tbling that to me seems I believe I just want to make sure yeah I think it's every six months so when was the last one let's see just give us one second we trying to see if get some pull up information up real quickly I don't see anything about who was the last can I I mean I've done it before I'll say I was the alternate when um we had board member spec was the delegate that went I I did go once um uh to one of the meetings and it was there was you know votes on um a variety of things just like we have it's a very similarly run meeting um they didn't they did have an opportunity for for a new business to be to be brought as well um are the agenda items or voting items specific to a district or is it Su County Wide summer and then there's also um you know like they do talk about what the uh coordination is with other counties and and and that level but it's not very it's not a district specific level and and the agenda is provided um in advance so that it can be shared the rest of the board if that is all right so I I I think if we can assure that an agenda or any action items that are on the agenda can be shared to the full board prior to the meeting or voting at the meeting would that satisfy um any questions members might have I would wonder if it would have to do uh anything they would vote on have to do with any unions that we have here where they would have to I think this is for County Wide it's got nothing to do with I mean based on the experience of either board membina or Michelle did you were you also a delegate last year this is about I can't recall anything that was District specific okay but I mean I remember I don't have all the agendas talking about things that like as far as um like Transportation issues in terms of very big one um dealing with like who's servicing buses from um you know a multitude of districts and um what it was very very that that sort of level very broad County specific very county level um I'm trying to see if I can find the agendas that's what I'm trying to do as well so it looks like the next meeting is February 7th of 202 for could we maybe ask our attorney to wait in if this is a prudent um action to vote us on this item as is or maybe they should take more time and table with on the moment I want to add a parliamentary procedures to you help govern agenda items when motions are presented it's first and second and then there's a discussion so the issue that's being raised right now should have been work during the discussion phase you can't have a discussion on a motion that's been seconded once you have a roll call vote because that's the voting process so the concerns that you have is not necessarily who's appointed but you're looking to define the parameters of what that individual can do in function so it's not the question of who's appointed but you're questioning the scope of the authority so the way the parliamentary procedures right now you have on the agenda number of items including so because we're in a roll call vote right now the only vote would be to approve or reject this motion you could deal separately with the parameters and the authority of this person being appointed SE separately but this is an appointment and you either vote Yes or No want that appointment and it's a separate item what you want to do circumscribe the authority of that delegate in participating on behal of your Bo are you saying it's too late to pull 3.8 out to vote on I'm I'm sorry I he say is it too late to pull 3.8 would have been done before motion second it could have been a motion to table uh that resolution or they could be part of the discussion discussion that's taking place right now now and that would then result in somebody decided to table it or someone decided to supplement the motion to indicate what the parameters of authority of that delegate may I clarifying question how could we make sure that we do this right when it's time so board member W Jan brought something up while she was going through her boat right and so when is the right time for her to bring that up so that then we don't start voting and then have to have a discussion that we're not supposed to be having that's a good question and the simple answers to it you have a motion seconded and discussions to question so maybe we should start asking for that I I thought it was but it just it was it was I did not do it on that this particular agenda but you did it as a l some included everything for right so it was moved in second there will be any discussions questions and then after discussions and questions that the board secretary would then take a vote on and vote would be yes no constain three options and if as a result of the discussion there was a belief that either a motion should be Ted it could be any motion to be Ted or you want to raise the concern about trying to uh set for the parameters of the authority then that would be a sep in motion that you would want to either make independently or add on to but since it's a consent agenda you probably would then have to have a seate motion uh that discuss the the parameters of the authority because if you stop and think about it is that if a trustee innocently wants to discuss the merits of it you already had X number of Trustees voting without the benefit of that trustees comment so it deprives the trustees who voted before of making an informed decision based on a comment that took place after the fact but if all of this took place as part of the discussion phase first and second then everybody would be able to consider the trusted View point and a determination can be made whether they're comfortable voting on it they want to table it they want to amend it but that would be the approprate F so are there any options right now it's it's to to vote no or yes for the remainder trustees and that doesn't necessarily mean if you decide that the votes are to Appo this one you can't add separately present a motion that second that would set forth what the parameters are of this individual making a determination and that could be done with any other deligance I presume historically that that person that's appointed is opposing responsibility acting on behalf of the board they may or may not have had access to the agenda in advance to that the board in terms of how that person should vote that's another issue in terms of what you want to give give authority to that delegate and that's going to then be dependent upon do you have sufficient time before a regular board meeting to know what the agenda is of a meeting that you can give guidance so you have logistical issues more often than not the delegate is acting on behalf of the board but if the board believes that there should be some kind of view by the full board that's entirely within the apartment have to decide how to logistically accomplish that when in fact such a committee may not have their agenda that would cign your ability to have that agenda reviewed beted behind your board and making an informed decision so I think it's the best of intentions of wanting to happen if you do want that the question just be accomplished well the motion right now is already you have to take a roll call vote trustees you and everybody so you were your last person standing but you that well her motion really is not approprate so I think what probably requires further discussion if in fact the majority board wants to have riew of any decision that may be made by your delegate responsibility it'll probably require you to contact the entity for which that person going be developed to find out logistically what when their agenda would be publish to find out whether that could be reconciled otherwise you may have a situation that you're if you're requiring your delegate to have authority of the full board that may never happen because of the logistics of it so I don't think you have enough information to make an informed decision whether it's possible here your resolution simply says who that delegate to be but you're touching upon something broader than whether should be any individual trustees that be appointed in the delegate correct correct so I so I think the motion has apparently been passed appointing this individual but I think still have one vote board member will like a j yes thank you you could you could also estain on that on that one aspect of the motion okay you gave us a good outline of but thank you so much but your concern are are legitimate and the question becomes is it legistic possible that something could be discuss as to whether that is something that you want to place on the agenda for board discussion and problem for trustees to make an individual decision you need to find out listic possible y understood thank thank you so much any other comments questions concerns it is now 9:26 p.m. there was no announcement about president unless uh vice president Spina has any announcements is 9:26 p.m. I'll entertain a motion to adjourn sove second all those in favor say I I oppose same right extension we are Jour thank you so much thank you all Community for showing up appreciate you thank you so much