e I'm going to call this meeting to order all good all right let's all rise for the flag salute United States of America and to the for it stands Nation God indivisible andice for all can we please uh remain standing for a moment of reflection for all those who way and all milary thank you the notice requirements of the open public meetings Act of the state of New Jersey have been satisfied by the inclusion of the date time and place of this meeting in the notice of regular meetings adopted by this board on January 8th to house for such schedule and notice of meetings is posted at the municipal building the mount ol Library the board of bed offices and the six schools it was submitted to the Daily Record for publication on January 9th 2024 and was filed with the clerk of Mount Olive Township and January 9th 2004 I direct this announcement be entered into the minutes of this meeting and we'll take a roll call Mrs Aquino here Mrs Fenton here Mrs fera here Mrs Fitzgerald here Mrs Mendez here Mrs O'Neal here Mr orillo here Mr stach here Mrs here and can we take a a motion to go into close session who Moved do we can we have a roll call second a roll call on going into Clos session Mrs Aquino yes Mrs Fenton yes Mrs fera yes Mrs Fitzgerald yes Mrs Mendez yes Mrs o M yes Mr Mrs yes be it resolved that the board meet in confidential session for the purposes of discussing um personnel and matters of attorney client privilege we resolved that the matters discussed in confidential session be disclosed to the public when the reason for confidentiality no longer exists action may be taken we are in um Clos session e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e all right do we have now all right I'm upon the Mee and Miss Jones can we take a roll call Mrs Aquino here Mrs Fenton here Mrs fera here Mrs Fitzgerald here Mrs Melendez here Mrs O'Neal Mr orillo here Mr stachi here Mrs S I am here and can I have a motion to approve the uh minutes 2.1 through 2.2 moved we have a second second and can we uh have a roll call on that any questions on the minute no and we'll take a roll call Mrs Aquino yes Mrs Fenton yes Mrs fera yes Mrs fitgerald yes Mrs Melendez yes Mrs O'Neal yes Mr orillo yes Mr stachi yes Mrs yes and do we have any commun ation or petitions from the board or from the superintendent anyone okay I do have a couple I wanted to acknowledge that everyone here on this board received another um series of anonymous letters please note over the course weeks we do not give Prudence to uh Anonymous letters um I have actually and I will also acknowledge that I received a mail letter from Mrs Mella and I received a letter from a Mr Logan ALS whose questions I will respond to Mr Logan and Mr Gano Dr Gano asks that we acknowledge his correspondence um I'm not sure what his questions were but Miss Jones can we at least put into the minutes that we acknowledge his correspondence um via the our email um anyone else have any correspondence no so I would like then to move to reports and discussions do we have a any uh questions sir for my report I'm going to be inviting Miss melon mcqueeny to um the podium and she's going to be honoring our fabulous performing art students this evening I feel kind of bad that my back is to them because I'm speaking to them too so um I'm not really sure how to handle that just space up okay Dr ban members of the Board of Education Educators parents and most importantly The Talented music students of our middle and high school this evening we recognize and celebrate the extraordinary dedication and talent displayed by our music students who have gone above and beyond in their pursuit of Excellence these students have not only demonstrated outstanding musical ability but also exhibited an unwavering commitment to their craft by auditioning preparing for and participating in honor ensembles and Performing organizations well beyond the confines of our school walls the students have been recognized as well as performed alongside some of the most talented students not only throughout the entire state of New Jersey but the entire Northeast portion of the country they have been invited to concerts of world-renowned musicians and have had the honor of working with some of the top music educators and conductors from throughout the country the students Journey to Excellence has been marked by count count L hours of practice some failure resilience in the face of challenges and a passion for music that knows no bounds through their participation and honor ensembles these students have not only enriched their own musical experience but have also brought pride and distinction to our schools and communities thank you to Dr Van Mrs wilky Mr stanbury and to the Board of Education who without their support our students would not be allowed to participate in many of the ensembles you will hear mentioned this evening thank you to the parents and caregivers who drive or fly or take a train with their children to and from auditions and rehearsals festivals performances award ceremonies and for helping provide their children with all necessary music and supplies in order for them to participate but none of this would have been possible without the dedication and guidance of our exceptional music educators Mr Hendrick Mr Desa Mr van Miss Burkin and Mrs scarangello we extend our deepest gratitude for your tireless efforts in nurturing the talent of these students for your unwavering support and encouragement and for instilling in them the love and appreciation for music that will last a lifetime as Educators it is truly inspiring to witness the dedication and determination of both our students and teachers they serve as a shiny examples of the transformative power of music education showcasing the profound impact it can have on the lives of our students tonight let us applaud the achievements of our outstanding music students and express our heartfelt appreciation to the teachers who have played an integral role in their success together let us continue to Champion the importance of music education and provide opportunities for every student to explore create and Excel in the world of Music congratulations to our exceptional students your passion talent and commitment Inspire us all we will now be presenting the students with certificates of excellence and recognition of their successful auditioning and exceptional performances please know I also must extend my um gratitude to Miss Christine Nelson who helped me put together through certificates as well she's helped me uh both years that we've done that so I couldn't have done that without her and if your child parents have participated in more than one Ensemble and you don't hear it in one of them it's because they are been presented all of their certificates at once so I promise we didn't miss anybody so we will begin with the students that participated and Morris area Honor Choir in my million lists here John Liberty [Applause] the following students have participated in North Jersey region choir Viola Joseph Tan V priia [Applause] [Music] and AAR of [Applause] [Music] Sharma the next group is the American uh American coral Directors Association this is the students that participated in all Eastern Honor Choir Zara Alvarez Kaden Blakey Emmy Bosch Nicole fenko [Music] my onlyi [Applause] [Music] granddaughter Sarah karney [Applause] and it should be mentioned Emmy as well as Sarah and the next student I called who participated in all Eastern Honor Choir were all parts within the concert and it especially Sarah beat out hund and I don't even remember I think it was 175 students that she auditioned against for a huge solo at the end yeah the next student I called was part of the world premiere and he sang the solo for the composer piece and that would be Jake [Applause] [Music] sards Ruby Turner [Music] Leila [Applause] Blakey Marin [Applause] [Music] msaga darra [Applause] mappa Anita [Applause] nenan and Zoya vadia [Applause] the following students were selected as the Morristown Mayo student of the month the first student for outstanding band member was Matas morray outstanding Jazz student was an Peri [Applause] the following students participated in North Jersey area band Alberto Deo [Music] Anastasia [Applause] demerus Sarah [Applause] [Music] Hendricks Doe younglim [Applause] Olaf [Applause] mooki Nicholas tonius [Applause] and Harrison [Applause] young the following students were from North Jersey Aryan the high school was tan Mandell [Applause] it's Jacob Sutton no okay so the following student um the following students participated in the New Jersey Association for jazz education for the north Jersey Junior region jazz band Riley culo and for the north Jersey region Jazz Band of the High School Division Alex maritol Alex was also first chair for the entire [Applause] State okay the next two students participated in the first ever New Jersey All State modern honors band The first student is Arabella [Applause] Mula and Lincoln verah [Applause] the following student participated in the north Jersey region Junior High Honor Choir as well as the acda all Eastern Junior High Honor Choir and that would be Sophia sard the following student participated in Morris oh Sophia sorry got you sorry the following participated in Morris area Junior Honor Honor Choir acda all Eastern Junior Honor Choir and was chosen as the mayor Performing Art Center music student of the month for outstanding vocalists and that would be Marissa [Applause] Foster the following student is being recognized for their participation in North Jersey area band as well as North Jersey region man and that would be Derek [Applause] magio the following student is being recognized for their participation in North Jersey region choir North Jersey area band North Jersey region band New Jersey All State Orchestra and New Jersey All State band and that would be Barbara Ashley [Music] and our last award and I should mention before we get to the last one there was a number of students that could not be here this evening as well but they all will be receiving certificates but our last student participated in North Jersey area band North Jersey region band New Jersey All State jazz band and New Jersey All State symphonic band and that would be Alex Alex Ander [Applause] [Music] MWI thank you very much I appreciate everyone being here for your support I would just like to reiterate with Miss McQueen to share you know as a district we are so incredibly proud of all our students especially when they find their passions and certainly um having observed and visit visited um attended many of the performances myself I can testify how excited the students are to participate so thank you for your enthusiasm thank you for representing mon all so well and also most importantly thank you to our incredible faculty and staff who enables these programs to happen so thank [Music] you if the students um would like they are welcome to leave we'll take like two minutes to let everybody wants St stay and those who would like to leave I wouldn't say five minutes but last time I think people got lost congratul are you doing good how you doing nice to see you out here [Music] thank you oh no Mar not me are we settled now okay great um I also would like to share um as far as our progress with um our strategic plan we had our first core plan teaming meeting last week was successfully attended by close to 35 community members and we focus upon norms and values our next meeting is next Thursday with the same team and we'll progressively um update the community about our work towards that ctive planning I was like to thank all those who were able to attend um in addition to our strategic plan meeting last week we all had also a very successful reunification drill at Roxbury high school so at this moment if I could have Mr James gy come up um for those um who may be unaware last week uh Mr gy along with the district um took the initiative to engage with the rockbury school district a reunification drill in which involved um transporting close to 200 of our students from um our high school to roxb high school to replicate um a unification in which if something tragic happened in our district that we would require families to reunite with their families at an off-site location and um not only did we have a successful reunification within I believe 67 minutes Mr gepy that correct 67 minutes um we also had dignitaries from across the state including our County Superintendent um State Police as well as district and school level um officials from our County as well as other counties and we received grave success in um feedback about the process that was put together and this really is a testament to the hard work of Mr kifi so um I just wanted to on behalf of the district thank you for your incredible um hard work your attention to detail and also always ensuring the safety and um security of both our staff and students throughout the district so thank you [Music] [Applause] total and that's all I have okay thank you Dr vanj thank you for the students one of my like favorite you know times to see everybody but we're going to move on to uh 4.2 to Personnel committee um Mr the committee met Monday April 8th and we discussed the following a proposal to increase the base pay of the transportation dispatcher in order to remain competitive with surrounding districts our director of Transportation explained the hours and the responsibilities associated with the position to the committee the pay increase is already built into the budget to cover the extra hours worked by the dispatcher The increased salary replaces the overtime and now makes those earnings pensionable the committee also continued its ongoing discussion about finding ways to increase the potential earnings of power professionals and Security offers by adding longevity pay to their salary structures Dr Vanier reviewed with the committee all of the new positions across the district that have been budgeted and approved for the 2425 school year Dr Vania and the committee discussed the new advisor positions for the broadcasting club and the media display platform manager at the high school along with their correlating sidebar agreements with emo the two positions discussed would effectively enhance the current utilization of the Jumbotron and the large screen in the gymnasium across multiple seasons and lastly the committee discussed sabatical leaves in general and the potential dates for a teacher to pres to present a full board sabatical proposal later this spring we have any questions from the board any questions from the administration no and we'll move on to curriculum and Technology um M thank you so uh we also met Monday April 8th um all were present our discussion topics uh were student support services and programming updates uh Miss Bella provided an update um on the ongoing and upcoming programs and services for our students um Mrs mcdom uh discussed um well we Pro she provided us an overview for our um April 10th professional development uh District partnered with New Jersey coalation for inclusive education to provide a keynote for all staff and then a breakout sessions were designed around meeting the needs of today's Learners the what the why the how of inclusive education um Dr krider provided us a technology update um about the ongoing improvements um to the district's technology including the installation of new printers and copers throughout the district um and then Dr Vania um started discussing that the uh shared the newly released school performance report um that we are going to discuss in our future meeting any questions from the board any questions from the administration all right we'll move on policy and governance committee no wonder uh we did meet we are going to be meeting on May 6 thank you and finance and operations committee yes um finance committee has been busy its budget season really exciting um so we met last Thursday the 11th and again today the 15th um and just a couple highlights because we could be here all day um from an operations perspective uh we just if you've been to Tin or sandshore you will notice that the tin playground has been paved and lined and it looks lovely as well is the sanure parking lot it's real pretty so if you haven't take a look take a look it's some lovely Paving job uh that was done there we spent a lot of time talking about to uh Dr bji has point the reunification drill several of us on the board were able to attend that as observers and uh it is nothing short of impressive um we always hope that we would never have to use anything like this but if we do we are very well equipped we had um over 80 observers there from around the state including the county uh supervisor uh a lot of very highlevel law enforcement who were all asking questions and put uh Mr kifi on The Hot Spot asking all sorts of different uh questions which he had an answer for and we were very well prepared um kudos to the entire staff that made that happen everybody at the board office obviously Mr kifi but also a big thank you to uh roxburry Township and their rockberry EMS who hosted us closed school early so we could host this drill um we really appreciate their partnership and um in terms of the budget from a finance perspective we will be making our budget presentation on April 29th any questions any questions from the board no all right we will move on to board subcommittees and parent teacher Association is on reports can we have any um sub commmittee reports or liaison reports no and we'll move on to the president's report before um we go into any action items I simply wanted to let everybody know that there is one added item to tonight's agenda it is going under Finance it is 9 um8 action item and it reads having reviewed the proposal submitted um by the law firms be resolved that the Machado Law Firm is here by I appointed to special education Council to the board for the remainder of this calendar year term ending December 31st 2024 be it further resoled that the business administrator and the board president are hereby authorized to prepare any documents or papers necessary to effective effectively um evacuate this appointment sorry any questions with regards to that item being added to 9.8 what was the what was the number 9.8 go under finance and I have no other items for tonight's uh president's report figured that was PL do we have uh public comments on action items and action items only so members of the community may comment on any action item prior to board discussion please state your name and address for the record all comments must be respectfully presented if you support seing comments will not be tolerated and since we're reading our bylaws lately um all statements shall be directed to the presiding officer no particip participant May address your question to board members individually it is the board president and the board as a whole the presiding officer May interrupt warn or terminate a participant statement when the statement is too lengthy personally directed abusive obscene or irrelevant request any individual to leave the meeting when that person does not observe reasonable decorum request the assistance of law enforcement officers in the removal of a disorderly person when that person's contact inter interferes with the orderly progress of the meeting and while for a recess or an uh tourament to another time when the lack of public decorum so interferes with the orderly conduct of the meeting as to Warrant such action all right so we will open the floor up to any comments from the public on action items and action items only please state your name and address for the record tin Jersey as I was looking over the invoices and bills today testing all right all right as I was looking over the bills I noticed that we're paying a large sum to the picaro uh engineer I guess architect firm and my question is that fee coming out of part of the grant is that coming out of the actual budget for Mount Olive so right now we have two projects that the architect is working on both hbac project projects one at the middle school which is the rodad grant which is being funded which is being funded via capital reserve funds and a rod Grant which is 40% of the project cost so the total cost of the project we PID for the contractor and for the architect and the architect Fay is 6% of the contract so that so that $100,000 6% of the total project cost correct okay his his fate the exact amount is about $145,000 that's the purchase order that's based on the contract that was awarded on March okay all right and then another thing regarding the unification program with except my son for took part in that as well um my wife is that an action item sir well they we talked about prior so I just want to say it was great my wife had no problem getting my son he was happy to come home um and I think that that's a great drill train that we never ever have to use something as such but I hope that we extend the same courtesy to other towns ose our facilities if they were to have situation so it's reciprocal relationship yeah that hope that seem to work B of that thank you we have anyone else who would like to comment on action items Brian Gaga 135 crunch shw Drive um the two things the 9.8 thing that you just mentioned uh you you should all be embarrassed just so you know that's the first part uh so on the bill list I'm sorry Start Over sure I said action item 9.8 the one you just mentioned I think everybody sitting up here should be embarrassed about it thank you second part on the bill list uh for scarinci hollenbach for legal fees it says that there were four invoices paid for February are any of those invoices uh for classified as like a retainer payment are they all billable hours do we want to take that back I don't have the bill um I don't there is no retainer okay no retainer thank you so the total amount of paid for SC Holland back in February for the invoices was $2,996 so and you can correct me if I'm wrong on any of this it's simple math but it's not my best subject the attorney fee for scum Hollenbeck in the contract it stated is $160 per billable hour so if we divide that into the total amount I just read $1,996 that means that for February they build 137 total hours the other available number in their contract is for work done by pargal or clerks which would be $100 an hour so if we're generous and we use the lower number and divide it in that would mean that they build for 219 total hours so for Fe now the contract is from February 13th you know till the end of the year but for February we're talking about February 13th the 28th which is one of two things either 17 total days or 13 business days now if you take the first number I gave you which was 137 total hours uh and you're generous you say 13 business days that comes out to an average of 10 hours per day that they build maybe one attorney working at 10 hours I don't know maybe a couple working a couple hours if you take 17 days to be a little more generous that means that they were billing for8 hours a day from February 13th to the 28th uh if we use the paralal or clerk fee just to give you a reference on that one and you generously use 13 days it means they were billing for 16 hours per day from February 13th to the 28th uh if you take the 17-day number hopefully I'm not confusing people yet and you divide it that would mean they build for 12 hours per day uh for just February and not even for the whole month okay uh my issue with this just to give kind of give them comparative uh just want to give an example so uh the Boe spent $54,000 on legal fees last June and July uh so if you take those two months and you kind of cut it in half it's $27,000 uh it might seem random I'm taking those two months the reason I'm using those two months in that statement is because that statement was made by uh board member Beth fera board member Jenny O'Neal and board member mark rosilla back in September when they were running for the board they were asking for the month of June and July our current VI we spend close to $54,000 on legal fees what would you the voters like to see our tax dollars spent on instead so I guess before they were appointed to the board they did care about the voter input on where money should be spent but I guess tonight's Bill list is showing us that the answer is it doesn't really matter what the vo is saying because for some reason we're just paying basically the same amount unless we want to add in the first 13 days of February and get a true total on what it could be estimated as for future months and we're just paying it to a different firm that Mr orillo presented a resolution still with really no reason behind it why they were switching so you know on top of the 9.8 action item that I also mentioned about special education which was also followed through after the closed session meeting from the last meeting when you came out to go to RP so you went to RPP for this off of a resolution that had no backing behind it to set that law fir in the first place uh you you you're really at this point just kind of messing with the Safety and Security and legal security of the district uh the teachers the staff you parents students everybody um you know it's kind of a circus right now and I just don't you know I know the the Nar is going to be like well you know we just hired them so they have to be able to look over all the cases and you know get their feed wet on what the district has and this and that but you know let's keep in mind when we talk about this $54,000 uh you know it's not only one legal we've seen obviously with the insurance legal firm that we're paying Insurance legal firm and there's other legal matters so I I find that to be such a high number and I'm going to be in interested to see the March voices uh April and further on since there's apparently no retainer for the law firm and this is just straight bable hours uh on if this gets as out of control as was claimed with previous law firms that unless still proven we doing very well for the district and very successful um so it seems we're already paying a lot money to a law firm that really hasn't shown any results so I think it'll be interesting to see where all this goes in the future thank you do you have any other members of the public who would like to comment on action items seeing none we will move on to approval of monthly expenditures and reports May I have a motion to move items 6.1 through 6.4 um Mrs fitgerald yes I'd like to make a motion to approve action items 6.1 through 6.4 second do we have any questions from the board oh Mr we have any questions from the board I have uh one question since we have some um questions around bow hours um and this is more of a takeaway can we have a break break down of the op requests that have been coming in one of them which was over 3,000 pages and what those billable hours were um those do add up to our attorney having to redapt them so not at this moment Mr um if we could in the future the yeah the board just have the breakdown of the hours for each of theer request I know they have to be reviewed by our attorneys and redact it before sending the last one at 3,000 Pages was quite quite a bit I I'd like to add Miss meres um the 21 questions that we had to have our legal firm um go through that I think would have added a lot of vable hours we add that yeah thank you and I think then we should thread into Finance at what threshold that we start really reviewing you know the rate to charge some of the members for such large um op requests or the public has every right to an open request at one point it does come bur so any other questions no I'll move to a roll call for the approval of 6.1 through 6.4 Mrs Fitzgerald yes Mrs melens yes Mrs O'Neal yes Mr orillo yes Mr stachi where the name Jord POS Iain yes and everything else Mrs Aquino yes Mrs Fenton yes Mrs fera yes Mrs yes and I'd like to um let's see for personnel Mrs aquo um please move action item 7.1 through rolling down 78 on the recommendation of the superintendent I'd like to move action items 1.1 through I'm sorry 7.1 through 7.8 second any questions from the board on personel action no let's take a roll call then Mrs Aquino yes Mrs Fenton yes Mrs fera yes Mrs Fitzgerald yes Mrs Melendez yes Mrs oal I'm sorry I couldn't hear you uh abstain from anything Humphrey is that what you said you happen to know the action yes that you're abstaining the action item that you're abstaining action item she's just abstaining anywhere the name may appear any action item the name Mr orillo yes Mr stachi abstain on 7.16 yes and Mrs Merc um yes to um all items and I want to say congratulations to our staff that are retiring um two of them have been very you know special and instrumental in you know my children's educational lives here so thank you so much and we'll move on to curriculum and Technology Mrs fennon um items 8.1 through 8. upon the recommendation of the superintendent I would like to approve um action item 8.1 to 8.6 second any questions from the board no we'll take a roll call then Mrs Fenton yes Mrs fera yes Mrs fitgerald yes Mrs Mendez yes Mrs O'Neal yes Mr orillo yes Mr watchi yes Mrs Aquino yes Mrs ly yes and Mrs Fitzgerald items um 9.1 through 9.8 since we added that additional item upon the recommendation of the superintendent I'd like to make a motion to approve action items 9.1 through 9.8 second any questions from the board I just want to say thank you Mrs Shing for the um safety Grant always like grants where free money and we'll take a roll call Mrs fitgerald yes to action items 9.1 through 9.7 no to 9.8 Mrs mandz yes to action items 9.1 through 9.7 now to 9.8 Mrs O'Neal yes Mr orilla yes Mr stachi no to 9.8 yes sir Mrs Aquino no to 9.8 because I choose to support our education our special education professionals at this time uh yes to everything else Mrs Fenton yes Mrs fera yes Mrs naris yes to all Adams and thank you you know Dr Bia and Mrs Shonen for your um guidance on 9.8 and we are going to move on to administrative action items and and 10.1 through 10.3 Mrs F upon recommendation of the superintendent I motion 103 fact do we have any questions from the board on those items can I just clarify something on the 10.1 um as far as our emergency evacuation agreement um this is just adding to another option for us CCM so Su just CCM requires um us to have an agreement with them if we want to use them for evacuation site that's really what it comes down to and I think that's a renewal of a formal agreement yeah did last year's first year we did it so we had to Ren every year any other questions we'll take a roll call Mr Jones Mrs figer yes Mrs fitgerald yes Mrs Melendez yes Mrs O'Neal yes Mr orillo yes Mr yes Mrs Aquino yes Mrs Pon yes Mrs N yes and we will move to Old business do we have any members of the board that have any old business no we'll move to new business any members of the board have new business no okay we are going to move to public comments students parents employees and community members May comment on any item of Interest pertain to the Mount Olive School District please state your name and address for the record all comments must be respectfully presented abusive or OB comments will not be tolerated and the same rules of engagement apply as before with regards to our policy any members of the top Brian Gallagher 135 CR Drive uh so you know it's no secret about some of the news articles going around uh some of the bigger law cases the biggest one law uh legal uh in the district right now with the former superintendent Dr Wiki uh is back up again kind of giving a lot of narrative online I'm not saying true or false I'm giving the benefit of the that to everybody right now uh it's something that's talked about in the public it's something that concerns the public in the district so I'd like to take a couple minutes to talk about it uh not opinionated just giving information um there was no time limit set before this so I'm assuming that have the floor unless I infract on make any infractions on what you mentioned beforehand with regards to there is no timer as long as it's reable uh you know one of the things I've noticed uh becoming more involved myself with the board and coming to these meetings and talking to other people in the public that maybe haven't shown up yet is that there was a lot of confusion on uh the tenure charges themselves uh a lot of the online rhetoric and social media and public uh news kind of headlines Ries the former super attendant was claiming he was the tenure charges were brought up for whatever his reasons were as you know getting back at him for something uh so people kind of just go with that uh I'd like to take a minute or two to read all three tenure charges I'm not going to get into uh any infighting so if there's any objection that is legit I'll take that now before I read them with the board attorney I'm sure they've looked it over over the past two months or maybe the par legals have $100 an hour since they're approval and they have been uh posted publicly you're welcome to correct thank you uh charge charge number one in the 10e charges Dr zwiki promised the board that he could get a State of-the-art scoreboard for the football field without expending taxpayer funds but when he was unable to deliver on his promises he inappropriately pressured the board's architect on multiple occasions to make a large donation towards the cost of the scoreboard while explicitly advising him to surreptitiously charge the donation back to the board by inflating his bills on other projects in the district and that conduct constitutes a fraud on the taxpayers in violation of law board policy and the Professional Standards for school leaders I.E conduct Unbecoming warranting dismissal uh you know in the 10e charges it's about 17 pages long they get they cite some examples outside of the supportive evidence and documentation uh outside of the 17-page tenure charges charg number two I'm not going to talk about a lot of that stuff is obviously affidavit testimony from The Architects uh people could obviously read it they can find if they want I'm not here to tell people you know specifics on everything charge number two Dr Wiki engaged in a pattern of double dipping getting paid by the Mount Olive Township Board of Education while receiving pay from and Performing for the Rucker Center for Effective School practices even though his contract forbids it and such duplicity constitutes conduct un becoming of a superintendent requiring his dismissal uh I'm going to give a little example on this one it was in the tenure charges I'm just reading it for people that maybe don't know the term double dipping uh the example of one of many cited I'm picking this because I feel like it's the easiest to understand Dr wikii did not use any vacation days between August 29th 2019 and September 6th 2019 but he still apparently received $8,100 from cesp which is Ruckers for performing inservice days in Sussex County and beler charge number three Dr Wiki engaged in the pattern of offensive and harassing Behavior towards a subord subordinate staff member and others creating a hostile work environment defying the expectations of the board and state standards for school leaders and constituting conduct Unbecoming and warranting dismissal uh the example here I do want to read one example uh I'm going to leave some information explicit Dr wikii questioned why an employee I'm going to some stuff out like I said wanted to join the union when he he being dr's Wiki could just issue a raise whenever he wanted and told the employee that he would have to quote jerk another employee off and tweak his nipples to get a raise now yes just be careful with uh the rereading of some of the language of the abusive I'm seen I appreciate you cutting in because I was worried that nobody was going to cut in which meant that a lot of people maybe hadn't read the tenure charges especially on the board another example this won't cross into what I just read uh it is inflammatory I'm assuming that you've all read it so if I get too far into it just tell me to stop I'm happy to he has also ridiculed the district's Chinese exchange program in front of Staff members by referring to it as a Chinese sweat shop and speaking in a stereotypical Chinese accent about the program director Mr Park who is Asian so those are the 10e chartes this is a fourth one just kind of to explain the culmination of all three requiring the dismissal of the former superintendent uh the tenure charges if you do wind up looking into them or uh trying to kind of understand them more is 17 Pages it is supported by another 10e document which is about Hopey I'm not wrong on this 350 Pages worth of support and evidence outside of the examples I gave you uh you know the evidence supporting each charge obviously uh the other thing that I've noticed online also that I want to talk about for another few minutes and again you can stop me at any point if it's needed for any kind of legal you know purposes I'm not asking for any answers here I'm just stating information uh and a lot of this was kind of last year during a lot of the uh tenure charge dism uh suspension I don't want to say dismissal he did step down is that correct before he started working at his other job okay um so the other thing was uh School ethics commission violations uh there was a lot of information online people posting them uh similar they look similar to 10e charges it looks kind of like a court document I guess you kind of say it is it goes to the New Jersey school ethics commission uh filed when you think there's infraction I know I've mentioned a couple meetings ago so I'm sure most people are aware of it uh the problem with that was when NOS were kind of put online uh it was kind of stated like look at these ethics charges is costing the district all this money because all these charges are happening so you know these people that are being charged are doing wrong we're paying for it and that's the end of it however a lot of times most all times with that there was a failure to follow up on the fal ruling from the school ethics commission uh so I wanted to kind of just go over some of those with regards to the former superintendent Dr swii and the ethics charges he filed which then in turn did cost the district money legal fees uh to kind of respond to them and answer them for instance uh on 17 2023 Roberts Wiki filed the complaint with the New Jersey school ethics commission against then board member Anthony gardano alleging three counts of Mr gardano violating School ethics exact um you know so that would be posted online uh a lot of the narrative then people going wow look at Mr Jano he did something really ethically wrong and violated uh however when you follow up you'll see that on SE on July 25th 2023 after a review uh the commission granted Mr jonell's motion to dismiss counts one and two there were three counts after further review on count three on November 28th 2023 they also dismissed count 3 noting that Mrs rcky had not articulated a reasonable ground of suspicions supported by fact and circumstances another example would be on January 23rd 2023 Robert swiy filed the complaint with the New Jersey school ethics commission against then board member Elizabeth Wht alleging that Miss Wht violated School ethics act the school ethics act by discussing confidential matters related to his employment on two separate occasions another document you would have seen online with somebody post saying saying look at this it's costing a district money these people are doing things that are wrong uh the followup on that would be on July 25th the ethics Commission doesn't meet all the time it's like I'm sure people know it's once a month or whatever after review the commission granted Miss WT her motion to dismiss all the complaints because Mr zwiki failed to pleas sufficient credible facts to support a finding that Miss Mt violated any ethic standards or codes of conduct uh February 27th 2023 there was kind of a barrage you're noticing in a certain point of the year for some reason uh Robert Wicky filed there's a lot more and they all get dismissed I'm kind of I see got obviously I don't want to go too too long on that uh I do want to mention on a side note I've read through some of the ethics commission rulings online um that the school ethics Commission in the review does note that MR wiwi suspension was a public fact since it was recorded in New Jersey news media and it also points out that Mr zwicki himself made the status of his employment public when he filed an order to show cause in Superior Court uh so that was the basis for a lot of their ethics complaints being motion being dismissed fully the ones that he filed um outside the school ethics commission many people that don't know kind of the hierarchy is also obviously the commissioner of Education you can file to him as well on M March 23rd 2023 Robert Wicky filed a petition of appeal with motion for emerging relief with the office of controversies and disputes in the Department of Education AKA Commissioner of Education the next day on the 23rd the commissioner sent the case to the office of administrative law where was filed on the 2 for there a contested case um this is kind where I'm going to confuse people cuz 10e charges were filed he filed in court on the tenure charges the current lawsuit is a different lawsuit that is not part they're two different things that's another thing that a lot of people have a lot of confusion about they think that the current court case uh that Dr wicki former superintendant has with the district is based on the tenure charges and it's not he did not uh fight the tenure charges I guess would be the EAS way of saying it you can come up and say that afterwards it's fine Mr gallager well we don't have a time limit I just want to let you know you're about six minutes okay um you know I'm just hoping that people will do their own research so I'm going to skip a lot of that I do want to read one more thing I'm going to try to keep it in six minutes it should be it's one page uh you know I've done a little bit of research obviously you can tell I have looked through some of the current lawsuit which is the one that we're not talking about I'm not talking about the 10e charges from December 2022 that was ruled on denied and the follow appeals this is a current lawsuit uh which a lot of people know there was some kind of I guess you say action in the courts about a week or two ago about the mic complaints and such um this is just the most telling thing I've seen in this whole kind of Arena of everything that's been going on so I just want to read it real quick when the man all of Township Board of Education certified tenure charges against dr's Wiki in March of 2023 that triggered an administrative process which in its best result for dr's wikii could have found in his favor and reinstated him as superintendent with 120 days back pay the administrative process could not have resulted in the money damages compensatory and punitive which Dr swii seeks in Superior Court uh this was filed by his lawyer so it's on behalf of Dr swii it's not as if the Board of Ed is saying oh he's trying to sue us for all this money and he wants all this money this is him stating his current lawsuit is the result he wants is money damages so there's been a lot of rhetoric about when the tenure charges came out just let him come back to work he musts come back to work I think this is a bit stating that he had no desire to come back to work he's stating that he wants some monetary damages going through the expense I'm going to read the whole thing going it's only two paragraphs left going through the expense of tenure arbitration when one wants one's jobs back is one thing but having concluded that the job is toxic what he he did claim in his lawsuit I'm trying to be fair he claimed it was a toxic work environment people can read on that too and have their beliefs on it and one only and that was underscored only his lawyer underscored it wants monetary damage is something completely different the 10e dismiss administrative process is not designed for that result the proposed third amended complaint asks for only money damages it does not ask for doctors we can be reinstated as superintendent and not is not at all duplicative of the tenure arbitration when applying the exhaustion Doctrine sorry I should have explained it I'm not going to people figure it out ask an expert because I'm not one and determining whether to dismiss a claim the very Authority cited by defendants consider whether applying the doctrine could lead to administrative decision that would satisfy the parties and remove the need for a court decision that's kind of the end of that the last sentence here is is probably I think the most telling out of everything I've ever seen and it says here the administrative process which is the tenure arbitration that we mentioned could have culminated only in Dr swii a victory which he did not want reinstatement and never in a victory that he did want money damages thank you thank you Mr Galler do we have anyone else from the public who wishes to come up and speak no one else no full round then that's Mr fre okay no one else wishes to speak we will close out public comment and we will move to board comments I'm just going to start down here with Mrs O'Neal do you have any comments tonight to cherl it's all been said no comment for me m m with with Miss o congratulations to the students on the reification exercise Mr St no M same as the others going to ditto that too got a circle around to Mrs another Accolade for all of our young musicians and Mill I stuck the words out of my mouth um really first of all Mr Ki thank you um I was actually at a Statewide njsba leadership um meeting on Friday and I was actually approached by people from all over the state and from njsba about they all heard how wonderful the reunification program um went off people observing it um people from rockberry actually make comments as well um thank you and we're very grateful to have you um I think are we still rank number one is the safest District in in the county right now I would say yes I unofficial unofficially I say officially I say officially officially thank you though thank you for making us such a safe district and putting our students first um and our staff it's it's really important to us congratulations to the amazing musicians and performers I mean and and thank you to the parents though too those students have to have support coming from behind them and thank you to all of them and thank you to everyone in the public and Mr alra I actually do really appreciate say it again the amount of research that you do um I do thank you for that and it's very thorough and real um other than that I have take a motion anyone else from the I just want to add one thing about the reunification Dr so the week for f was telling me exactly what had to be there and who had to be there and everything so I actually took the liberty of shadowing um like and he was running and sweating and running and swe but it was it was amazing see all these Runners have their set have their little list they had but it it was trly like I want to almost say it was like a maze constructive Maze and I I truly truly was so impressed as I sat there and literally ran with them and I asked questions and I talked to some students and I talk to some parents and it was nothing but positive but the work that was it 60 um people you had James was it around 60 people that ran that yes yes yes it they just were it was truly amazing absolutely amazing and and I really appreciate all the hard work you did I know you said it was a combined effort but someone had to lead that and it was it was an outstanding like perfectly done even though there was little tweaks here and there like from beginning to end it was just truly amazing so thank you again I I did really enjoyed that and you know what it was sorry that's okay anyone else from the board all right I'll take a motion to go into uh recess into confidential session you have a motion go yeah I I'll read that's a um move and do we have a second second do we have um a roll call on that or all in favor all in favor all in favor I and be it resolved that the board meet in confidential session for the purpose of discussing um matters of attorney client privilege and pending or anticipated litigation uh be it further resolved that the matters discussed in confidential session be disclosed to the public when the reason for confidentiality no longer exists action may be taken we e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e I'm going to call the for um the meeting back to order and do we have a this is a queeno here this is f here Mrs fera here Mrs fitgerald here Mrs Melendez here Mrs O'Neal here Mr orillo here Mr St Mrs I am here and I will take a motion to adjourn the meeting uh everyone in favor hi hi