good evening I'm uh calling the meeting to order at 7:03 if everyone can please rise to the salute to the flag I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all the New Jersey open public meeting law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of the public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provision of this act the Westwood Regional Board of Education has notice of this meeting to be sent to the following announcing time and place thereof Westwood burough Hall Westwood Public Library Township of Washington administration building Township of Washington free public library the the record community life and pasak press I begin this evening to uh going over the election um results uh the township of Washington there was two threeyear terms uh Heather pin uh received 1,520 votes Lonnie aelina received 1,359 votes James Perino received 950 votes Irene fardian received 9 and 25 votes and there was 14 personal choices uh making Heather pin and Lonnie aelina uh uh the the winners of those two seats uh the township of Washington oneyear seat term uh there was one uh seat available uh Jorge pus uh received 1,427 votes Stacy price received 1,33 votes and six personal choices making Jorge patus the winner of that seat for the uh remainder of the year um for the burrow of Westwood there was one three-year term Mrs um Nicole Martin received 1,861 votes Darren Duca received 1,176 votes and there were six personal choices making Nicole Martin the winner of that seat uh congratulations to those uh trustees uh at this time at this time we will be administering the oath of office uh to the trustees the new newly elected trustees uh I will have meet you up at the at okay I Heather pin do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear a true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States and this state under the authority of the people so help me God I Heather Pine do solemnly swear that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office of member of a board of education and that I am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to rs1 das1 and that I will faithfully impartially and justly perform all of the duties of the office according to the best of my ability so help me God thank you Lonnie I Lonnie as Elina do Solem swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States and in this state under the authority of the people so help me God I Lonnie as Elina do solemnly swear that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office of member of the Board of Education and that I am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to rs1 1941 nor disqualified due to conviction of crime or offense listed in New Jersey statute 18a 12:1 that I will faithfully impartially and justly perform all of the duties of that office according to the best of my ability so help me God okay okay I George perus do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States and this state under the authority of the people so help me God I George pus do solemnly swear that I possess the qualifications prescribed by the law for the office of a member of the Board of Education and that I am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to rs1 19 Point 4-1 nor disqualified due to conviction of a crime or offense listed in the njs 18a 12-1 that I will faithfully impartially and justly perform all the duties of that office according to the best of my ability so help me [Applause] God I Nicole Martin do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear truth faith and allegiance to the name and to the governments established in the United States and this state under the authority of the people so help me God I Nicole Martin do solemnly swear that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office of member of a board of education and that I am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to rs1 1941 nor disqualified due to the conviction of a crime or offense listed in njs 18a 12-1 and that I will Faithfully impartially and justly perform all the duties of that office according to the best of my ability so help me [Applause] God all right at this time I'll do the roll call Mrs aelina yes Mrs Cooper yes Mr cassado here Mr garia here Mrs Martin here Mrs peek here Mrs Peterson here miss pin here Mr patus here okay we have a quorum uh next water business is the Acting Superintendent report good evening um I found out yesterday that it has not been past practice to uh for a superintendent or Acting Superintendent in this case to have a report at the reorg meeting but I felt in this situation it was necessary to just say a few words so good evening I would like to start off by wishing everyone a very happy and healthy New Year welcome back to our students and staff to what we hope will be a very exciting and rewarding school second half of the school year I am excited and humbled to step in as Acting Superintendent principal and help the district any way I can this district and Community has always meant so much to me having lived here for 23 years with both of my daughters attending our schools from kindergarten through grade 12 I've also been fortunate to work in the district for 19 years as a teacher coach assistant principal and principal alongside some amazing staff members thank you to the board of education for your trust and confidence I assure you I will lead with Integrity dedication and a focus on the best interests of our students and Community I look forward to working closely with the Board of Education Administration staff the community and most importantly our students thank you and have a great night okay so the next order of business is the uh nominations of board president at this time I will accept nominations for board president CH Cooper I'd like to nominate Kristen Peterson Mrs peek I'd like to nominate Mr Jason [Applause] Garcia any other nominations okay at this time uh I may I have a motion to close nominations Mr Garcia have a second Mrs PE okay so what we'll do uh there being no more further nominations I uh declare the nominations closed I'm going to now have a roll call and we're going to go in order of nominations uh at the moment that the uh the person receives the uh five votes or the U majority votes then the uh nom the nominations will Ex end and that person will then take the place of the seat just question do we do we have discussion prior to going into roll call I I don't um I'm just taking votes right now I did you want a discussion I I did I did want to discuss but if it's not part of uh I thought it I thought I read it in Roger's rules that it's appropriate but if it's if I'm mistaken please let me know no I I I don't have it in our in our I think but if you we can open up discussion if that's if that's the uh will of the board I'd like to I'd like to make a motion to open it up to discussion uh is there a second second discussion um can I okay so I'm take just take a roll call Mrs aelina here so we're voting on uh opening up for uh discussion I guess uh Mrs Cooper yes Mr cassado yes Mr Garcia yes Mrs Martin yes Mrs P yes Mrs Peterson yes m p yes Mr patus yes okay so motion carried okay so we're open up for discussion Mrs Cooper thank you so much um one of the things I just wanted to do is um in every way possible if we can um really just talk about I just had some questions around that I'd like to ask Miss Peterson and Mr Garcia if if you open to it and I don't know if that are you open to it yes okay so one of the things that I was interested in is just as a member if you were oh as a member of the Committees and of board committees last year what opportunities to improve the district did you proactively bring to the table and champion and out of those opportunities and those initiatives which ones were accomplished that you're most proud of usually discussion uh all right I I don't know the protocol here I don't you guys I don't know what you want to do I actually don't I'm not really sure I read I read up on it and it seemed like you can I mean you can ask questions of peer members so I thought this would be the form in which to do it and I'm not just asking targeting anybody I'm genuinely asking Jay and Mrs Peterson what they think about it about my question I I don't know I don't have Frank I don't know what to I don't know you uh I don't I don't I don't know the protocol right now um if you want to answer the questions I guess I mean discussion usually just you state your your points and then we move on to the next person so I I mean it's not a usually not a a question and answer but I mean I guess it I think we we have asked questions of each other multiple times but if if this is not a forum or if this is not something that people feel comfortable with or not appropriate for rogister rules I'm happy to pass on it I had some questions those were those were just one of the many questions that I had prior to proceeding and feeling comfortable with voting I received an email about it I think it's perfectly fine anybody could put their hat in the ring but I had some questions about it and this is an open forum and it is public and it is a very big role so I thought this was the appropriate place to ask when if if this is not the right time when is the right time I I'm unsure of the the question and answer phase in this I can we can take a recess and I can confirm with the attorney if that's what you guys want me to do um but I or we can I I don't know I don't have an answer for you I'm fine with that if everybody I think we have to roll call Quick recess I think we have to do a roll call on that so motion to recess uh do I have a motion to recess m m Garcia second Mrs Cooper Mrs aelina I'm sorry discussion on the recess or none okay roll roll call Mrs aelina oh I I think everybody received an email and had a chance to email their questions and get an answer ahead of time I also think this is not an interview and when we do have discussions it's usually questions on policy and things that have been presented to the board not an interview of a candidate or a person who's trying to just be put in pres I believe that's that's your opinion I have a different perspective of the various discussions that we've had at the deis I'm opening the floor to have a dialogue about it if if people don't want to have a dialogue about it it's fine it's fine I'm open the floor to it if we don't it's fine sorry Keith thanks so so I think this meeting is kind of um a little bit different than our typical meetings so this is the annual reorg there's a lot of things are that are on here as a one-time item so I totally agree with Mrs Cooper I don't think there's any issue with asking questions and if we're not sure of the protocol then I suggest that we contact the attorney and find out why wouldn't we want open discussion on the board anyone else Mrs eelen I just wanted to be clear I only received an email from Mr Garcia stating his intentions for presidency so just wanted to make sure that I didn't miss another email where I was able because I was able to ask Mr Garcia questions and I was satisfied with the answers so I just was making sure that I didn't miss another email where I could have afforded the same for that that's Mrs Peterson I don't know who that question was directed to but if it was me you did not miss any email I think that discussions like this about board leadership and important things should absolutely incur in public so that the public has full transparency into what is being discussed and that there's not sidebar conversations and secret discussions happening behind the scenes transparency is great last year Mrs Cooper Mr at this time who's who's responsible for asking the audience to be polite and diplomatic to the people on the stage yes I just the audience members will you will have your opportunity to speak at the Open Session uh as we conduct business I ask that everyone please uh hold their composure any other discussions all right so we're you got Mrs aelina I just wanted to point out that Mr Garcia's email was sent to everybody currently sitting on stage so with that being said I don't think there's any issue in regards to transparency or intention Mrs Cooper I I I certainly don't mean to imply that there's any issue whatsoever with transparency or intention I just wanted to have the opportunity to speak to both candidates prior to making a vote which is the form to do it Mr pus um just want to say that we've had over a year to everyone in town to get to know the candidates and um you know I think that that year provided more clarity than any discussion we're going to have so that's all I have to [Applause] say all right anyone else at this time we're going to take the roll call for uh to enter into a a recess uh period uh and we will return return back uh let's say uh hopefully 10 minutes I I actually text him but I'll I'm going to go through roll call now and then we'll see if we have uh Mrs aelina yes Mrs Cooper yes Mr cassado yes Mr Garcia yeah Mrs Martin yes Mrs P no Mrs Peterson yes Miss pin yes Mr pus no all right we motions carried so we're going to be into recess uh let's say uh till uh 7:30 hopefully I can get a response by then e e e e e e e e e e e e e e all right I'm going to call this meeting back to order uh start off with a roll call Mrs aelina here Mrs Cooper here Mr cassado here Mr Garcia here Mrs Martin here Mrs P here Mrs Peterson here miss pin here m Mr pus here all right we have a quorum okay so I uh was able to reach out to the attorney board attorney and uh we were reviewing U the bylaws uh policy 0152 the board appointment of the board officers in that policy there was no um there there is no means of discussion and even though we we did Ro vote on it and the board has that right to vote on it we opened it up for discussion um the uh the the request for the inter excuse me one sec just um in discussion with the attorney he said he stated if the board chooses to vote and and H and conduct an interview session uh to the candidates on the day they can we can vote and and determine by majority whether or not we will will proceed with that um that down that route of of conducting those the interviews um he usually states that that's something that happens prior to the meeting but um it is a board Choice it is not in the bylaws it's if it's something that wants to be added in the future it can be um and in my 16 years it's never been done here so that's why I was a little confused and I had to get clarification on this um so that that is the report that I got from the attorney and I will then now turn it over to the board for a continued discussion on on how you wish to proceed vote are we have open for discussion I've I've asked my questions and I I really don't mean it to be an interview I'm I'm genuinely interested in each candidate's point of view I don't see it is any different than um having a discussion where I'm not clear on what any any body is saying you know any individual is saying at the day so I'm just really wondering you know my my first question really is I wanted to understand because I was not part of any other committees except so the Committees that I was on and I was so busy on those committees I wasn't involved in finance or facilities or any of the others um I really just wanted to know considering Kristen was on finance and Facilities Jay was on finance and Facilities um of the initiatives what initiatives did they bring forward uh just claric I don't think Mr Garcia was on financing facilities were you not I thought you were on finance facilities or was it I was not on financing facilities okay okay what what committee were you on again I'm sorry there was policy there was there was um I really was just occupied with mine but it doesn't my my issue is my question is as a member of the Committees of the boards that you sat on of the board committees you sat on what opportunities to improve the district did you bring to the table and champion and of those which were achieved that's it Mr Garcia can we make a motion to vote on opening discussion isn't that what you stated yes okay I'd like to make a motion to vote on discussion I mean we're open for discussion you can okay vote on I'm sorry what do you I thought what your statement was that the attorney said it's not in the bylaws so we would vote and by the majority we would determine if we were going to open for discussion or not so I believe that should be the vote now to go around and see if we're opening for discussion so we we we had a vote for opening discussion so the the the question was if whether or not we to discuss for we had a vote for discussion the question was voting on on whether you'll have conduct and I I I stated in interview because I I Mrs Cooper you're stating you want to ask questions to the two candidates that's fine I just stated as an interview fine so if you want to proceed down the interview route that's where I said you the board can then vote and determine uh if they want to proceed down on that someone can call a motion for to do that or and and then we can proceed down this route since it is not something that we've done in the past but I I distinctly recall um last year when Mike had put in his nomination to be board president there was discussion around that I remember Jay you had talked to Mike about it at the dayis I I I don't remember specifically what you said but I remember that you had talked to him about it Mrs P there was no question back and forth it was a statement about whether we were whether we were voting voting yes or no and why so when I voted no I gave a statement and a reason for why I was Voting no there was no in no interview no questioning back and forth I understand Cooper anyone else okay any other further discussion I mean we're in discussion I mean any other disc discussion anything as I stated if if the board wants to pass a motion to conduct these interviews we can pass a motion to conduct the interviews and then go forward with this or or end it can I motion to End discussion um we have discussed for like we we're I don't I don't think you can motion to End discussion we go around but uh still have to learn the rules so yeah anyone I'll make the motion to go forward with the interviews okay we have a motion on the floor to conduct interviews we have a second Mrs Cooper any discussion on that or should we go to roll call no so we'll go to roll call so we're voting on whether or not we're going to have an interview session with the nominations for board president Mrs aelina no Mrs Cooper yes Mr cassado yes Mr Garcia no Mrs Martin no Mrs peek no Mrs Peterson yes Miss PN no Mr pus no okay [Applause] okay any further discussions other than okay so I will I will at this point um going to have a uh a roll call on the first nomination which is uh Mrs Peterson I will go through uh all the the names and and ask you to say yes or no for uh the president uh Mrs aelina voting for Mrs Peterson as board president no Mrs Cooper yes Mr cassado yes Mr Garcia no Mrs Martin no Mrs peek no Mrs Peterson yes Mrs PN no Mr patus no okay I will go to the second nomination for uh and I'm going to do a roll call for Mr Garcia for board president Mrs aelina yes Mrs Cooper no Mr cassado absolutely not Mr Garcia yes Mrs Martin yes Mrs peek yes Mrs Peterson before I vote I want to make a statement Jay Mr Garcia I think you unfortunately have a lot of people fooled but after getting to know you over the past year I can safely say that you don't have me fooled but you already know that your behavior on this board and your behavior in your personal life and no I'm not talking about the campaign material you do know exactly what I'm talking about though is not Role Model Behavior and it's certainly not behavior that would ever come from a true leader you've been on this board for 12 months during which you've served on one committee for a handful of months until you were removed for poor Behavior you essentially have no experience or knowledge whatsoever with the inner workings of this board you have a credible ethics violation not one filed in retaliation pending against you with multiple allegations including compromising the Integrity of the board and taking private action your professional experience as a salesperson does not bring any leadership or financial Acumen strength to this board which we desperately need the reality is that you've led a crusade over the past eight months spreading lies and fear across our community in an effort to win the election and now instead of doing what's best for the district you will lead with your ego and your deeply rooted insecurities congratulations on your win although you are the furthest thing from a winner in my book my vote is no thank you Miss Peterson miss parin yes Mr patus yes okay motion carried [Applause] okay uh congratulations Mr Garcia at this time I will turn the meeting over to you uh who as you will assume your role as the board [Applause] president thank you for the next order of business is the nomination of board vice president I'll now accept nominations for board vice president I'd like to nominate Miss P second or any fom any further nominations there's no second on this it's just nominations so he's asking for a second nomination any other nominations like to nominate Mr cus any other nominations having none may have a motion to close nominations call out the names Melina second Miss Martin okay there being no further nominations I declare nominations closed may have a roll call vote first nomin on the first nomination Mrs aelina yes Mrs Cooper no Mr cassado no Mr Garcia emphatically yes Mrs Martin yes Mrs P yes Mrs Peterson absolutely not miss pin yes Mr pus yes okay uh motion [Music] carried thank you congratulations to miss peek [Applause] done and now begin uh public opening public forum pursuant to board policy 0167 public participation and board meetings during the first public forum District residents and staff are involed invited to address the board of education on agenda items specifically listed on this evening's agenda board policy 0167 requires that individuals sign the speaker list giving name Municipality of Resident and specific agenda items on which a member of the public plans to speak and ask that all remarks be directed to the board as a whole not to individuals the board asks that members of the public be courteous and mindful of the rights of other individuals when speaking although the board may not respond to items raised during the public forum all public comments will be considered and may be discussed tonight under the appropriate agenda items or new business at this meeting at subsequent meetings under old business or during a board committee meeting if appropriate each speaker statement will be limited to 3 minutes in duration this first public form will be limited to 30 minutes in duration I'm can you yeah hold on one sec Mrs Alia is it on I signed the wrong there it is uh Kelly Amelia Westwood I don't have the it's just about the swearing of of the new members um congratulations to all of you and I just want to point out like we have a reset right now this board just wasted 40 minutes of our time playing the same old games the gig is up I'm sorry it's over for you the people have spoken perhaps Mr Rosado could read the election results again and I will remind everyone that Jay Garcia won with the most votes the most so whether you like him or not the people do thank [Applause] you hi there uh Sabrina cfic in Westwood um first I would like to congratulate everyone who um has made their way to the de and encourage everyone um to have a better year than we did last year um I hope that that everyone will get a chance to work together uh congratulations to our new president and vice president um and I just wanted to um also congratulate Mr Connelly um on his um uh position um we did gather here less than 10 days ago to understand what the new chain of command will be um we received an email though uh this is my question from you on January the 2nd that implied effective immediately um during the period of Dr moroder's absence you will be in um in the position of Acting Superintendent my question is when were you notified and when did she notify the district um is there a plan for her to come back thank you good evening Andrew GM in westw New Jersey I'm talking on the uh number eight the organization uh agenda item um um as Mr Rosado said in the uh 16 plus years he's he's been the business administrator he hasn't seen um that style of of uh back and forth uh during nominations I hadn't haven't seen it since I've been watching board meetings for the last eight years myself um I also was a proponent on the board of just because it's always been a certain way doesn't mean it necessarily has to continue but in this case um for each of the three januaries I was on the board um there was Outreach before the meeting where people made their intentions known um that always happened so that's the chance to understand everything you need to know about the candidates and if you were sitting on the stage with them the last year you should already know everything you need to know about the candidates it's a formality uh and again 40 40 minutes wasted is 40 minutes not gotten back um I applaud the new majority for not letting that side side show continue um and that's exactly why that that majority exists I hope we can move forward and actually get some things done this year there were I shouldn't say that things did get done last year but it took a awful long road around the long way to get there and that was frustrating and made us a public spectacle in the entire County I'm looking forward to regular business definitely not the old business but looking forward to new business in the old way it was done with common sense and decency and integrity and not what I just saw during the voting process just now thank you very [Applause] much good evening John burner B of Westwood I want to congratulate the four newest members of this board what you have done is truly remarkable particularly in this District I heard one speaker talk about how 40 minutes was wasted tonight last year we wasted a whole year it was absolutely quite disturbing what you neglected was your mission to provide the best education possible our Educators were slandered by members on this board three of which still remain I hope that the three still remain will take a look at the election results because what you saw was a mandate that we won't tolerate that behavior anymore what you have done tonight already has set a poor tone I hope that you will think back on your words and your actions which you carefully prepared prior to this meeting and understand that that is not the way the residents of Washington Township and Westwood expect our school board to behave we expect leaders for our children you ignored their cries last year literal tears in this in this Hall you ignored them you ridiculed them and I will tell you that it won't be tolerated again next November but I would like to congratulate the four Victors in this year's election I'd like to congratulate our new leadership on the board because I know knowing you that you will uphold the standards that we expect as a community to come together and work together for the children throughout this District this is the only K12 Regional School District in Bergen County it is it is the model of efficiency with regard to education and now we have an opportunity to set the path back on track and set it straight with new leadership new guidance uh and a and a new direction towards fairness and equality for all of our students and for respect for our Educators so that they may be treated with the dignity that they deserve they are entrusted and in care of our most precious resource and yet we had failed them for the past year this year is different I want to thank you all for your cooperation and thank you uh again congratulations uh and and best [Applause] wish would anybody else like to speak seeing no others to close public session you want to respond although I do completely understand the concerns and questions regarding Dr Mortimer obviously we cannot comment on Personnel matters so hopefully you understand and respect that thank you okay good next annual motion I'd like to ask Miss peek you can move the annual motion a I'd like to make a motion to move annual motions a through just just a a just a a second Miss BR second discussion discussion take a roll call Mrs aelina yes Mrs Cooper yes Mr cassado this is on a through just a just a yes Mr Garcia yes Mrs Martin yes Mrs P yes Mrs Peterson yes Miss pin yes Mr patus yes motion carried you want read it and now I'd like to have uh all board members will'll take the turns reading out loud the code of ethics we'll start with which we'll start with uh we'll go alphabetically so miss aelina we have 10 so we can start with uh Miss aelen and you'll have two the first code I will uphold and enforce all laws state board rules and regulations and court orders pertaining to schools desire changes should be brought about only through legal and ethical procedures I will make decisions in terms of the educational welfare of children and will seek to develop and maintain public schools which meet the individual needs of all children regardless of their ability race Creed sex or social standing I will confine my board action to policymaking planning and appraisal and I will help to frame policies and plans only after the board has consulted those who will be affected by them number four I will carry out my responsibility not to administer the schools but together with my fellow board members to see that they are well-run number five I will recognize that Authority rests with the Board of Education and will make no personal promises nor take any private action which may compromise the board six I will refuse to surrender my independent judgment to special interest or partisan Pol political groups or to use the schools for personal gain or for the gain of friends number seven I will hold confidential or matters pertaining to the schools which if disclosed would needlessly injure individuals or the schools but in all other matters I will will provide accurate information and in concert with my fellow board members interpret to the staff the aspirations of the community for its schools number eight I will vote to appoint the best qualified Personnel available after consideration of the recommendation of the chief administrative officer I guess I'll do the last two one one back I will support and protect School Personnel in proper performance forance of their duties I will refer all complaints to the chief administrative officer and will act on such complaints at public meetings only after failure of administrative solution thank you all now I'd like to ask Miss peek if you can move the annual motions B through n I'd like to make a motion to move annual motions B through n under agenda item annual motions can I get a second Miss aelina second discussion discussion discussion take a roll call Mrs aelina yes Mrs Cooper um I'd like to vote Yes for items b c d e g h i j k l and m and no to F Mr cassado yes to AB B CDE e no to F yes to G H I J [Music] K L MN Mr Garcia yes Mrs Martin yes Mrs P yes Mrs Peterson I am a yes to all except for f which is a no Miss pin yes Mr pus yes motion carried second yeah okay now we're going to go to our second open public forum pursuant to board policy 0167 public participation in board meetings during the second public forum on any topics specifically addressed in this agenda or any other questions comments or concerns that may be in respect to the operation of their Schools board policy 0167 requires that individuals sign the speaker list giving name and Municipality of residents and ask that all remarks be directed to the board as a whole not to individuals the board ask that members of the public be courteous and mindful of the rights of other individuals when speaking the board asks that during this second Forum public speakers adhere to the same guidelines follow the same practices and extend the same courtesies and decencies as with the first public forum each speaker statement will be limited to 3 minutes in duration this public this second public forum will be limited to 30 minutes in duration uh James stickle Township of Washington resident uh good evening uh congratulations to all the new trustees as well as Mr Connelly um speaking tonight in regards to the removal of the the live streams I sent an email back in September voicing my displeasure with this decision and saying how that it would make it increasingly difficult for working parents senior citizens and others to view these meetings in real time and I kindly asked the board to bring up policy 0168 for a vote to keep the live streams as it's important for people to get accurate information in real time and considering there's often lots of misinformation and rumors spr on the internet and social media I think it's a good idea that the board keeps this option and instead the decision was made to eliminate the live streams by as I understand four members and the superintendent during a closed policy committee meeting rather than being voted on the full board I was just hoping that it could be voted on by the full board so that way everyone could give their input rather than uh only the policy committee making the decision so I then asked the uh superintendent about this and I didn't get any answers to my questions and it took finally after a month I got a reply and I was told that some attendees do not feel safe at the board of ed meetings but this in my opinion reinforced the need for the meetings to be live streamed because I don't understand how it could be unsafe for people to watch the meetings live via YouTube in the comfort of their own homes as well as people's behavior in the meetings versus and people at home they really have nothing to do with each other so last I was told that if the meetings are more under control we'll revisit reinstituting the live stream so I'd like to formally request that the board vote during the old business portion of tonight's meeting to adopt the following revised version of policy 0168 and I hope that some of the board members have the courage and Leadership to make a motion and a second to adopt this policy as a first reading tonight I wish everyone a happy and healthy start to the the new year thank [Applause] you all right it's over there but I'm I'm not signed in apologies Andrew GM burough of Westwood New Jersey just wanted to ask about a motion f which is voted no on by a couple trustees there's a lot of various things in motion F uh among them it states the uh who's been elected president of the Board of Education who our superintendent is who our school business administrator is who the treasur of school monies are and then it also confirms the actual bank accounts that help run the district so considering that 95% of this motion was pre-printed and one thing wasn't um it's apparent there's some pettiness there there in that vote no and not really caring about actually approving business of the district to help you know pay off bills and things thank [Applause] you that happens every time I move the mic hi um I'm a mar gel I'm a senior at the high school I wasn't going to make an appearance here I've been here for the last I want to say like 10 or 11 months I was going to go sit and enjoy my sister's basketball game and then I decided to come cuz I heard you know some more lies being spread about our new board president which by the way congratulations to everybody here who is now on the board congratulations to our new board president and our new board vice president very proud of all of you um but I just wanted to say that considering the Hefty ethics violation that was recently filed against the rest of the board I don't think it's appropriate to be bringing up old news in the face of new light that is being brought to our community regardless of our personal beliefs there is no point in bringing back old dirt as you may call it just to try and tarnish the reputation of someone you may not agree with if you really cared about bringing this board to a better place and moving forward you would stop bringing these things up stop making insinuations about things that none of us know what you're talking about so what is the actual point of bringing it up if you're not trying to make someone look bad for no reason so why don't we all actually set true examples of leadership and role and be role models for our students by taking the first step and being kind to one another whether you agree with each other or not and that's not only for the people I disagree with that's for the people I agree with too we all need to just be kinder to each other no matter what side you're on cuz it's kind of ridiculous at this point thanks hi there Sabrina cfic Westwood um I just have some follow-up questions um just want to make sure um that I'm confirming what I understood that you are unable to confirm the date um that you were notified that you would become Acting Superintendent um second question are you acting independently or is Dr Mortimer um last time we had an Acting Superintendent she was managing um the district from behind um is that the case or are you the true leader for the district um what is happening to current interviews um for um her retirement in June it seems um we haven't had an update on that just want to give a heads up that next month I'm going to start asking about kindergarten numbers as I do every January so maybe we can have those um and um in support of U Mr sickle I just want to see if you are acting independently um if you can please agree to return the live stream on your own without going back to the um to the out of district superintendent um for the next meeting thank [Applause] you would anybody else like to speak okay um Kelly o Conor Washington ship wasn't going to speak but I just want to quickly say that I want to congratulate our four new board members who are all voted in by a significant majority of our community um so happy to see you up there and I can tell you that the day after the election was like Christmas in our schools so I just wanted you all to know that um I want to congratulate our new president and vice president on their roles and um I actually think that the former vice president statement was the perfect example of why Mr Garcia you are the right person to be sitting in that seat because I know you would never say something like that so thank you all thank [Applause] you anybody else like to speak Laura Nicholson Westwood I would just like to make a comment um before every Open Session a statement's read um from the board kind of policing the people in the audience telling us to be tactful and mindful and respectful there's an Ethics statement read you all just took turns reading a statement yourself about what you're supposed to be doing on the board you know what you're doing and when you step out of line and when you break the ethics you know what you're doing it's embarrassing you're doing it for whatever your personal reasons but people see knock it off also it was mentioned before that we should be interviewing people here on the de here in front of the board yet this very Forum was decided last year not the place for candidates to be speaking and interviewing and asked questions of so why are we doing it now the same people that are asking these questions now were heels dug in this is not the Forum so it's not the Forum behave yourself we are watching we are voting and I'd like to see in this era of flu and uh covid and uh colds and flu season the life stream back for everyone to be a part of these meetings thank [Applause] you anybody else like to speak seeing no one close the second public session this is a unique situation I know most of you in the audience do not know me but those of you that do this is not my normal responses I would love to give more information but until I am advised otherwise I'm going to continue to say I have no comment on Doc morer I apologize um I'm just looking I will say as far as the interviews go if I am understanding that that is not going to slow down that is not going to stop I understand appreciate and respect how difficult it is to find good Educators that is not going to be uh slowest down at all whatever buildings know ahead of time that they need teachers there's already jobs starting to be posted that will continue to move along up the process so we can get them approved by the Board of Education and get them ready to come to Westwood Regional School District thank you just i' just like to add uh any information about the superintendent search will be is available on our website we have a uh dedicated page for that that has spells out the whole uh dates the calendars we will be having uh a a community Forum uh next th next Thursday I believe the 11th is that the 11th yes so next Thursday uh Community Forum that gives the opportunity for the community to come out uh and and talk to our um search uh committee consultant uh that'll be at the media center at 6 o' I think 6 6:30 6:30 6 o' I'm not sure but it's on the website I just like to make a statement um reiterating what Mr Connelly said and what we've said in the past too I do really want to I understand what the public saying and I understand there's a lot of talk about transparency this isn't one of those situations where it's kind of a judgment call we really just cannot talk about Personnel we understand there's a lot of chatter on on social media we appreciate your engagement we empathize with you um um it's just one of those rules and again it's not our judgment and that goes for everybody on this board so um we hear you we understand you and this is just one of those times and Personnel issues we uh we can't talk about it so bear with us for the next order uh I do want to make a a quick statement here president fellow board members and stakeholders first happy 2024 I'm humbled and I'm honored by your trust to those who did not vote for me Miss Cooper Miss Peterson and Mr CAD I'm dedicated to working with you as as much as I am to working with those who did and I hope to earn your support I believe our our assignment is clear we need to mend and restore Trust we must move forward together with our school Community for our school Community I hope we all do so responsibly mindfully and kindly what I will guarantee is this board will uphold Democratic principles and try to meet on Common Ground continually I assure you all stakeholders will have a voice and I commit to always listening to each of them with the intent of understanding in this new year I propose a renewed Focus on our United goals and what serves our students and this Cardinal Community best we are friends we are family we are neighbors first and we cannot allow outside forces to divide us or internal conflict to keep us apart we must use our Collective energies to pull us toward more outstanding academic achievements true excellence in education and the best overall physical mental and emotional well-being of our Westwood Regional School District students and staff none of these Endeavors are mutually exclusive further I want to emphasize that our teachers are this District's most valued asset and we must offer them the support and Trust they deserve and have earned so that they can do what they do best teach and Inspire their students when I consider this district and our community the words of our late great President John John F Kennedy resonate with me what unites us is far greater than what divides us I'm eager to partner with our Administration my fellow trustees and all stakeholders as we contribute to a better brighter happier and more united Westwood Regional School District we are all Cardinals and we are strongest together so now moving forward we have four committees negotiations finance and Facilities policy and governance and curriculum and programs I ask that all trustees moving forward email me their first second and third choices of committees to serve on and I will work with vice president peek to formulate those committees as expeditiously as possible thank you MERS there any remarks by uh other board members Miss Cooper thank you Mr Garcia for your statement and I really do look forward to trying to build a better relationship moving ahead I think one of the things I just wanted to address um based on what I heard from some of our community members this evening I think um for my part and I speak only for myself I did not ignore the escalations that I heard from members of the community including students over the course of the previous year nor did I ever ridicule or humiliate any member of the community what I did do and vehemently did do was disagree disagreement is not disrespect intellectual disagreement emotional and passionate disagreement is not disrespectful it opens the door to better decisions I offer consistently a strong alternative representing what is clearly minority voices in our district and that is not inappropriate that is a responsibility I realize that people disagree with me or disagree with these minority voices but I still think it's important that as a board we represent them contrary to what people often say about the United States we are not a democracy we're a constitutional republic the primary difference being in a democracy a majority rules and our founding fathers knew that democracies always descend into tyranny because it no they become no individual rights I represent the individual ual rights of other people that don't fall into the majority voice when we talk about votes I had plenty of votes myself I don't consider that as a dictator who voted for me may have changed their mind at this point we just don't know and we never will know I don't consider that as the precursor to the decisions that I make I make the decisions truly that we can in the best interest of our district so no matter the um the attempts to control these decisions through attacks and attempts at shaming for disagreement I will continue as best as I can for as long as I can to represent the voices that are under represented and represent the voices that are clearly represented I just really want to make it clear that disagreement is not disrespectful and I have not been disrespectful we have had passionate and uh sometimes very ineffective and sometimes effective disagreement at the de but I would never be disrespectful to um members of our community certainly not intentionally thank you any other remarks Miss Martin um I just want to congratulate Mr Garcia and Miss peek on their um new roles and uh also my fellow trustees that were just voted in and a huge thank you out to the community um they say that it takes a village to raise a child um I don't know what it takes to get through a campaign but it's way more than a village and I couldn't have done it alone so thank you everyone Miss aelina congratulations President and Vice President I'm very proud of you um I just wanted to quickly emphasize and highlight that and I'm going to speak for all four of us at this point that we came here to highlight our schools and to treat other people with respect I don't think anybody here needs to be trying to leverage people's personal lives in order to embarrass or shame them on the Des um I think we can do better and we should do better for everyone sitting here um I've said this before I'll say it again people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones and you know what I'm talking about so I'll leave it at that Lana you are the individual that put something on social Mrs excuse me that's part would you like to speak Miss aelina correct pronounced correct M Mr Cado yes Mr Cado you are the individual that blatantly put out in front of thousands of people that I was backstabbing my wife somehow correct you are that person I'm sorry could you be more specific so there was a post on social media be very specific say there was a post on social media about a half a year ago that specifically called out that a message Mr Cado I'm gonna ask you to how do I stop that just say I'm gonna I'm G to try to refocus this there's a lot of stuff to be done this year on what grounds just curious I it's not board business and I just don't think it's appropriate I'd like to really focus on board business what affects our students that's why we all ran and I get it we want to hopefully get this out but that's all Miss Peterson Mr Garcia why do selective enforcement and I'm asking because Miss aelina basically just shot you know a a Target across the de she wasn't stopped but you stopped Mr Kus dead in his tracks why I Am brand new at this I had to actually just look at Keith and say should we stop this and without the cross mind previously okay Lonnie stop um are we going by a first name basis now miss aelina okay thank you for stopping okay um also anything else oh go ahead Miss aelina uh I don't know what that like little smark is and the head tilt as you talk I'm assuming that your previous comment about glass houses was directed at me since I got that little smirk in the head til as you talk and the hair flip um I don't know what you're talking about with the people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones I would love for you to clarify that but uh I think we both know that you're just here I'm speaking we both know that you're just here to protect your mother who is a district employee I will ask for I'm gonna I don't know what the rules are yet specifically but I'm going to ask for this year that we change the Direction all of us please I get it and you're right actually miss Peterson I should have stopped and focused because we should be talking and we really want to move toward I said this before everybody out there in the middle nobody cares up here who likes who likes each other who slight at somebody they want us to do what's best for their children in this district and the students and staff so I please you're actually you're absolutely right Miss Peterson next time I will stop people I will be consistent and I will be appropriate as I learn this role but please guys for everybody out there nobody cares about our petty stuff I've seen other meetings they don't care let's work together and I'm and I'm committing to this I'm committing to you guys I want I actually do agree you guys were voted Miss Cooper 1,400 votes Doug 1700 votes I promise you everybody that voted you is going and Miss Peterson I think you had a thousand votes too whatever it is I promise you all your constituents which is the entire District now once you're elected everyone's your constituents we serve everybody so they will have a voice as I said in my statement you will have a voice and let's just do it appropriately everybody's sick of all the bickering back and forth so moving forward today let's please do that and I will reemphasize that as we move forward it wasn't a personal thing but if you'd like to [Applause] finish Mr cassado I've raised my hand that's PR good too um so I like the idea I think it was nice well said now there's a whole host of people that tend to be abusive of scene and may be defamatory coming from the audience and I'd like to see us enforce the actual policy where they be completely removed from the board meeting and then I believe it's even in here that they can be permanently removed from existing board meetings in the future if I read this policy correct and that's policy 016 we will absolutely look into that and I'd encourage we all have supporters out there I'll encourage if you guys can do the same let's just stay focused moving forward anybody else Mr pus thank you um I want to congratulate and thank the people of uh Westwood and Washington Township for paying attention you know we learned really this is all of our district and we learned how you know it can go either way so please keep us all accountable please you know be here for us us and and keep us in the right dire go in the right direction because this is all of our district it's all of our kids that's more important than anything going on up here so uh you know thank you and uh keep up the good work guys any other board member remarks Miss perin um as as always I start with an um and as always I didn't prepare anything sorry um I just I did it again I just want to say uh thank you um to everybody in our community we are a community we are a team and our school district is one of our I I said in something I wrote for a to the paper because I'm better at writing than I am at speaking um that it's the the Beating Heart of our community our school district our schools and our children um so I just wanted to thank everybody for working working to come together as a community and a team in support of that thank you very much anybody else he close that okay we'll move into uh old business does anybody have any old business Miss peek I would like to open the discussion to bring back live streaming I was in the so Mr SLE when when they we had the policy committee meeting that was not something I agreed to in the policy committee meeting to begin with I didn't support it when we discussed it the last time and I think it's important I think we have a lot of elderly people in our community I think we have a lot of moms and dads and people who are home with babies and people who don't want to come out especially as it gets colder and the roads get bad and I think it's a service to the community and I think we we should bring it back Miss Peterson so as someone who sat in every policy committee meeting last year um I would like to remind you Mrs P because you were there that this was not a committee or a board decision this was a recommendation by the superintendent um and I think us even having a discussion about it would be a gross overstep because it because it is not our role to administer the district anybody else further discussion okay we'll move to is that we'll move to new business anybody have any new business anybody see no new business like a motion uh Miss peek can you make a motion to adjourn meeting motion to adjourn a second second miss aelina all in favor I yes thank you all yes take care have a good night you