oration meeting January 424 [Music] 6 [Music] members of the wayy and AD also of the United States of America to The Republic the which one [Music] nation here here here here okay at this time I'll read the results of the top and elction elction 723 6 a.m. 8 p.m. County Board election certifi results were least bir receiving 2,833 [Applause] votes reive 2687 vesel re 2762 copy of our agenda with resolution Bo certifi election at this time I'm attorney Minister office elected members one a [Music] Time [Music] yes family m I'm [Music] nervous okay ready okay raise your right hand all right I I Lisa Burke Lisa Burke do solemnly swear or affirm do Solly swear or affirm that I that I will support the Constitution of the United States will support the Constitution and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of and that I will bear true faith and Allegiance and I will bear true Faith to the same and to the governments established to the same and the government in the United States and this state in the United States and the state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people so help me God so help me God I I Lisa Burke Lisa Burke do solemnly swear or affirm do solemnly swear or affirm that I possess the qualifications I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office prescribed by law of member of Board of Education of member of Board of Education and that I am not disqualified and I am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to as a voter pursuant to rs19 calling 4-1 rs9 nor am I disqualified nor am I disqualified due to impartiality due to impartiality uh I'm sorry due to conviction of a crime due to conv or offense listed or offense listed in the statute in the statute 18a 18a 12-1 12-1 and that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully impartially and partially impartially partially and justly perform and justly perform all of the duties all of the duties of the office of the office according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God congratulations that take your picture okay ready i i Mariam bashet miam B do solemnly swear or affirm do swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support theti and the constitution of the state of New Jersey theti of and that I will bear true faith and Allegiance and I will bear to the same to the same and to the governance established in the United States and to the governance and the state and the state under the authority of the people theth so help me God i Mariam bash do solemnly swear or affirm that I possess the qualification ations that I possess prescribed by law prescribed by law for the office for the office of member of Board of Education and that I am not disqualified as a voter a pursuant to RS R 19 colon 4-1 nor am I disqualified am iif due to conviction of a crime or offense listed in New Jersey statute 18a colon 12-1 and that I will Faithfully I impartially and justly perform andly per all of the duties all the of that office according to the best of my ability so help me God congratulations [Applause] congratulations congratulations let's go than thank you thank you everything good okay all right raise your right hand yeah you should know I Angela sanola Angola do solemnly swear or affirm do solemnly swear or affirm that I will support that I will support the Constitution of the United States the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the contition and that I will bear true faith and that I will bear true faith and Allegiance and allegiance to the same to the same and to the governments and to the governments established in the United States established in the United States and this state and this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people so help me God so help me God I I Angela Angel anol do solemnly swear do solemnly swear or affirm or affirm that I possess the qualifications that I the prescribed by law prescribed by law for the office for the office of member of Board of Education member of a board of education and that I am not disqualified and that I am not disqualified as a voter as a voter pursuant to RS pursu to R 19 colon 4-1 19 nor am I disqualified nor am I disqualified due to conviction of a crime due to conviction of a crime or offense or offense list listed in New Jersey statute listed in New Jersey statute 18a colon 18a 12-1 12-1 and that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly perform and justly perform all of the duties of that office all of the duties of that office according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God congratulations thank you you're very welcome congratulations where his back time do our election to our board president5 I open up nominations position president if there was more than one nomination pres than make motion to [Music] close yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes [Music] did you get a new chair we move you to the big chair I like it it over here at this time we'll open up nominations I move to I'll second yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes [Music] yes I'll let you sit [Applause] there what are I do um there's a public participation part of the meeting not address question admin or [Applause] we will now on action item portion of our agenda item one with the approval of action number two with the approval of the 2425 regular meeting with the adoption of our by policies and regulations number four will be our payroll signs and warrant five is ours new J number is our number n is our AC I'll move yes yes yes yes yes yes we have one item on % that is approval of our I'll move it yes yes yes abstain yes I'm [Music] I'm yes yes yes yes yes yes --------- good uh I'd like to open up the open Workshop it's January 4th 2024 it is 538 uh I'd like to introduce for anyone who doesn't know her our New Jersey your New Jersey school board or scho New Jersey school board rep M Patricia re um and she's in here we're obviously going to bring everybody up to date on a ethics training session to satisfy our requirement for the reor and as you all know because Dr Dean has been telling us forever uh our qack is next month so it's going to help us with our qack scoring so I'll turn the floor over some lights get out of your as Gary said I'm your school boards rep I um my name is Patty Reese I uh served on my local board for 12 years before I started working with New Jersey school boards I've been there eight years um I also did one term on my Town Council uh so that's by way of my background in order to be a field service rep you had to OB served um on your school board and I was in Western Somerset but tonight we're going to talk about ethics um bring you up to speed this is um we update this every year um I know I did this last year but this also includes um decisions that happened this prior year so this is our standard disclaimer that um that we said well we're not this is for informational purposes and to provide insights into the ethics uh into ethics um if you have any specific questions really you should discuss that with your board attorney um we can't give legal advice uh but we can um you know guidelines on how to how to handle different things so you're now a board member and you serve the public with this position you have responsibilities you were held accountable by the school ethics act that was um formulated um approved in 1991 and that's these this is the wording of that and I understand that I have about 45 minutes so a lot of um you have copies of this in there and I think um they're going to send out an electronic version of this um tomorrow and when you get the electronic version on some of the cases we're going to talk about there's a link to that case so that you can go right to that um from there but this is the the wording of the actual um School ethics act so in order to do your job um people need to respect you and have confidence that you will conduct yourself uh properly and not give the impression that you not acting properly that's um and then that show what this is the ethics act the school ethics act establish these uh five things the ethics the school ethics commission uh what is considered a prohibited act by school officials uh what mandatory training is required of school officials uh the code of ethics they brought out um nine years later uh we'll go into that in a little bit and then what disclosure statements and personal financial statements are required of all school officials talk about the um conflicts of interest and disclosure statements are required by all board members board trustees Charter School trustees njsba staff um and and state officers and school administrators the code of ethics and the mandatory training is only required by board members so who enforces the act the um commission is uh nine members appointed by the governor for a three-year term there cannot be any more than five members of a specific political party of one or the other parties of that nine members five are non school officials two are school board members and two are School administrators you if you go to the um Department of Ed and go to school ethics commission you can see who who those people are the ethics uh School ethics commission can issue advisory opinions and respond to ethics rule on ethics complaints an advisory opinion can be um can be sought by a a sitting board member in anti in anticipation of an act that they may or may not do to find out if it is in fact a violation acity the um a complaint can be brought upon by any member of the community uh alleging that a violation of the school ethics act took place The Advisory opinions can be made public by a vote of six of the commission members on average every year the commission feels 85 complaints and 35 advisory opinions actually for all the you know almost 600 school districts and almost 5,000 school board members I didn't think that was that high depending on you know are so so what M what is the mandatory training requirements if you're a newly elected board member you have 90 days from the day you're sworn in to complete your governance one training that's that's that's the requirement for all the others you have a year so um for uh governance two the your second year of your first term that's uh finance and labor governance three your third year of your first term is student achievement and then the first year of every term every time you're reelected you do governance for with which is legal update legal updates and that's updated every single year we the ethics commission the ethics Act established that njsba is to provide that mandatory training and uh we do it in in many different ways we do um in person we have coming up um a new board member orientation weekend which is fabulous if if you have any new members and you're able to go um it's intense uh you meet with others uh members from around the state and and work and um and staff members uh but it really you walk away learning a lot but if you can't do that we do have um we do a live uh virtual uh uh training and we also do um a self-paced online training the the benefit of doing a live virtual uh if you can't do the in person it's it's similar to the in person is that um you you interact with other board members throughout the state and sometimes it's really helpful to move forward but um as I said those are governance two three and four you have a full year to do it governance one you have 90 days from the day you're SW in so the dis the disclosure statements that you must fill out board school officials um I have to fill one out as well um if you're a new school official you have 30 days from um the day that you take your sworn in and if you're a school administrator 30 days from the of your first uh your first day of work uh returning school officials have until April 30th to file their disclosure statements that will come to you from the Department of Ed in an email with a link to file your statements if you don't if you don't get that talk to Daren so the school ethics commission can issue of penalties that they can give for the different violations um if they find a violation the first level is a reprimand which is essentially a slap on the wrist but it's a um the word is rebuked by the commission that the the the conduct violated the standards but does not result in a formal resolution a centure is the next level it results in a um formal it's a a formal disapproval by the commissioner um but but your local level you have to um you have to memorialize it with the adoption of a resolution stating such a suspension is another level um that they can issue and they recommend for a period of time um a specific period of time and then the final thing that the school offics commission can do is is um remove a board member it doesn't happen too often but it can happen and and just in the interest of time that you can read all of these there there are um many there are several tenants of the school e the code of ethics and that's what these are your first is um that you will uphold and enforce all the laws uh rules and regulations of the State Board the legislature um that's at once you're sworn in that is part of your duties as a um as a board member you will make decision in the uh best interest of all students once you're elected your constituents become the students all the students in Bon they don't become those that may have helped you get elected uh um they're certainly important but once you become elected you are the representative and look out for the best interest of all your students you will confine any board action to policy Mak you don't get into the the day-to-day operations of the board of the district I'm sorry so this will you will carry out your responsibility that not to administer the schools but see that the schools are well you hire a superintendent who who does the daytoday and operations of of the of the district um and that you will recognize that Authority rests with the full board or a board at a at a meeting a noticed meeting with a quum present not uh and not making any individual promises you will refuse to surrender your independent judgment uh to special interest groups or for personal gain and this this talks about confidenti holding all matters confidential um that need to be held confidential and underne you'll see the standards the standard is what uh the evidence that the school ethics commission looks at when they're determining if a violation has occurred so so if if somebody files an Ethics complaint they have to provide something along what they say so that's what the standards are you will you will vote to appoint the best qualified Personnel available upon the recommendation of the super superintendent the superintendent doesn't make a recommendation one way or the other um there's not there's nothing that can be done every every personal action has to come at the recommendation of the superintendent that a hiring a firing a transfer whatever that might be and that you will support and protect School Personnel in the proper performance of their Duty and this one talks about referring all complaints to the to the superintendent and only act on complaints at a public meeting after a failure of an administrative solution this is kind of like the chain of command the board should be the court of last resort so um and we're going to some of the chain of command issues um you know just understand what it is if you if you um you know it's the chain of command is in place to handle issues in the most expedient way as a board member you should know what the chain of command issue is for board members and also for parents or members of the community many times if you get a complaint from a parent the best thing to do is recommend that parent go to the the to the lowest level in the chain of command be that the teacher um or whoever at the at the district level and work your way up um and and once if you do get a a complaint or a comment from somebody and you do recommend them to the as you recommend them to the train command then just give the superintendent a heads up and say hey this I got this issue I told them to do this um I just want you to be aware and then you really need to back out because if that issue if if whoever it is is not happy with the um administrative solution it may come before the board and so you need to not have the ins and outs until you get the official from from your Administration so that's what I say if you get if you get any um issue or complaint refer to the lowest level of chain of command um and then notify the superintendent so these these are some cases um regarding um um the um code of ethics um e which was um he was um Authority r with the board and not to make any promises these cases unless you want me to go through them all individually they are linked on when you get the um the copy tomorrow the PowerPoint tomorrow you click on like the case number you can get right to that case but they're just different um different things that um had happened um and what um you'll see at the end what the recommended rep first one recommended is a reprimand all the way down there's one that's recommended as a as a centure each case has its own situation presented and the SEC decision regarding the outcome is based on the case um as is as it is listed each the SEC decisions are very case specific so you can look at globally some some rulings that came out but individually they're very case specific and this is just some more um some more cases um if you look at like um the last one day after the board the board president lost an election they directed the board counsil to conduct research on another board member who campaigned against him um and so the they found that they issued a refand and they found that the board member took private action and use his their position to secure a privilege for them themselves namely having the board of trony investigate the school ethics act also identifies what are considered prohibitive acts uh by board trustees uh and that's what it that's what this list is um and again it's hyperlink but if you um if there's if you there's a benefit to you um as a school official or to your immediate family due to any of these business interests Financial involvement gift or favor any financial gain you need to recuse yourself from the discussion uh and um the vote and not participate in the vote um and then there's other other considerations um as well um representing any person other than the district in a matter before the board uh if you have any questions about any of your involvement with anything just uh have a discussion with your board attorney they are the ones that can give you that guidance on what is considered um what considered ethics violation or not and and ultimately they're the ones who would be um representing in the board in any in any in any case so what came out last year was uh the difference between some of the issues the difference between um a recusal and an exstension and this talk this slide talks about um a you know about talks about exactly what what the difference is if you have a a legal conflict um again as as having discussed this with your board attorney then you need to recuse yourself that means you don't participate in the discussion and you don't um participate in the vote it's it's it's it's better if you actually leave the table I had to do that once there was a um a a situation where there was a Personnel matter a good Personnel matter with a a with a staff member who also happened to be the basketball coach of the team my daugh was on and I felt that you know it one it was um I wasn't too happy with him as a coach but I I couldn't rule on that and I thought that it would give a a bad impression to the community of my impartiality how I participate in that so when they were discussing that um whatever that job thing was um I it was the executive session but I left the room I just said I'm recusing myself for this reason this is my my child's basketball coach I don't feel I can be objective so I'm leaving and then I actually left the room uh and then um when when they were taking the vote in the public session I actually left we sat on a deis I actually left the deis and explained I'm recusing myself because this person is my child's basketball coach and and I just want to not have any impression of any conflicts whatsoever good good better and different um so when you when you obstain um it doesn't memorialize the fact that um you have a legal conflict but the exstension also gets counted in the vote count if you recuse yourself so say in an obon if you at nine member board right maybe it's um 621 the one would be the Obion if you're recusing it just becomes 62 but again any of these issues just if you have a concern talk with your board attorney um the school ethics act also identified the different relationships and in fact some of the schs this past year have further delineated or identified um the different relationships that that you need to be aware of as a board member um and they're here but um you know when I say relative is now further defined it used to just be maybe a couple now we're talking about half brother half sister um the spouse blood partner by Blood marriage or adoption it's very um it's very specific and these Tas the this comes at out regarding cases that have come before the school ethics commission um and anyone not listed may be consider and other so again talk to you Board of ch and this is this is a chart it's quite small but um it should be in the online version will be easier for you to read than it is in your packet this chart is a chart of conflicts due to relationships and how would we be determined if a board member would or would not be able to participate in contract negotiations and Personnel matters related to the appointment of the superintendent again so like a if if you have a potential conflict you should share that information with the with your um board attorney for guidance but this is you see the yeses and the NOS this came out last year uh and there's a link to the advisory opinion if you'd like to read the whole opinion it's um and again it's because that it was presented to the school ethics Commission I guess I hav't got enough cases um complaints that they felt they needed to do this so what do you do about hiring Personnel if you're a board member can't hire a relative a a the superintendent can't hire a relative but what happens if you're if they're already a a staff member when you become on the board or the superintendent is hired um then that's where this comes out if the member who is related to the superintendent or Works somewhere in the district the administrator may not have direct or indirect authority over that um over that Rel a board member may not participate in if they have a relative already in the district in employment matters for anyone in the chain of command uh in the chain of command over their their relative and um they cannot participate in any related to the superintendent be that the search a selection a vote to hire uh or the evaluation of the superintend if you have a relative in the district this CH talks about the um the um potential conflicts depending on an individual's relationship to a board member and if they work inside or outside of the district whether they can participate in in negotiations so if the relationship to the board member is spouse an dependent child a not dependent child and a relative and they work in the district then the board member cannot participate in negotiations and not vote on a contract um but if there if the relationship is to the board member is a s themselves spouse or the dependent child and they work out of District they can't participate in negotiations but they can uh vote to absent any other conflicts um and that's the the vote to to r or vote on the contract is after the memorandum of agreement solid guides and total compensation packages have been determined and there's a few more um possible conflicts if they're not in the unit if the relative is not in the unit in terms of employment but they're linked to the unit um then then that can be a conflict uh and if they're supervised by anybody in the unit uh and um and if the immediate family member has heightened Union involvement may not be in this District it could be in uh Hudson County or in a close by District if they have heighten Union involvement it could be a conflix it's not given that it's conflict but it could be and again um check the link on there um and and you'll get more information about this these are advisory opinions um and remember an advisory opinion is can be requested by a board member trustee before any action is taken to determine if it's a potential conflict these are some of the more recent advisory opinions and when it says a that's that's the advisory opinion if it starts with a c um it's it's a different it's it's a complaint but there are different ones like like um the spouse is a councilman in the burrow can the can they vote on the school resource officer um and that's that's that the answer is not not likely it's an actual or perceived personal or financial involvement that could violate the public comp compan recommending that that board member recuse themselves on any matters related to the B and so it's helpful in your time you know free time as a board member we know how much you have of that little that to read through these and [Music] see so this came out this year as well um the impact on committee assignments when a relative works in the dist in the district this is particularly through the board president these cases came from the township of ocean um and due to the board members relationship to an employee it will impact their ability to be involved in certain committees and Personnel matters so if the board presidents child is an instructional assistant in the district the board president cannot choose any committee members nor beond any committees involving the um the local Education Association or matters related to to the superintendent they also may not choose the chair members or serve on any committies that remotely touches upon or directly relates to the family members employment so it has an impact whether you're a president you know when you're president again this came out this year on what you can and can't do regarding appointment to committees because in many boards the president um the the Committees are the an appointment of the president so this is the impact it talks about the impact on Executive session if you have a relative that works in if you have a relative that's impacted by something because it's first case is not a relative who works in the district the member attended an executive session on candidates who fill a vac board seat and the husband was um one of the candidates the husb been had applied um and the board president attended multiple discussions on in this other issue on a matter involving an immediate family member um and other the other board members in executive session were unaware um of that relationship uh in in both cases Council was uh consulted first however the ruling was um from the school ethics Commission what was a cens feeling and and they violated their saying um um that that um the tenants that they violated were b c and e uh which are make decisions in the best interest of the school of of all students confine action to policym and recognize that the author Authority rest with full they saying they should have let the other people know um what the relationship was um and they thought that the the members um lack of telling everybody um that had they told them it might um chill the word there or Intimidator comments in another way as a board member you can still volunteer in in the school however you need to be aware of your the degree of involvement of the volunteer activity and the degree of authority you may have over students and staff uh in that volunteering activity um you know it's generally um you know volunteering should not be often uh you should not be supervising any staff members or in a situation where would be perceiv that you are supervising them you should not handle any money um and um and volunteering coaching is not permitted uh so if you're going to volunteer just let the superintendent know give them a heads up as to what you're doing uh refrain from any um as it says any board related discussion or votes uh and just be just be aware of the code of ethics and again there hyperlink different cases up there involve in volunteering in schools the board members are entrusted to review recommendations from the superintendent and then vote in a way that they feel best serves the needs of the district and its students um but you always keep in mind your statutory requirements uh and um keep in mind that you can vote in any way that is not considered arbitrary and comous um and uh this this one advisory opinion was asked in in this advisory opinion they asked if the board member would violate the school ethic act if they voted to they voted affirmatively to refuse to implement the njsls um for Comprehensive Health this was a good one this year health and physical Ed physical education um and if it the school eics response was if it was shown that School official acted contrary to the laws rules and regulations promulgated by the state Boe they would be in violation remember that's one of the first parts of the code of ethics that you will uphold all laws um of the code and once you get into the interesting part of social media and and it's become more um prevalent in recent because everybody has social Med um but you know as a general in general as a school official you you you do not um you don't violate this this the um code of ethics simply by engaging in social media activity uh if what you are posting cannot be confused with a board position but it is not related to board uh business you would not likely be in violation of the act so just just be aware of what you're writing and and what you're saying and um don't try not to you know don't speak for the board and and don't imply that um it it does depend in large part on the the content of what you're saying in that instance it is suggested that you put a disclaimer on anything that you do um it it's the school ethics uh Commission has come out with one um that is really really um quite helpful um and and helps that you um put that on all your social media so if you use the disclaimer this is just a few um questions about the disclaimer using the disclaimer is not to get out of G free card uh it depends on what you say um and how how you say it um and so always keep that in mind um that it's just um you know it's just what you say and how you say it um the school ethics um commission does look at the content and they do look at what is said uh and they do make decisions based on that even if there was a disclaimer it's very divisive um they will rule against that uh and they have um so so by not using um if you don't use it or you automatically in violation no again they look at the content what you said what you've written um and if you don't use they they don't demand that you use the disclaimer they wrote they they put that out there for um you know ease for board members but as long as you use some kind of disclaimer that says essentially you're not this is your personal opinion and they not speaking for the board so this one is a is a case that the board member asked if as a private asked if as a private citizen it would violate the ACT if they answered operational questions about the district on Facebook pages on their Facebook page um you know Q&A between the parents and the Boe um just as a board member you need to be very much aware of what you say and you as as private citizen and how it could be perceived uh as actions or speech coming from a board member even if you're saying this is me as a private citizen if it's related to the board um or the schools memb uh community members know that you are elected officials so you what you say may carry additional weight because they think well they must have more information because they're a board so you just need to really be aware of that as you for anything that that you do um some some guidance is um that you know suggested that you do not use any social media accounts you use during your campaigning um what your El board member it could lead to confusion um as to any past or future posts and if they are at you know and if they are in Your Capacity as a board member or not um if you're like or share and post from your personal account you should be fine you should be okay um just refrain from inappropriate um uh Communications these cases are also linked um you know once elected no longer appropriate to use your campaign account um and um just just be aware that you're now an elected official um and that carries different weight with it so we recommend that um boards make a list of of board members and and administrators who have conflicts and review it regularly um you know talk with Gary and your and your board attorney consult your board attorney on ethics issues um to identify any conflicted board members and if you continue to check you should be getting we we took a few weeks off for holidays our school board notes in your email and any recent up uh ethics rulings um will be uh listed in there um some um from guidance from our um Board of and in closing you became a board member and knowingly took on the responsibility to hold yourself to a high ethical standard uh you need to continue to act ethically and in the best interests of all your students so you may not uh deliberately disregard or ignore ethical standards that are required by the law um to uphold and enforce but I will list resources here um that's and then any questions you may have I just want com the have been on off board since 198 the uh governance I actually it's kind of inconvenient for me at the time to go to the governance the weekend one which I've done several times in his wor to First just yeah no I did what I did I did it in person it's intense because it's Friday night through Sunday lunchtime um but um we really do walk away um with a lot of knowledge um I think you should do that before people run not everybody weekend so there options to get that it was really good that training and just the interaction with so many every other school district in the state um and even q and stuff in Smalls Just make sure they have food Friday night for people right there we're good thank you so much thank you and uh I'll get that link out to everybody tomorrow uh so that'll make it a little bit easier and then in your folder obviously there those signning sheets please leave them on the table and I'll collect them yes on the back there's two sheets on the left side and just that one just acknowledge that you have so it's the uh acknowledgement receipt that's in your folders I just need that filled out with today's date to satisfy your training that'll get us a little closer to my governance I got to try and get my 100 I got a 99 [Music] left not good enough for do right [Music] yes at the basketball that is uh that is all I have uh we're going to journ the open Workshop it is 6:19 and we will reconvene in the auditorium at 6:30 I'm see Miss out