call to order the board president will call the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. meeting notice statement adequate notice of this meeting of the Berkeley Heights Board of Education was given as required by the open public meetings act as follows on January 4th 2024 notice of the Board of Education meeting schedule was sent to the Star Ledger and The Courier News and also provided to all schools PTO presidents and bhea president and posted at the administration building a copy was also provided to the public library and filed with the municipal clerk please rise for the flag salute 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 thank you roll call please Mr Kiri Bradford here Dr forer here mrman here miss Jolly here miss Conor here present Miss Stanley here hey we're going Mr secretary you done yes thank you adjourn to Executive session whereas the Berkeley Heist Board of Education seeks to adjourn to Executive session in full compliance with the open public meeting Act njsa 10 colon 4-6 and whereas the open public meetings act provides that a public body May exclude the public from that portion of the meeting at which it discusses matters related to those identified below matters rendered confidential by federal law state law or Court Law Court rule individual privacy collective bargaining agreements purchase or lease of real real property if public interest could be adversely affected investment of public funds if public interest could be adversely affected tactics or techniques utilized in protecting Public Safety and property pending or anticipated litigation attorney climate privilege Personnel employment matters affecting specific perspective or current employees be it resolved that the Berkeley Heights Board of Education adjourns to Executive session to discuss matters related to students personnel and legal and be it further resolved that the minutes of the discussion of any of these items will be disclosed to the public when matters have been determined in confidentiality is no longer applicable may I have a motion to enter into executive session second seconded um a v a Voice vote please a eyes I any Nays abstentions okay the time is 6:33 okay we will journ to Executive session our student Representatives Jake and Olivia thank you hello everyone the Highlander spring Sports season has gotten off to an exciting and entertaining start let's recap the latest the baseball team has swung their way out to an 8-1 start with dominant victories the baseball athlete of the month is sophomore Zack gzma coach rof said Zach has helped lead us to an 8-1 record in a 13th rank in New Jersey he's currently hitting 567 with 17 hits five home runs 15 RBIs and 16 runs scored Zach has the potential to be a high division one baseball athlete the softball team has jumped out to a 6-2 record the softball athlete of the month is Junior Captain Chelsea ke sweer coach Lanigan notes she's a huge part of the reason our team is off to such a tremendous start to the season she has a 433 batting average leads the team with 13 hits including three doubles a triple and two home runs Chelsea is now at 86 hits and is only 14th away 14 away from her 100th hit in addition the softball team recently participated in a tournament last weekend hosted by macki L to raise money for suicide awareness the team split both of their games but the girls were able to play for a great cause and helped to raise awareness the boys lacrosse team is currently two and3 with wins against moristown beard in oratory prep the boys lacrosse athlete of the month is senior Brett Pier Brett leads the team with 14 goals and 19 points Brett scored his 100th goal this season on April 12th against Hanover Park the girls lacrosse team is 3-1 with a 2-0 start in their division the girls lacrosse athlete of the month is senior Captain Caitlyn caceo coach Wells said if I had to summarize Katie in one word it would be tenacious she is a key component of our offense and has created many scoring opportunities for our team as a result of her Wicked shot and her ability to see the game of Lacrosse Katie has 13 goals one assist six ground balls and two forc turnover so far this season the boys and girls track and field teams have been competing in relay and individual meets as they get ready for the Union County relays on May 2nd and 3rd the girls track and field athlete of the month is sophomore Natalie Dylan Natalie had to be had to be at two places at Once In The discus and 4x2 200 meters head coach Chris Coughlin applauded her for her ability to jump and be willing to take another athlete's place to get the race started the boys track and field athlete of the month is senior Jack wowski who is a member of the shot and discus who has been helpful in instructing the younger throwers on improving their craft lastly the golf team has started their season with a two and3 record the golf athlete of the month is senior Brady Silverman coach coach Le he said Brady is one of the team's consistent starters and is improving greatly based upon his other athletic accomplishments some may wonder if he swings like Happy Gilmore but he's a great golfer with immense potential thank you thank you good evening on April 8th the fourth marking period officially began at Governor Livingston high school signifying the beginning of the end of the 2023 through 2024 school year throughout the month of April GL is celebrating neurodiversity and autism acceptance month with poster making sponsored by the best buddies Club as well as dressed down for diversity week which began on Monday April 15th on April 16th the GL music department held a very successful small Ensemble spring concert on Thursday April 25th Gio will hold the large ensembles concert which is the last of this year so make sure to attend this event besides students showing off their Musical and Performing Arts talents Berkeley Heights teachers also took to the stage on April 9th for a talent show all proceeds from the show went towards funding senior scholarships and if you missed the event a full recording is featured on glhs TV's YouTube channel on Friday May 3rd the GL diversity committee will be holding a spring cultural celebration this event will take place during the Lunch Period and tables from all cultures will be playing traditional games and music throughout the month of May GL students will be taking AP exams there will be a few exams each day and the full schedule is posted on College board's website good luck to all who are taking these exams thank you and have a great evening thank you very much for the student reports appreciate everything that you do and you can leave at any time okay um Mr Nixon superintendent report good evening everybody I I appreciate that my first superintendence report gets to start off with something that I'm very comfortable with and enjoy which is uh celebrating uh the great achievements and and um accomplishments of a lot of our students at Governor Livingston high school and in particular tonight three of our uh winter athletic teams um as we go through this uh the celebration this evening uh we're going to be asking students and coaches to come up uh when the coaches come up they'll join me and Miss Clifton over here we will ask the athletes to come over here to this side uh so with that in mind um if any of the Board of Education members business administrator student Representatives we have reserved seats for you over there if you would uh if you would like to uh take those seats and I'm going to be asking uh members of the athletic committee uh one at a time to come help support me with each team so Mr Heyman before you get too comfortable if you want to just stay up here with me we're going to ask you to join me and help me out uh by cele celebrating uh our ice hockey team this evening uh before I dive into our teams I I I just want to make sure that I recognize Miss Clifton for the amazing job that she does with our athletic department uh year in and year out our teams no matter what the season are incredibly successful and we're proud of the way they conduct their business on and off the field court pool however it is ice however it is you may want to um you know participate in your activity um our our students and our coaches conduct themselves with class and I think that's a direct reflection of the hard work and expectations that Miss clipton puts forward so I would just like everybody to recognize Miss clipon for the amazing job she does thank you so the way we're going to do this I'm going to introduce the coaches for the teams uh I'm going to ask that the coaches come forward to the podium and introduce the athletes from their team and and say a few words uh about the season and then after that I will share and award the proclamation each team uh so first like I mentioned before is our ice hockey team and I would like to welcome head coach Greg Jensen assistant coaches Matt alamari Travis delilo and volunteer coach Carson wallers all right so uh we've got a very special group of hockey players here um over like the last two to three seasons they have accomplished more than anything the hockey team has ever accomplished in the history of this school um even though we fell short of the ultimate goal this season we still had a ton to be proud of uh we got the most wins we've ever had in a season and we also got the first ever South sectional Co-op Championship so that was huge as well um so here we got all right so whereas The Varsity ice hockey team of Governor Livingston high school and New Providence High School located in Berkeley Heights and New Providence New Jersey consist of players Jordan bomb uh Teddy bomb Jackson Benward Scott CPP Owen Cook d fno Kyle Foster Anthony leisi Sam Newman Alec nney Michael sharov Jeremy 6as Ryan 6as Brady Silverman Ryan scar Zac Griffin olrick Jake Vic Carter wallers Charlie zereno Jacob watel and managers Ryan Tomic and Meredith oor okay I will complete the remainder of the Proclamation whereas The Varsity ice hockey team of Governor Livingston high school and New Providence High School earned the title of South State sectional Group C Co-op Champions by defeating Manasquan Point Pleasant Beach by the score of 2 to one on February 29th 2024 at Richard Cody Arena and whereas the Highlanders completed the season with a record of 21 wins five losses and one tie and a Statewide ranking of 21st and whereas the team saw each of its members contribute individually to the team during its Championship run and whereas the Berkeley Heights Mountainside and New Providence communities are very proud of the accomplishments of this team and its coaches now therefore be it resolved that the Berkeley Heights Board of Education members applaud the 2023 2024 ice hockey team and congratulate the student athletes and coaching staff on their outstanding Championship season and be it resolved that a signed and sealed copy of this resolution be framed and kept on dispay playay at Governor Livingston high school signed and sealed this 18th day of April of the Year 2024 congratulations that was good practice i' now i' like to ask Mrs Penna to please join me okay next we we will be recognizing The Varsity fencing boys foil team of Governor Livingston high school I'd like to invite the coaches head coach Michael Wang assistant coach Kevin jaia and assistant coach Alton Gman thank you so first and foremost I am extremely proud of everything that this squad has accomplished uh not only this year but over my entire time coaching them the dedication that all of these fencers show both on and off the strip to the sport of fencing has blown me away it has been 10 years since the boys foil team has won a championship of any kind and beating all nine schools on their way to winning the toughest division in the state of boys foil was really a way to do it in style all three of our starters on this team are upper classmen and have started for multiple years however their records and accomplishments have approved year over-year and while this Championship will a 2024 on it it really is the culmination of years and years of hard work that all of these boys have put in and the dedication they have shown to this sport so without further Ado I would like to invite up your 2024 boys District 5 foil Champions whereas The Varsity Boys fencing team of Governor Livingston located in Berkeley Heights New Jersey consists of players Nicholas Angelus Cameron Bach Joe laosi Jaden man wak Sinha chadu and Stephen you okay I'll Now read the remainder of the Proclamation whereas The Varsity fencing boys foil team of Governor Livingston high school earned the title of District 5 boy foil Champion by defeating all nine other schools in the district including Ridge and state champions Bernards High School by the score of 22 wins out of a total 27 bouts on February 11th 2024 at Montgomery High School and whereas the team successfully beat all nine schools head-to-head to win The District 5 foil championship title and whereas the Highlander boys foil Squad completed the season with a record of 97 wins 36 losses and a state Statewide ranking of top eight and whereas the team saw each of its members contribute individually to the team during its Championship run and whereas the Berkeley Heights and Mountainside communities are very proud of the accomplishments of this team and its coaches now therefore be it resolved that the Berkeley Heights Board of Education members applaud the 2023 2024 boys fencing foil Squad and congratulate the student athletes and coaching staff on their outstanding Championship season and be it resolved that a signed and sealed copy of this resolution be framed and kept on display at Governor Livingston high school signed and sealed this 18th day of April of the Year 2024 congratulations okay Mrs Jolly would you join me please next team we'll be recognizing this evening is our girls swimming team our varsity girls swimming team I'd like to welcome up head coach David Claus and assistant coach Grace PA Tingo well thank you all for inviting us here it's it's always a pleasure to come and and U we're we're really proud uh Grace and I of the girls uh swim team uh we have uh really a heck of a streak going um the they the girls who are seniors have never not been to the sectional finals um and um I have um I give you one example Ariana who's one of our captains her sister was a captain for me four years ago and between her and her sister they've never not been to sectional finals so we've been to sectional finals eight straight years so I'm really proud of these uh girls and uh are graduating the senior girls this year they're graduating um as back-to-back sectional Champions so I'm I'm really just uh pleased as P pleased as I don't know whatever but I'm pleased as Peach I'm I'm really pleased so um without further Ado let's announce some of the girls who are here all right so the varsity girls swimming team of Governor Lon High School located in Berkeley Heights New Jersey consists with swimmers Maddie Kenny Captain Ariana Maui captain Sophie taskila Captain Lillian Arts Hannah beer Caitlyn caceo Leila damato Anna froloff Nina froloff Sarah Gleason Caitlyn Hughes Jasline Jen Nia Joseph Laya capinski Rachel nth Zoe manino Jade McCarthy Michaela pyz Pippa rycker kathern royman Caris Lewinsky Julieta Stu anast and managers Lindsey Kim and Mariah Robinson your 2024 Highlander girls swim team whereas the girls varsity swimming team of Governor Livingston high school earned the title of njsiaa central C sectional Champions by defeating Shore Regional High School by the score of 103 to 67 on February 15 2024 at the College of New Jersey and whereas the Highlanders completed the season with a record of nine wins four losses and the program has competed in the njsia state sectional Championship meet for the eth consecutive year whereas each of its members contributed individually to the team during its Championship run and whereas the Berkeley Heights and Mountainside communities are very proud of the accomplishments of this team and its coaches now th now therefore be it resolved that the Berkeley Heights Board of Education members applaud the 2023 2024 girls swim team and congratulate the student athletes and coaching staff on their outstanding Championship season and be it resolved that the signed and sealed copy of this resolution be framed and kept on display at governor Livingston high school signed and sealed this 18th day of April of the Year 2024 congratulations a good team picture I called your agent squeeze in everybody hey to our swimming team our fencing team and our ice hockey team thank you so much for all your wonderful accomplishments and hard work and thank you to the parents who also provided the transportation and the funding for all this to our athletic committee thank you and Mr Nixon thank you uh continue with the report yes thank you so uh just three more items of the superintendent report uh first I wanted to share uh that the glhs daffodil project which you may have recall from last school year um recently appeared in artbeat magazine uh this this project was a collaboration in correspondence with Holocaust Remembrance Day uh this was a collaboration between the art Honor Society and our Jewish students action team um and they titled it the daffodil project the daffodil symbolizes rebirth and New Beginnings uh and what's really interesting if you look closely at the picture including in the daffodils are names of family members and friends that were impacted by the Holocaust uh and they were admitted by students staff and community members uh from throughout our school Community uh I wanted to give an update to the board of education on questions that were asked at our uh last board meeting in particular in regard to the uh attorney RFP process um within within that board meeting a concern was raised that proper process was not followed as the board did not vote on a resolution to approve the previous RFP process uh and specifically 18a 4.3 18a 4.5 part e were cited in support of that concern um I reached out uh to an attorney for clarification um and clarified that those statutes do not apply to this process uh because this was not for competitive Contracting the exception to those statutes is for Professional Services uh which is what this process falls under uh so as a result there was no requirement for the Board of Ed to go out to bid at all however the board may choose to if it wishes but it's not required uh the Board of Ed can also vote to allow late submissions should they choose to in regard to this process as well um so all said there there's no issue with the process that was previously followed and the board could take additional action if it chose uh and then finally uh the last portion of my report is in regard to uh an update regarding policy 8600 um since since our last board meeting uh where policy 8600 was brought up um there was a meeting where we had an opportunity to bring uh the Consultants that did uh the traffic study and and reported back on hazardous Roots um we were able to to meet with them ask questions ask them questions specifically about their rubric study their rubric um ask them questions about the rubric and uh it was it was really insightful really informative um for me it was something that uh helped catch me up to speed on the work that we've been doing uh with this policy uh it was also very beneficial three members of the Berkeley Height's Police Department joined us at that meeting uh so they were able to listen in and and give some thoughts and and feedback as well um one of the one of the really interesting practices was uh uh one of the Consultants utilized Google Earth to kind of walk us through some of the roots and explain specifically what are some of the aspects that they look at everywhere from Road markings um crosswalks uh lack of sidewalks uh obstructions in the roadway um inclines declines is there you know um a curb uh a lot of those different aspects that that they look at when they go through it which gave me insight as to um you know how I might be able to take a look at that rubric and make sense of the recommendation that was made um then I had the opportunity over spring break uh to go out with Lieutenant May from the Berkeley Heights Police Department uh that was on Thursday April 4th uh together uh we drove all of the routes that we that were determined to be hazardous routes and and took a look at those routes along with a blank rubric um along with that uh Lieutenant May was was great in sharing a lot of different aspects uh of those roads that people might want to consider um as well as um you know things that were pointed out by the by the Consultants uh specifically I I'll give a few examples uh for example on Diamond Hill Road um it has a direct oneway highway exit um there's no crosswalks except for at the light of at the intersection with a valley and and a house from Berkeley Heights for example that is right on that intersection right there there is no crosswalk from that house and the two crosswalks that uh are on that intersection lead to Nowhere um you know the the the crosswalk line that is in existence uh on one side of that road to use the word of the consultant is obliterated which means like it's not it's not clearly apparent to drivers which is part of what they look at as well um there's also rock walls and other obstructions that prevent a safe walking path um in some sections of that road uh along with with that uh he pointed out McMain a when uh when you're driving on Route 78 West and you use exit 43 for an example there is no way to make a left turn and head down towards the Scotch Plains area so mcmv ends up being a a cut through U-turn type of street there are several U-turn signs on that street um which you know obviously if if police are in the area those can be followed but they may not necessarily be by drivers um there is no sidewalk there's no curb there either so for somebody um who might be making a U-turn on that street without any curb could PR could present a a dangerous situations for students to walk that also happened to be the day after it rained significantly and one side of the road was not walkable because of the amount of water that was flowing down that side of the road into a drainage area um we looked at Emerson Lane particularly the stretch of houses on Emerson Lane that were identified as part of this study um one of the interesting pieces was a housing complex that's being built in uh just as you get out of Berkeley Heights into to Warren um which which will inevitably cause a little bit of additional uh traffic onto that road once it's completed I believe the direct exit from that complex will not be directly onto Emerson but to access certain areas people might be cutting through Emerson right there in addition to that rock walls leaves trees other obstructions um line that road where there are no clear crosswalks or sidewalks for students um and then finally taking a look at uh you know Horseshoe Road as an example uh all the way from planfield have to house number 136 there are no crosswalks as you know there's fields on the other side right there um and then there's even additional homes uh as you get past 136 and you go up past the rehabilitation center there I believe it is um some some other houses that are there also um altogether I believe the experience of being able to ride along with Lieutenant May and to learn a little bit more from um from the the Consultants that we met with um lead me to believe that I I think this is an important policy and a policy that supports student safety um and and it would be my recommendation that uh that we consider this policy in order to provide not only safety for our students as they travel to school but also um for the community in general in terms of the amount of traffic that could potentially be created um at drop off and pickup at certain schools as a result and that is the end of my report thank you thank you Mr Nixon um the board president's report update on board goals the Board of Education will improve planning and the committee structure our first goal the board is refining and standardizing our committee minutes the Board of Education will work to improve communication both internally and externally the board is discussing the option of hybrid meetings including a timeline for trials with it and discussions on updating policies related to remote meetings I have reached out to neighboring districts and I've spoken with the Ridgewood School uh Board of Education president Mrs uh Miss Sheila AB Brogan uh the Board of Education number three will evaluate the CSA in a timely manner the board will begin the evaluation of Dr Melissa barley we are in contact with our njsba field Representatives about this process the deadline is July 1 the Board of Education will promote all district goals the board of education has been involved in the budget process at this time and our last goal keeping up with a board um uh training uh board members have had the opportunity for frequent ongoing training in person and online and it is tracked within the njsba in terms of liaison reports uh the Berkeley Heights Education Foundation met on Tuesday April 16th 2024 we would like to thank the bhef for purchasing 2,000 pairs of eclipse paper glasses for K8 students to use on Monday April 8th during the solar eclipse there were some great lessons going on Mrs Stanley is the Boe representative and she attended and answered questions and she have may have more to add in a minute um looking at our next one is the newly formed uh newly formed Committee in Berkeley Heights it is the Veterans the Veterans Affairs committee liaison the second meeting was held on Wednesday April 17th at Town Hall on Thursday May 23rd the committee is having a red white and blue day in the he to begin the town's Memorial Day celebration and invites our school staff and students to participate by wearing red white and blue the town hall staff are volunteering and using this as a fundraiser for our VFW and our veterans the Veterans Affair committee also invites all students to participate by Marching In the Berkeley Heights Memorial Day Parade on Monday May 27th Dennis Ryan is the parade coordinator and students are encouraged to march with their school Banner wearing patriotic colors Andor Sports shirts a special invitation is extended to our GL student athletes to March and receive recognition from the community for their accomplishments the town liaison the Berkeley Heights Town Council met on Tuesday April 16th May is mental health month and Berkeley Heights and the Rotary Club in the mayor's Wellness committee with the purpose of promoting Mental Health and Wellness in our community is putting green ribbon clings throughout the local businesses and Town Hall the PTO curriculum shared and discussed the curricul agenda with the PTO liaison from each of the schools I have no other updates but there are updates from other committees and liaison um would you like to start Mr himman Athletics yep uh I can do uh Athletics and Technology I've got a buckle up there these are these could be long ones I don't know we don't meet that often okay uh Athletics committee we met uh April 9th um uh and thanks to an uh on on a number number of updates uh just going chronologic chronologically through what we covered um we talked about Lower Columbia field uh and the proposal from the Berkeley Heights Recreation Department uh this has been discussed before the loss of SNY AB Field Complex uh and what's going on with Union County Parks uh and the proposal from the town to lease the field uh that's in review phase with uh with our board attorney um just noting that some some board members obviously have some ongoing concerns about that agreement so it's still in review um and talked about just uh the process of uh how you can how she's been able to request access to still conduct games uh at snav uh and and it is a bit lengthy so certainly this is a concern that she raised um from from a field use perspective um we talked about um lights at GL I wish Jake Jake was still here uh probably should have tipped off that this is coming up but uh tireless work from Jake has has gotten us this far U which which is that we're we we did discuss it um the the this will come up again because Rob and an have shared uh a prioritized list of of other needs um but just noting that one uh the Town Council did change an ordinance about lighting on the fields so the the pathway is open um the installation of lights on the turf Stadium uh here is a viable option um we talked about um different options from a fundraising perspective uh potentially partnering with BHP Highlander booster club and other orgs if we needed to raise funds for installation of Lights uh TBD on the actual costs don't ask me any questions about that at this point because we did not get specific on that but an did talk about types of Lights we might consider non-s spillage lights uh in consideration of community neighbors um there also costs would be affected by whether we'd use four stanions or six uh in terms of those lights uh we talked about a timeline of trying to get quotes ended um by or in September uh in order to to make sure we we had a plan for um where the funds would come from and how much we would need uh we talked about the Press Box uh which has also come up before this is the box at the at the turf field uh the structure leaks and has other issues um and talked about the the need for the architect to come out and Architects come out in the fall most likely to review the area and present different options we also talked about different options for using what a new Press Box would be IE academic classes um and uh and and other other electives that could take place there uh again pricing TBD um the the discussion uh also covered whether installation of that Press Box could potentially be part of Capital Improvements at some point which again will come up again in a moment um we talked about other uh so other other needs other athletic needs uh other uh facilities that are in need of repair and updates and in a moment I I'll I'll go down the list that Rob and an kindly provided uh we also talked about uh just other budget concerns questions that have come up about uniform Replacements uh coaching positions uh any teams that we can't field there were there were some questions which will also come up on on this list about Equity from a girls locker room persp perspective uh and Rob Mr Nixon kindly shared some some feedback there um the the notion there is is there are a lot of options that have been looked at I think the board members who who took the tour probably saw some of this last actually I wasn't on the tour was fall was was November okay yep um so building structure options in that instance could include things like containers um for for a girls locker room the the the notion is that this is this is and what we talked about is this is not a quick fix it's something we'd want to get done right and do it properly for a number of reasons um we did talk about retention of Co coaching positions versus Cuts I hit on that a little bit um and did explain how some programs like girls lacrosse uh did not have the numbers to sponsor a freshman team for 2024 um and how um she has been able to be creative with moving that stype into other positions uh for example like a varsity assistant coach for ice hockey um uh let's see and then um she just updated us on participation numbers I'll just take them off quickly uh total students participating for fall Sports 23 24 292 winter uh 314 and spring 299 those numbers are down a little bit um although it's somewhat reflective to overall School population being down a little bit um so we covered that and then obviously we talked a little bit about um the recognition that we did tonight and just some other other ideas for ways to um a move it a bit closer to the ends of season which is sometimes not possible possible spring I.E goes right to the end of of the school year and also just ways to maybe get um board members um Athletics committee members involved uh perhaps if we were to do it at um for example a senior Awards night or an athletic awards night so um more to come there it won't any changes won't happen most likely until probably fall but just noting that we did look at that and then I did want to go down the list um because I think it's important it's important from a um Financial perspective obviously um from the RW ref ROM perspective uh and and also just I think from from an equity and and even a safety perspective to be honest a lot of these are not new items but I think it's important to hear just in order um these are this is a priority list of Athletic Facility needs I would have shared it sooner we we got it today and I happy to share with the full board and obviously um we we should be thinking about these things number one dedicated locker room space for various female teams um facility could be in addition to the complex with a standalone structure with Locker space for at least two to three teams per season team meeting area bathrooms other amenities um this will need to be part of a larger facility upgrade project um and we could look to partner with the Highlander booster club number two installation of a structurally safe and fully enclosed Press Box for the turf facility I hinted at this uh but the current facility box is old it leaks uh and the flooring has been patched several times it's also infested with bees and other insects uh I can attest to that having sat up there for some games uh a new facility is needed uh to house in-game Personnel football coaches during games uh and location uh to support huddle game practice filming um this also will need to be part of a larger facility upgrade project bhps could look to partner with local companies so naming rights these are things we we've talked about a little bit sorry it's long but I think it's important uh three dedicated adun coaches locker room space so this would allow for G ghs uh HP M staff to have a private office and our outside District coaches a space to conduct team meetings also likely need to be part of a larger facility project uh for red gym floor uh refin with new graphics and similar branding Graphics as the blue gym floor in 2023 um not sure if this project is part of summer plans uh by the building and grounds Department um but that that's a question uh five both blue and red gym walls repainted consolidating the championship Banner recognition uh and identifying origin of the rust on the beams in the blue gym uh seal and repaint this uh this should be part of a maintenance plan every five years to to appropriately protect the school district's property but this is this needs to be completed as soon as possible six uh install volleyball St and sleeves we've talked about this in past uh meetings and reports and paint volleyball lines in the blue gym um we obviously have had and celebrated our our girls volleyball team um which has been hugely successful in recent years this would allow us to host state tournament games with larger crowds we've sold out the Red Gym in 2022 and 23 during State sectional championships um this also would allow for the possibility in the future of a boys volleyball team which is something else that we've um received feedback from the public on and have talked about and this project could be supported by partnering with bhpl and outside organizations uh two more uh new logo branded wall pads for the Red Gym um these are out for quote and could be possibly completed within the 23 24 school year uh to fully upgrade both gyms blue gym should have new padding too with GL logos this will fully upgrade both gyms uh and then now that the we talked about the lights um at the field and the different solutions there we also just noting from a wish list perspective um less of a of a priority needs um would be a larger weight room to support the growing needs for student athletes uh in terms of speed strength and power uh and then a dedicated space for visiting teams to use uh when they play games here so uh that concludes my Athletics report I don't you want me to take any questions and I can go right to technology otherwise I know it's a mouthful or like a lot of mouthfuls all right let's go to technology technology next okay good yeah sorry questions or comments yeah point on that and I think that was a great update like a lot of detail just selfishly thinking a little bit about the finance and the impact right on things like the budget y so a little bit of preview we have a finance meeting happening tomorrow so I don't know if some of that is already in our list maybe this is more of an AJ question but at some point we need to understand the conversations and the requirements that are coming out of the Athletics committee and how that matters to the budget so just putting it on there and and again I don't have specific costs we don't have specific costs obviously on all of the items mentioned but obviously some of them you heard that priority order which I can share with the full board tonight later tonight so that we've got that for the meeting tomorrow and um again I there's some of them some of these items maybe could be addressed sooner uh some of them need to be addressed sooner uh and some of them might require the artword yeah um Jordan quickly um at least four of the items that you mentioned if you can share it like via email won't they be part of cap we have Capital reserves and maintenance reserves and I think last year uh we did Julie did withdraw from the capital reserve it's still in the it's still in play so most of these I I think at least four or five that I heard I can if if you email me I can identify I think if they're going to be for longer than five years we can definitely include them as Capital Improvements or maintenance I think some of them I heard as maintenance so yes that would be great yeah I'll send them go ahead Angel I'll send them tonight either from here or yeah so I I just wanted to clarify also that some of that could be we discussed in the committee meeting that some of those could be determined as capital projects because some of them like the Press Box were of concern with safety so not necessarily be put in the finance budget but maybe could be put aside for Capital reserves I think those were things we discussed as well yeah thanks any other comments or questions otherwise I'll go I'll go to the next big one so most of the items that you listed we are trying to Target for next school year or do we want to start on them immediately what's like the target date that yeah you want this one Rob or do you want me to it's an assorted mix in terms of timing obviously a couple of them are current school year right but yeah I mean I would say as as funds are identified and as we can do things some things are things that would be part of larger projects other things are items that we'd be looking to partner with Community groups to help try and support some of those things so um for some of them the timeline is more reflective of when we can wrap enough people around the cause and and and move forward with it yeah it is interesting this is now now I'll just add opinion to it but it's it's just that uh a we've talked about I feel like a bit of a broken record because having been on Athletics committee for a couple years so these are not new topics many of them um girls locker room conversation I feel like Rob brought it up a couple years ago the lights um I mean Jake credit to Jake actually has actually gone went door to door A couple of years ago to to basically say hey if would if we wanted to could we what's your take um would you be amenable to that sort of thing so um and yeah things like the Press Box if if you've been to a football game or soccer game and you get close to it it it uh I wouldn't get too close to it if the wind's blowing is yeah so so it's yeah not a joking matter and these are these are things that we we should think seriously about and and try to move quickly on all right I'll pivot to technology and keep us moving um so uh technology committee um we we met uh just on the 16th Tuesday of this week um I I uh I had as technology chair I had invited two additional board members because um not all of us could attend um so we had um Gail and Natasha both were able to join as well and I was on this meeting as well and thanks to Jeremy and Rob for joining and for patience and questions on this one so we covered a lot of ground the bulk of the conversation uh was was a continuation of from our last board meeting full board meeting and talking about remote participation uh at board meetings um I won't go blow for blow but I think it's just important to note that um a lot of due diligence was put into this conversation we covered um what are other school districts doing um you heard gal mention uh that she she's spoken to Ridgewood we talked about Sai had raised Madison and Ridgewood among others uh who um other districts that that have uh that have had hybrid meetings and how are they doing it so we talked through a lot of the sort of the requirements um email entry that sort of a thing um Jeremy gave us some perspective in terms of um potential moderator needs and who that person could be um and and again whether it could be him probably not um and and and the need potentially for a technician that sort of a thing um we talked about um the the platforms themselves there are a lot out there these days so um people say Zoom the way that we say Kleenex it's not uh it there are a lot of options so we did talk through um Google meets for example um we talked about WebEx uh and and and Jeremy gave us some perspective there uh and and we we started to move toward what what would it take to get toward a a proof of concept essentially um just just so the public knows right now we we record in Zoom keep me honest here by the way Jeremy you can jump out of there if I'm messing this up uh and and we convert to YouTube um so uh the status quo would be no cost YouTube as as a live stream um we we uh and and we did talk a bit about too the fact that since since moving here and and part of moving from meetings from CMS to GL there was a cost um the the number from from Jeremy in terms of of previous Tech purchases was $88,500 uh and then moving toward uh where we're getting action wise uh so Jeremy did share a nice schematics uh of what this space this space would look like from from a zoom room perspective uh and how it could work and there basically are three options that that he walked the committee through um a would be a a TV for for Zoom essentially where we'd be watching on a TV we we technically did this for a prior meeting it was a borrowed TV from CMS uh I don't know which that where that TV is right now but it's it's a TV that that ultimately would need to go back or be solved for in option A and there'd be the question of can you would the public be able to see from behind the TV Etc ET Etc but that's an option there's an option where we could Mount uh a TV on the wall near the cafeteria banners um and and that would allow for a little easier setup less dependence on technicians uh the custodial staff would set up that table uh and onward we would go and then there's a third option by which uh the projector screen here uh which we all love near and dear U would be used for Zoom uh note on the projector that Jeremy shared it's 15 years old um and there is money budgeted at some point to to replace that projector and another projector uh in in this room um with 85 in TVs uh but there's obviously that's it's not that's not this school year as I understand it uh and so that would take a little time to install so net net uh the takeway on this there is no additional cost for a pilot uh which is important to note um there there's there's a little bit of work that needs to happen here um in terms of figuring out the kind of run of show who would promote speakers who's going to be the moderator is it the is it the board president pres is it is it a superintendent is it someone else Etc so we we talked about who that can be and again the way that that other districts have run it um one important note I think um that Mr gardano mentioned is that uh we do have njs njsla testing coming up in May second or third week of May so we want to just be mindful of of everyone's time in terms of that and and ideally try to try to roll this out post that testing um but we did talk about uh trying to to uh the takeaway from Jeremy is is that the um he and the tech team are going to work on a demo uh of what that remote participation will look like uh in a zoom zoom webinar we'll call it Zoom webinar for now um he's going to record it uh and then be able to share it with us as a board um probably ahead uh or at least initially as a committee and then as a board um we're going to we're going to Endeavor to do another meeting in May date TBD for now um come back to you Jeremy to try to iron that out um and then try to roll this out for a a Board Test Meeting I'm going to say June or July anyone cringes on that let me know but that that is the Endeavor and it and it seems realistic um anyone else can chime in on that so so uhet net it's we're in a good place and a lot of members of the public have reached out about this um sounds like we'll be we'll be uh in business at least from a from a test and a demo perspective within the next two months um just quickly uh other agenda items we hit on we talked about um classroom technology just overview and strategy thanks Jeremy and with a goal of trying to simplify things for teachers uh we by the phone system uh three systems need updating our current system is called on-prem we need to replace it by 2029 there's no option but to replace it that must be nice from a tech perspective uh phones can't be transferred to another system and they're not cheap um if we were to replace all phones we're talking about classroom phones uh and office phones we have 144 office phones 252 classroom phones be $130,000 uh to replace all that um Jeremy's also investigating Cloud phone systems talked about PA systems and then Place some of those he showed us uh Mountain Park which looked like um it was past this time was for 1993 and I don't think it's with us anymore uh talked about security and cameras uh and what just the update from uh um connections that get lost or need replacing um and and the service itself is expensive he did share cost on moroi hopefully I'm pronouncing that right cameras uh if we were to do everything all cameras that's install new equipment the licensing which is expensive and requ requires renewal every 5 years we're talking about $664,000 from a camera's perspective uh so um big numbers there and and side did ask for some details just in terms of what's not working how many the history on this who installed for example um and you know could wired phones be used or paid for by capital capital reserve so covered a lot of ground um we are going to likely have another uh technology committee meeting in May uh but I'll come back on dates I miss anything anything else you guys want to add Jeremy all right okay all right I'm going home thanks any questions so the technology committee is saying that we're going to move forward with a pilot to do some sort of um participation online yes the specifics I.E cameras on cameras off how we'll promote to ask a question Etc we talked all those scenarios but that will pin down as part of a demo and a we have cameras off do we need to worry about these TVs projectors necessarily fair question I mean I think the assumption is that some cameras would be on or want to be on in terms of of public participation so probably yes we want to see either way even the camera's off you'd want to see the square of the person who wants to ask a question yes okay like like Daddy's iPhone that kind of thing just kidding but like I mean from here right like Daddy's iPhone could be read sure sure yes much easier than maybe the projector issues that we'll have yeah I mean it sounds like options A and B are the most viable short term obviously if and when we get a beautiful 85 in screen right there we're in business but so I'm just gonna bring up I did look at Madison and um Bridgewood and both of them have um policy 167 I think it is that talks about what the actual um uh public participation is and both of them had policies that stated kind of rules a little little bit not much just a little bit to make sure that we're we are on the same page so I am going to try to move that with the policy committee um and decide what we what we want to look at just so we protect ourselves from anything it's a good thought yeah thank you yeah thank you um Mrs Jolly do you have any uh on the educator of the Year updates um nothing at this uh Point other than we did confirm the date I was worried that we didn't but um you know uh our business office was forward looking and they lost locked in the date right now for uh June 10th and we obviously would like to do it in the auditorium and make it extra special thank you any other updates Mrs I'm sorry yes oh I'm sorry okay Mrs con finance committee uh finance committee met right before uh Spring Break um and again it was to focus on the budget um I'll just kind of go quickly just in the interest of time uh and and these minutes will be circulated along with you know um all the other materials uh still working through uh understanding the components of the budget what drives the the biggest part of the budget along with uh our business office uh one thing that was discussed uh was how do we increase the public engagement throughout the budget process uh as a part of that there was a survey uh that was sent out by the district team to get inputs from community members on the budget priorities so I believe the survey is closed now as of yesterday or day before one of those days yes um there was a a detailed conversation on the transportation expenses that are in the budget right now and understanding what's driving that uh some of the conversation that we are going to have today as a part of the agenda is going to impact uh the path forward in terms of how that piece of the budget might uh or might not change we talked briefly about tiered busing options uh and is it viable at this point to explore that um at this point it appears that our dismissal times are not really helping us um get to a point where we can truly get a tiered um uh system um for busing that will work for us that will involve uh redesign of the uh bus routes as well as then getting uh pricing that would be appropriate uh there was a transportation meeting on the 28th and we'll hear more about that I believe uh from Pamela depending on what happens today with the policy 8600 uh the transportation team will decide if they need to go and rebid the the routes or not uh a few questions that were asked as a part of the process was how does the budget support our district goals student achievement the DI initiatives that are part of our board goals as well as District goals uh what is the uh recommended Surplus for a district the size of Berkeley Heights uh trying to align the enrollment numbers with the salaries in the budget um how do we uh think about uh the increased Revenue due to higher interest rates uh we do have a followup uh schedule for tomorrow to dive deeper into this uh some more to come what are you Pamela okay so um I'm going to start with policy we had a policy meeting on 41 at 12:30 I'm going to start with policy 8600 this is on student transportation so this policy supports student safety this policy promotes Traffic Safety this policy is the desire of the transportation department and the district who drove with the Berkeley Heights Police Department to look at the recommended hazardous roads this policy is the financially smart use of our transportation budget while giving us the most seats available for subscription busing which brings Revenue to the district and this policy addresses the inequitable courtesy busing we currently have by removing homes that have safe student routes to school and documents everyone who would get busing so it is clear who and why then we have regulation 8600 again student transportation this is the regulation this policy is not connected to the revisions to policy 8600 this is a regulation we already have a policy 8600 so even if tonight's revisions don't pass we still need the regulation to guide the policy we currently have then we have policy 6421 we have purchases budgeted the committee had a good discussion on this policy the committee decided to keep 15% of the bid threshold in order to keep in order to give staff the ability to make purchases in a timely matter and then we have the policy and the regulation 5116 education of homeless youths this is uh one is a revision and one is new the regulation is new again it was minor changes and mostly just to update who the design is for the public and then we have abolish policy 54 60.02 that's for bridge year as the program is no longer exists for our students we're going to abolish it then we had the Personnel committee on 3:25 at 4:00 we had a 10-year review there are 10 staff members who were presented for 10e by the district administrators to the Personnel committee um then we also had a contract review for a member of the district office and we are going to continue to work to improve uniformity in contracts then I had an Hib ABS meeting on uh April at 9:30 William wuff had their kindness challenge they also participated in coins for kids in Kenya the kindergarteners separated the coins the first graders counted the coins and the second grade bagged them kids read at home for coins right so they read a book and then they could put a coin in the Box they did this for three weeks and raised 2,480 no sorry $78 which supports 49 students in Kenya their education they're also learning about conflict resolution in their win periods that is what I need periods then we have Mountain Park and Hughes they are learning the power of resilience that you can bounce back or go Splat they are finding ways to grow from mistakes Mountain Park recently brought the eagle tickets to their building just like Huey does um for Huey tickets CMS did random acts of kindness and they also worked on neurodiversity um the Berkeley Heights Ed found Foundation sponsored their lunch and learn for the book rules which is about a girl with an autistic um sibling um for their lunch and learn at GL they did something called Trend it was about prevention it was about school about school stress managing commitments and what does a leader look like they also held a veterans food drive and they had a homework free weekend the week of 3:15 they spoke about um HIV investigations how they work they went over filing with consistency to make sure that all the different um counselors are filing in the same way so they look uniform the process just for parents to know parents will get a phone call and then you'll receive a letter home in the mail after the superintendent views the report an email is sent out with a status after the Boe receives and votes another final letter is sent um this is what they wanted to make important that the final letter sometimes people it comes very late right the Hib had been months ago but you do need to receive that final letter so don't get upset when you do um they also asked if the Berkeley Heights Board of Ed has Hib training so we talked about some of the basic training that we get through njpa and they asked if maybe the board could consider doing more training together on Hib and then the last one is the Berkeley IES Education Foundation um I was with them last last night they talked about their L lunches which again was rules um they talked about the students at CMS self- advocating for a novel they're going to do the graphic novel The Day The Towers fell so they working on scheduling that for the end of the year um they donated a scale to the nurse they had magazine holders for French and they bought magnetic whiteboards at Mountain Park and they are also piloting stretch bands for sensory uh for children across the uh chairs um and I thank them for all that they do because we know as we try to get the budget that some of these smaller things are just not accomplished in our budget and we really thank them for all that they do um and that's my report thank you any other reports Lea's honor committees okay thank you we're going to move on now to board Communications and report of the business administrator there are there are four Communications that I had received and there four topics that I have first one was mice infestation second was the superintendent search firms third was appointment of business administrator and last was appointment of Rob Nixon as superintendent of schools those were the four that I received thank you next is the report of the business administrator at Governor Livingston there were uh C uh cafeteria TVs that were installed those are going to be used for uh monitor uh menus for the cafeteria uh in room 13 a project uh projector was installed Library water pipe had to be Pro pressed uh again for for for a problem that was uh going on and a varsity field scoreboard was repaired at Mary Kay new thermostats were installed in three classrooms fence installation was completed in the lower PR playground and parking lot um at Mountain Park main entrance ramp was repaired and potholes were filled at use uh pricing was uh obtained for ramp repair at woodro at William woodro there were new thermostats uh were installed repair of the cafeteria fan install of a new water heater and expansion tank installed new timers for security lights and potholes were filled at CMS both gyms gym floors were scrubbed and Rec with a finish PA system was repaired in the bwing and all speakers are working and the volume uh is working districtwide we had started painting in the uh administration building District custodian transfers were completed hot hole project uh is still ongoing custodian transfers needed their swipe cards updated for new buildings and triple tap features updated with emails were done and the b& director updated his IPM license for the district on April 5th and that concludes my report thank you any questions okay uh comments from the public on agenda items during this portion of the meeting districts uh residents and staff are invited to address the board of education on agenda items only the board requests that individuals State their name address town of residence or School of attendance for the record all comment should be directed to the board president depending on the nature and complexity of the question it it may or may not be answered during the meeting by the administration if so the response would occur after this public portion of the meeting has concluded although the board may not respond to all items raised during the public form all public comments will be considered the board asks that members of the public be courteous and mindful of the rights of other individuals when speaking specifically comments regarding Personnel manners are discouraged and cannot be responded to by the board students and employees have specific legal rights afforded by the laws of New Jersey the board Bears no responsibility nor will it be liable for any comments made by the members of the public please note if any member of the public becomes disruptive during the meeting the board president May terminate the participant statement continued disruptions may result in removal from or adjournment of the meeting each speaker's statement will be limited to three minutes in duration the public session is open is there anyone who'd like to speak good evening everyone uh Susan POG I'm here uh from woodriff school today so I wanted to uh speak regarding approving the summer curriculum writing that's on the agenda tonight and I do want to share with you veteran teachers are upset with the sidebar proposed a flat hourly fee for an important role as writing curriculum is lacking in foresight in 2022 I was on a curriculum team for writing teachers got paid an hourly wage based on placement on the salary guide veteran teachers bring expertise and experience exp erience to the role of writing curriculum and should be compensated accordingly teachers with Advanced degrees bring an even greater level of proficiency I also noticed on the agenda today there are other summer positions that are rated on their salary or um based on their salary rates and I know that I would not apply for a role that undervalues my educational knowledge skills and dedication to this District thank you thank you Debbie terrera 170 Lenny Lane Berkeley Heights good evening I'm here to speak tonight regarding the controversy over busing students what does not seem to make sense to me is the need to strike down policy 8600 when it is beneficial to the district first with this policy in place it positions Berkeley Heights to receive subsidized State funds back to the district how is this a bad thing second it makes sure that our children that currently live in some of the most dangerous locations in town are brought safely to and from school and let me point out to the district it's the district is responsible for our children from the moment they leave the school do doors until our children get home there's case law in New Jersey where the Board of Education was held liable so when you are making a decision very careful to think about the consequences hiring a consulting firm to provide advice on hazardous roads and then ignoring the firm's recommendations can now put the Berkeley High School District at risk of being sued for failure to acknowledge their expertise and failing to provide safe measures in place when we have already had them over the past 20 years remember this hazarded hazardous Road policy is a start and can always be adjusted so let's talk about some of the reasons provided by the board members that don't support policy 8600 one reason I've heard is because you feel it's not Equitable while I do agree with the importance of equity none of the locations listed on the Hazardous policy appears questionable they're all hazardous I've heard concerns about some streets only having specific house numbers listed on them you are all intelligent men and women and if you actually looked at these houses and where they're located you will notice that in some of those streets where their house numbers are listed that there are no sidewalks near those homes or areas where the child can safely cross the street something else to consider are houses on busy roads which I've heard you mention before and some of these streets where these house numbers are located are in much more D closer to much more dangerous intersections for example Mountain Avenue on the western part of town where I happen to actually live Mountain Avenue has many crossing guards and there's much less traffic on the eastern part of town Mountain Avenue is much more dangerous these homes are near Diamond Hill Road and wouldn't even and I myself and I'm sure you wouldn't even attempt to cross that road it's too dangerous another reason provided has been the need to see the data the big issue with sharing the data as far as I understand it is it would open up the door to turn unbiased opinions into a biased opinion that could possibly impact our decisions for ourselves our neighbors our friends Etc the reality is that everyone is going to be able to see the data we have to have faith in the people hired that we've hired the district has hired that you've hired and utilize their expert opinions they are the subject matter experts not you and not us they are the subject matter experts and and let's just look at this also a retired state trooper certified in traffic safety conducted research and rode around our town I'm sure our local police department would agree with the findings as well how is this not sufficient enough data for you to make a determination why do you need to see the rubrics I don't understand that we need to stop road-blocking everything that's going on with this board and start moving forward as a district in closing please I thank you very much for your time and encour and encourage you to do the right thing for our children let's not let our egos get in the way of putting our children first and putting them in a position where they could be Crossing dangerous roads and giving peace of mind to the parents that live on these dangerous area in those dangerous areas thank you thank you is there anyone else who'd like to speak on agenda items okay we will move on on our agenda and we're going to be looking at resolutions oh excuse me we missed this okay uh minutes is next resolution all board members approval of meeting minutes resolve that the board of education approves the following minutes regular session minutes from January 18th 2024 executive session minutes from February 26 2024 regular session minutes from March 18th 2024 executive session minutes from March 18th 2024 regular session minutes from April 12th 2024 executive session minutes from April 10th 2024 and executive session minutes from April 15 2024 Madam Pres president may I just suggest when giving the vote if you could kindly just say make it easier whatever you're going to say no or abstain if you can just say that first and then this way if it's everything else is a yes it'll just make things a lot easier thank you may we have a motion so mve and a second second second who was the second second thank you yes roll call sure discussion so I just want to remind everybody that um Anthony I just uh AJ can I get a confirmation like has the regular session minutes from January 18th been posted to the website no they have not so by holding these up right that we're also not giving the public the minutes that they want to see right by allowing them to review our meeting so I really do think that we need to move forward I know everyone has different points on some of these and we've heard them but we do need to allow the public to be able to breed our minutes I'm going to give it one more chance and if I'm not mistaken I think I've uh uh ask councel that I think that I would need to have or put draft on on those or or not put them on Council U I'm trying to remember what we had uh spoken about with these minutes yes sorry you have your own protocol that you follow nothing would require you to not post to approve so Mr Mr jovic um I I reached out to njsba I looked on their blogs minutes don't have to be especially regular session minutes don't have to be approved to be uploaded so you can have a draft on them and upload them or draft and not approved and then upload them nothing has to be held up because they weren't approved thank you but again there's nothing holding us back from approving them tonight either we do need to start making decisions and moving forward I I urge everybody to start doing the work thank you Mr secretary a vote please and again please just say no to whatever you want Oh Mrs Jolly disc just a comment to that I mean uh you know my rationale for some of my votes is to make the minutes more accurate and include the full discussion you know I mean similar to some of the updates that we see here on um I guess we'll get to it eventually but you know that are not what there was an important thing that happened on January 18th and I don't think it's properly documented okay thank you Mr secretary Mr uh I'm an abstain from andf I was not present for April 10 and yes to the other uh ABC D and G Miss Panna hi yes but I was not at the April 15th so I abstaining from that and which uh letters are you abstaining from g g okay Mr Kiri no on a b c d a b c and d yes to the all yes to the rest of them thank you Dr forer No to uh ABCD yes to EFG Miss JY I am a no to a b c and e and yes to the rest yes to the I'm sorry yes to the rest thank you Miss Conor no to A and B yes to everything else thank you Miss Stanley yes Miss Bradford yes to all okay so I have a and b uh we don't one two three and four so A and B do not pass I have for c one and two so those would pass so A and B do not pass the rest do thank you we'll move on to superintendent search firm resolution a all board members approve superintendent search firm resolve that the Berkeley Heights Board of Education upon the recommendation of the business administrator approves the superintendent search firm mcferson and Jacobson in an amount not to seed 18,500 motion motion second second discussion hold on one moment uh that was Mrs Conor was the second and who is the first Mrs joh I well so I'll make yeah I'll make a quick comment just to say um I won't be voting in favor of this firm full transparency I wasn't I wasn't at uh this the second session when all firms were uh were interviewed so so take it with the grain of salt um my preference would have been to to see the district go with a F or or a partner that has lots of experience with new placing New Jersey csas and I don't believe that the uh The Firm that's been put forth tonight has that experience in fact pther on materials they've placed more Idaho superintendents than New Jersey so just my comment any like a motion to move to Executive session because I no longer feel comfortable with this do I have a second is there a second on that move to Executive session Tom speak into the mic I believe it's out of order because once you have a motion in a second you can only apply a subsidiary motion and this doesn't sound like a subsidiary motion to me I would ask that we get a ruling of the chair as to whether uh or our parliamentarian as to whether this is actually a proper motion I I agree that it's yeah I agree that it's not okay right um any other discussion okay a vote Miss Jolly yes I'm sorry can I sorry yes Miss focusing what we would I'd like to just say um so my with having this discussion with this firm on the agenda My First Choice was not this firm My First Choice can I mention who it was was New Jersey school boards based on their experience and based on I know who's actually going to be running it and I have a lot of experience with the lady who's running it and her expertise but I'd just like to say that in the interest of moving this forward because I think it's imperative that we move forward and get a search firm we need to start it uh I just wanted everybody to know that I would be willing to approve it because I think it's important that we don't come to a deadlock and a forall and then we have to go back again I think in the interest of actually getting moving forward I think it's important that we we do that thank you anything else okay vote Yes Mr Kiri yes Dr forer yes Mr Heyman no Miss Penna yes Miss Stanley Miss Bradford yes motion passes okay uh Administration uh I'd like to before we move on to this yeah I'd like to just take a five minute recess for a question yep a five minute recess at this point so uh Mr Marks if you'll turn off the remote we are now administ but I would a motion to amend H so if you'll turn to H in your blue folders okay I'm going to read the new uh proposal for the the motion for the wording on Amendment 8 approve I'm just waiting for Mrs Conor or okay do we have one two three four five six we have six okay approve acting principal at Governor Livingston high school resolve that the Berkeley Heights Board of Education upon the recommendation of the Acting Superintendent approves the posting for the appointment of an acting principal at Governor Livingston high school to assume principal responsibilities from May 1st 2024 through May 27th 2024 in accordance with the bhaa um in accordance in accordance with the haa uh CBA what is CBA again collective bargaining agreement pending the approval of resolution under Administration G pending what was that again sorry pending the agreed uh the passage of resolution passage of res resolution under resolution G under Administration yes I will repeat it approve acting princip Bradford do you want to wait till everybody is here maybe that way you don't have to repeat it sure okay so I'm making the motion is to change the wording on Administration H and this will read as follows approve acting principle at Governor Livingston high school resolved that the Berkeley Heights Board of Education upon the recommendation of the Acting Superintendent approved the posting for the appointment of an acting principal at Governor Livingston high school to assume principal responsibilities from May 1st 2024 through May 27th May 27th 2024 in accordance with the bhaa collective bargaining agreement and appr and pending approval of resolution Administration G is it just a posting or a posting of an appointment because I think we're removing the word appointment and replacing it with posting posting for the appointment posting for of an appointment is what I heard it says posting for the appointment is there a motion so moved the change in the wording for resolution H Administration H change in wording in h second I'll second it all in favor or do I well we taking a roll call roll call okay and this is just for this amendment to be clear yes yeah okay okay roll call Mr secretary oh can we have discussion can we ask questions or do we have to go directly to roll call have discussion yes do you have a a question Mrs yeah so what why are we amending this because your your administrator colle agreement has a clause your administrator's collective bargaining agreement has a clause that pertains to this issue and by having proceeded with the way it was number one the posting clarifies because no individual is stated and that wasn't clear but number two the stiped amount um potentially conflicts with the clause in the collective bargaining agreement and so that would be governing and that would be consistent with what has been negotiated with the administrators of this District okay so will that I'm just curious because there are two um agenda items here the other one also has a typen so is that also bound which is um I no okay just clarifying I that posting is for a teacher to serve in that capacity different um different agreement so no um no dependency no bhea nothing correct okay thank you just wanted to clarify thank you Mrs Ziri Mrs Stanley wait there still isn't this is the motion on the V yet you didn't vote yet my mic wasn't on anyway so it wasn't a good discussion's finished yes we didn't vot we didn't take the roll call yet there was discussion okay discussion on amending the wording for administration H has ended and we're going to go to a vote Mrs Mrs Connor so this is just for the amendment correct the one you made the motion for yes so yes answer is yes Mr Heyman yes Mr Kiri uh I'm a still little still confused so I'll obain Dr forer yes Miss Jolly yes Miss Penna yes Miss Stanley Miss Bradford yes motion passes I would like to make a motion I move to reconsider superintendent search firm resolution a approve superint search firm can this can a motion be made now when we have already moved on and voted yeah I want I'm asking Mark [Music] quel oh yeah you're right we've passed it and we already we've already voted on it so no no you didn't make the motion to reconsider said to amend so doesn't it require a 48 hour notice this was never it's not that's not new that's new business yeah I'm going to help her out here I'm I'm going to move to reconsider the appointment uh of the search firm I'm I voted with majority so I can do that all right so we have a reconsideration oh a second yes so Tom is the Tom is the first now and Mrs Stanley is the second okay so now we have a reconsideration of the superintendent search firm resolution a all board members approved superintendent search firm resolved that the Berkeley Heights Board of Education upon the recommendation of the business administ administrator approves the superintendent search firm mcferson and Jacobson in an amount not to exceed 18,500 yes Mrs pened discussion sorry can can I ask why we're doing that just would be interest interested to know by the recommendation for reconsideration after discussion during our our recess uh some other board members and I realized that there are some concerns that we have with this firm and um we want to maybe reconsider and see how everyone else feels so by reconsidering we are eliminating possibly this search firm is there a replacement search firm I believe so yes so we have a motion first for this one to reconsider and then possibly another motion for another search firm yeah I'm not sure how this works but maybe Mark can help us uh be better if you just vote to to eliminate that one and then vote to replace it with another one point point of order I'm not sure what is going on we had a resolution we had a conversation in the exec we came out there was a resolution we all voted I'm not sure what's going on anymore we seem to have gone back on the agenda items I mean is back I don't get it it's not great but it's legal according to Robert's Rules we are allowed to resend a motion already voted upon yes it's allowed but where my question I'm with I want to know the whole point of having a straw poll setting agenda in exec so that we are all is the mic working okay so we had a we had a clear we had a clear agenda on exec he took close careful what we we don't want to discuss what happened in S I am very well Mrs Bradford I'm just asking it took we took two two weeks and we discussed about it we arrived at an notion here we have already voted on it and now we are publicly challenging it which might open us for the other firm might say what's happening the one that we just approved so you can reconsider but your point is you want to make sure you're doing it for a very good reason but yet you have the ability under Robert's Rules as Dr forger and Miss Stanley has pointed out I left my copy of Robert's rules at home unfortunately but you have your sheet over there uh but you oh you have the book Thank you but you can reconsider you just have to have what is the very good reason I'm just saying I'm not saying there is one I'm just agreeing with you that we might be opening us up for like more legal issues because we just had thorough process we arrived at a conclusion and we voted just say no conclusions are made in executive session you have discussions and executive sessions here I'm just clarifying for the record yes is is the motion just to reconsider or is it to reconsider and put forth an alternate firm in the same breath or something like that that would be my question is again you have to reconsider first like we have to get permission to reconsider first and then uh I believe me and or Tom would uh amend it I believe he might have to amend it because I was not in the majority vote in this um so it would be to amend it so we have a motion on the floor to reconsider superintendent search firm resolution a all board members a and we had a second we've had discussion um Mr Mrs Jolly um just a question I mean is there um some new information that came to light that we should be aware of or are we reconsidering just based on the information we we have already was there something new that popped up in no nothing new would we when we make this reconsideration motion would we be putting forward one of the other firms that were in discussion in exec session I'm just making sure that there's nothing else so if there is no new information I'm trying to understand Tom the basis for why you would move this motion we've heard at nauseum for the last I don't know how many meetings how we need to move ahead in the interest of time getting work done and all the good stuff that's associated with that we just made the motion we had the conversation I'm trying to better understand what has changed in the five minutes so I can say from my point of view I feel like my voice was not heard when we had discussions um I have concerns I moot I mentioned them at the last excess session I mentioned them again today again it's confidential on some of the discussions that we have so I can't speak too freely when we're in public session I get that so we heard the concerns we sort of took that into consideration I imagine today did you hear my concerns today I'm not sure you did we all had the same convers ation in the exec I think we all heard the same thing so what I'm trying to better understand is what has changed in the last five minutes for us to have to go back in time versus moving forward I believe we have some concerns on expense I believe we have some concerns on experience and uh I think that uh we need to at least vote on this and see if that the majority can uh come to a conclusion so I'm just so basically we're setting aent that if our voice is not heard or if we're not happy with something that has been passed I would like this to be documented Mrs Bradford that this should be allowed things no every I I would like to repeat it because there seems to be something wrong with the so all I'm say can I can I I I still have the floor I'm just saying if we are going to allow this to happen today on April 18 2024 I hope as the board president you're not going to be biased you're going to be neutral and you will allow this when a majority votes and if somebody feels that their voice has not been heard they're unhappy with the decision and they're going to move a motion and amend it you should be allowing it if it's a yes then let's go ahead In fairness the majority has seconded it so I mean this would be a moot point if not for that so I don't want it to be shut down because most of the time last meeting I was peing no you're making a good point yeah so I'm just saying last meeting when the board Madame President allowed one board member to say speak and give her comments about poor form and when the when I tried to address it I was try to I was shut down so as long as we are allowing this it should be allowed in future thank you a reminder that Robert's Rule says that the person who makes the motion had to be in the majority vote which Tom was which is why I couldn't make the motion in him second he had to make the motion in I second so we have a motion on the floor I also want to say that unless there's some discussion that would disparage one of the firms that would require an executive discussion or require attorney client privilege this discussion could happen in public too as to or should happen in public as to why a firm would be preferred over another firm or why just one firm would be preferred or why there' be a consideration for doing this that doesn't have you know that should be a public discussion so we have a vote to reconsider still haven't heard a reason to reconsider so what are we what are we talking about Tom I really want to hear your point as to why you put this motion to reconsider on the table well actually I I just wanted to give uh some people including myself a chance to vote on another on another firm a different one I this this firm that we're picking is not my first choice um and Jordan did raise a concern that uh they only have done one New Jersey district and I was I don't know if I should get into the details but there's another firm that I thought had a lot more had been very successful um and I would that would have been my first choice so I just wanted to see if I could people would maybe switch their views so I'm just trying to clarify on the motion this motion is to reconsider a different firm we're not naming anybody and we will have an ability to say let's open up the superintendent search further so we can look at other firms if there are concerns I don't want to be limited to just these two because originally I did con convey my concern because there were eight firms that reached out to us there was one firm that we did not even respond to so let I I'm just saying out of eight we only give an we shot we removed four we as a board agreed to listen and have allow board presentations from only four superintendent search firms we completely ignored a nationwide search firm that has written to us so I'm I'm open to reconsidering but I am not going to be I think it's not going to be fair to force our hand and say out of out of the nine we shortlisted four out of the four we sh we came up with one and yes right we're going to have to focus just on what's going order on the order here um so we have a vote to reconsider Mr secretary will you do a roll call please vote to reconsider resolution a all board members approve superintendent search firm Dr forer yes Mrs stanle yes Mr Kiri no Mr Heyman yes Miss Jolly Miss Conor no Miss Panner uh this they were not my first choice so I would be interested in reconsideration so yes see who else is going to be included Miss Bradford yes motion passes do we have another vote motion I I move I make I move I make a motion to open up the superintendent search firms for another round so we can look up at additional superintendent search firms instead of what we just received just for clarity does the reconsideration I think you'd want to clarify that if that's the direction you're heading in that you're resending the vote do you not you don't need to resend you've youve passed the motion to reconsider and then that vote then is no longer extend right that vote no longer exists because you opened up reconsideration is that what you're saying by your shaking of your head Miss Stanley okay or to reconsider or to to select another firm or talking to the mic I would like to just advise the board that we have got to move on on this for the superintendent search firm we have waited way too long for this and we have got to move on in choosing a superintendent search firm so we could get the public input on this we have voted now to reconsider is there a motion now I I Mo a motion and I'm looking for a second open up the superintendent search fir process M open up the search more for us yeah yeah so can I clarify are we are we talking RFP or what are we talking in terms of let Let's do an like I'm just saying open up the supernet and search firms again we basically there was no end date we didn't we didn't abide by we didn't do any rfps like well-run districts did which is the route we wanted to go we got nine firms I feel this is not a fair process just to be clear seven seven firms okay okay from January Mr jovic because my seven yes so I I I have a second let's go for a roll call let's open it up maybe yeah nobody motion is on the floor Mr we can always resend after that so we have a discussion oh was hold on S made a motion to open up the superintendent search form to a a broader set of firms and that will take us months clearly we made a choice right now and you know and then it it was taken away in five minutes so we have a second clearly clearly we have a second we have a first and a second clearly have an appetite to make this you know process long I thought we didn't want to do that but there is majority opinion that we want to do that so let's do that in the spirit of actually you know doing a proper search I think we have done a proper search but we have a motion to open up the superintendent search firm again why is it not a legal motion there was no motion made though there was we reconsidered you have the V stand V Rec V what you're do thater the jump to considering somebody else you decide what you're doing with seems to me to be putting the carart before the horse don't okay open uh superintendent search firm Mr secretary Miss Airi yes Miss Conor yes Dr forer Mr Heyman no Miss Charlie no Miss Penna no Miss Stanley Miss Bradford no motion fails do we have another motion to approve an another search firm and I think we need time to see we just publicly I would like I don't want to do any motions for any appointments today until I get a written legal opinion that what we are doing uh right now is not opening up for any other opening up for legal issues I don't want to I don't want any search from coming back to the district and saying because of concerns from one board member and change of mind are not being heard I don't I think that is I I want a written legal Memo from both our attorneys we have a board attorney we have an alternate attorney I want a first opinion and a second opinion before we go ahead and appoint somebody else thank you we have received legal advice Mrs Penna well also and Dr forger and Robert was in the majority and Robert trolls is clear if you're in the majority you you're not you're not bound as you're a deliberative body and you're in this current session deliberating there's nothing that would preclude you Robert's Rules is about having orderly deliberative meetings and allowing everybody's voice to be heard and because a vote was taken 15 minutes or 20 minutes prior and and there's a reconsideration by someone who was in the majority it clearly provides for the opportunity that to reconsider so all I'm saying is whatever we have seen legal opinion given by you sometimes with all due respect as not as accurate as we would have liked so all I'm saying is I'm open to reconsidering I just need an alternate board attorney's opinion so that we don't open his up I mean sorry Mrs Ziri we have a a we have a ruling what ruling excuse me Mr no you have a board president who's running a meeting and you stated your opinion which you're entitled to and she's entitled to proceed with the meeting and other people are still entitled to make motions even though you may disagree with them yeah all I'm saying is can we get can we thank you Mrs akiri we're moving forward yes I would like to make a motion to put New Jersey school boards on can I do that for the search firm can you have do you have a amount not to exceed I believe it was 12,000 was that was that there 14 was the trying to remember what they quoted and Mrs P will you also put in that motion to resend the vote for mcferson yes we're just getting an amount not to exceed I think uh just Ju Just to note that the top tier for school boards uh is which again we there's lots of check offs in terms of what's in there is 15,000 okay that includes guidance on strategic plan okay not exceed 15,000 okay I'll second it so we now have under superintendent search firm resolution a all board members approved superintendent search firm resolved that the Berkeley Heights Board of Education upon the recommendation of the business administration administrator approves the superintendent search firm New Jersey School Board Association first first resending mcferson and jobson in an amount not to exceed 18,500 to superintendent search firm New Jersey School Board Association in an amount not to exceed 15,000 that's the motion we have a second yes we have Mrs Penna and Mr Heyman yes a vote Please Mr secretary Mrs Penna Mr Hyman yes Mr Kiri no Dr forger Miss Charlie yes Miss Conor no Miss Stanley yes Miss Bradford yes motion passes so we have gone back and we've looked at a superintendent search firm and we have rescinded mcferson and Jacobson and we now have approved New Jersey School Board Association in an amount not to exceed $15,000 we did that all in one motion there where we Rec sended and we approved correct we are moving ahead with Administration resolutions a through M all board members um we are going to break apart e approve a report of Acting Superintendent case number 26075 eight CMS we are going to vote on that separately did you Administration just wanted to make sure I'm sorry Mrs Bradford did you skip over policies no okay we need a motion for Resolutions a through M all board members second second thank you discussion Mr secretary a vote on resolutions a through M we we have disc oh I'm sorry was there a discussion Mrs Jolly sure so I just wanted to um you know speak to policy 8600 I know the community is very passionate about the subject and I think you know I've been hearing both sides of the conversation and I appreciate um Mr son's you know uh support of this policy but I um I I cannot be in favor of this policy and I'd like to also address all of the reasons why in terms of equity safety traffic and state aid um Equity being uh the first one um so back in March of 2023 during the budget meeting I think Mrs Stanley herself had raised the question of inequity um in busing you know where some families were paying for um for busting some were not without a documented rationale so you know fast forward to a year and we're here now um the consulting firm was hired maybe six to seven months after that U March 23rd meeting to review you know our transportation landscape um we have their presentation um after the presentation they had sent us a rubric again it had Scotch planes on it so for whatever that's worth um but you know for me right now we don't have evidence of that rub how that rubric was being used because we can't see our roads on that rubric with a score I think it's just as important to understand you know why a road is hazardous you know and so we have that and I think you know some you can definitely you could use your judgment but I don't think Mr Nixon should be driving around trying to figure out the scoring on the rubric himself I think it's also just as important to understand why a particular Road was deemed not Happ hazardous so I think we're kind of in the same place where we have a list of roads and at least in my opinion again others feel they have the enough of the data but in my opinion we're we have a list of Roads again without a documented rationale so kind of feels like with you know essentially the same bus routes so I went back and took a closer look um at the uh well just one of comment um referencing the meeting that Mr Nixon and Mrs Stanley were at um Mrs Stanley wrote in her note to the board that they Regarding why they wouldn't share the numbers right they stated that sharing the numbers would only cause people to question the validity of their line um of what is hazardous which is what we were trying to avoid by hiring them and to me that is a very circular you know kind of logic right um I think they should be able to show us their objective analysis we may agree or disagree but at least it's consistent for all of the roads in Berkeley Heights um but they didn't even show the scoring to the attendees as far as I understand but please correct me from wrong so then we have their presentation and I took a look at the presentation because that is the physical artifact that we were given so this was the presentation from February 26 on page six they stated under the methodology section that you know they paid special attention to the following areas and there were five of them Snider horseshoe Mountain Avenue Springfield Avenue Emerson Lane Diamond Hill Road on page eight of said um president presentation under assessment uh finding summary they said all five studied exceeded hazardous points on the rubric however Springfield Avenue if if you look at the list is not on the list so again I wonder you know what changed between when they presented it did they rescore it did the criteria change I don't know so I would also like to see what the scoring would have looked like for Park Avenue and planfield all also very busy streets and as we know there was recently an accident in Park Avenue where you know now the township is taking another look at you know making making it safer so you know so we have the we have the list and like and the reason why I think it's important to understand why things are not Hazard why certain roads are not are to see that rubric we to understand how they are hazardous so what are the remediation plans like how do we know how to fix them how do we know how to get them off the list um and this is especially important right you know to understand why some are hazardous how do we get them off the list now especially with the assumption that hazardous busing is free right if you don't have the data it's and you're giving free busing it's I don't see how that is being Equitable now with respect to safety the policy itself really does not even fully address that because if you take a look at the language it says the board May provide transportation to and from school so um the policy does does not require the district to provide busing for hazardous roads so if we truly feel that safety is the you know is important which it is then the policy language should be adjusted to say shall um the regulation states that the board will approve a list of hazardous routes and in the district requiring the courtesy busing of students and the criteria used in designating the Hazardous routes our policy does not include the criteria um the policy also doesn't state that the busing for these hazardous routes is free the law does not require um free busing for hazardous routes and if there are budget constraints the board may pull non-mandated busing the policy doesn't prevent it and going back to that meeting in 20 um in March of you know 2023 I think Mrs Stanley reminded me that she was willing to pull um you know non-mandated busing because of a budget constraint right we were in the fiscal cliff so this doesn't guarantee this policy in the way it's worded does not guarantee busing for these um for these hazardous routes um you know with respect to traffic obviously nobody wants uh more traffic but then we need a holistic traffic study done I mean after we like the reason for the traffic in my opinion now is because we had reconfiguration so where you had kids who could walk to schools are now being driven to schools because they have to go further so you know personally I'm a little frustrated as well that you know we waste wasted um a lot of time since that initial discussion about doing it right back in March of 2023 um you know why wasn't there a community survey why wasn't the community surveyed about their transportation needs how their kids are currently um getting to school and why and and why right like maybe some people can get the bus but they prefer to drive their kids and also like asking the community would they be willing to pay for busing like important information to have if the consult Consultants are doing a holistic review of our transportation landscape so the question I guess is where do we go from here um you know to make this Equitable right so we could number one you know there's three Equitable options in my mind um one you can offer free busing to non to all non- remote kids but that's likely too expensive it's not going to fit within our budget parameters you could offer subscription busing to all non- remote kids you know maybe we will need I know like right now there is an built-in assumption that um that subscription busing is only for those empty seats on mandated routes so if you have a bus that's you know filled by qualified kids right then any empty seat is up for subscription busing why couldn't you offer subscription busing for everyone that's non-mandated and then based on the response create the routes that you need we have new software that's more efficient we could do that right in that respect everybody is treated in the same way without any subjectivity so you know I mean I guess the third option and which was discussed uh I think in the finance committee would be to look at longer term ideas such as you know stagger times which I understand is not feasible at this time or in short order due to our um dismissal times but maybe ultimately can be worked through so thank you Mrs Jolly any other discussion I just wanna add on to what Natasha said right if I go back a year probably this time last year maybe a little bit sooner we started this conversation because there was no explanation of who was getting free busing in the district and I'm talking about the non-mandated busing everybody who is either within two miles or two and a half miles there was no clear explanation as to who's getting the free busing versus who's having to pay a year later Transportation Consultants came in you know did an assessment they've given us what I can only say is a bit of a black box and said here are the list of Roads some 65 odd list of roads in the district that are deemed or are you know some portion of those are hazardous again there is no information on what are these what is the ranking what is the scoring of these roads on their rubric is there a remedial measure that can be put in place to alleviate you know why they might be hazardous you could put a crossing guard or are there some other measures that can be put in place we just don't know how they ranked and why they ranked the way they did in order to think about it and just taking a step back I I'm not sure if we have considered the longer term ramification of having such a policy and I can only go back three years um when we did the reconfiguration of the schools we've essentially exacerbated the problem of students who are looking for transportation to go to their schools you had previously four schools in the district um rather I should say three schools in the district for elementary students and most of them could walk we have now created a system where you for ing students from one side of the town to be either busted driven to the schools or risk walking about 40 minutes 45 minutes and these are third fourth and fifth graders so again this you know when the re districting was done none of these concerns were probably uh contemplated in the way the decision was made um and I agree 100% to the points that Natasha made on if we think about how are we going to explain this and the policy has a clause that there is an annual review of these hazardous roads if we don't know the basis of calling them hazardous today I don't see how anybody could go and next year look at the same list and say Yes No Maybe or there's a you know different answer so I would say that there's a lot of um inaccurate information in some of those topics um for instance redistricting you said it's third fourth and fifth graders that have to walk but what about the kindergarteners first and second graders that have to walk to Woodruff right so you're you're picking and choosing kids that are important but there are kids on excuse me the I have the floor the floor please let Mrs Stanley finish so when you're talking about a kindergartener on Sutton who has to walk to Woodruff right so excuse me I said yes keep moving you have interrupted multiple times keep moving last ex Stanley has the floor I hope you apply the Mrs Stanley has the floor just by raising your voice doesn't change facts so again right we're talking about multiple kids having to walk two miles right but that's not really the traffic that was addressed by the police department's letter they specifically said GL and Mary K McMillan Mary K McMillan has had traffic problems for years and hopefully when we do a referendum we can work on that traffic problem to build more ways to get traffic into the street so it doesn't Block planfield Avenue uh sorry Mountain Avenue so again right I think that we're taking one subject and trying to make it work for this one um also a lot of the scoring of the roads could have been discussed multiple times um Natasha brought up certain roads that she had questions on but again we had a policy meeting on 411 this policy was at the uh um March 18th meeting right so in between then some of these questions could have be answered on top of the fact that the transportation Consultants came in specifically to help you walk through some of the scoring um and we did not attend those meetings but as far as it goes with hazardous route criteria we do have the rubric it has been fixed Berkeley Heights Police Department listed on it so it's but it's the same one um do you want me to hand it out so everyone can have a copy because you have it all in your email but I thought maybe you weren't able to read it um because we can go through so section one is roadway we have speed limit if it's 25 or below it's five points if it's above 25 it's 10 points if it's above 35 it's 15 points if it's above 45 it's 20 points right so any road can be looked at and scored right there our transportation department can can do that they can work with the police department our superintendant can do that anytime and then we can look at it right so this has been looked at by multiple people right again when we're looking at traffic volume because this is still under roadway we're talking 200 vehicles or less per hour is zero points more than 200 but less than 300 vehicles per hour is 10 points more than 300 vehicles per hour is 15 points visual obstructions no obstructions is zero total or permanent obstructions is five points awarded for each obstruction up to 15 points right these are very detailed things that our transportation department and our district can use to continue going through these routes right the Hazardous routes is not 65 roads in fact right the Hazardous routes are mostly for elementary and CMS Middle School we're talking Diamond Hill MCM the bottom of horseshoe which is a blind curve coming up from planfield right when you come up from planfield it's a blind curve meaning the people on the South Side Right have to try to walk across a blind curve which is why it is on the list of passengers roads which again could have been answered at the Transportation uh meeting the West section of Emerson right because that area does not have sidewalks but on top of that it does not have anywhere on the flat side of the road to walk right right so most of the areas that like SNY Avenue it has flat areas for a child to walk even in the areas that don't have sidewalks which again is why it is not on the list now this transportation department gave our district tons of areas that need Improvement right and they have worked with the DPW to try to look at some of those areas but the ones that made it onto the Hazardous Rose list are not something that we can just add a crossing guard or add a a walkway these are areas that are tremendously dangerous and that we don't have a simple fix or not an expensive fix right so when you're talking Diamond Hill you would literally have to stop the exits for 78 on Diamond Hill to make it semi safe road right that is what's causing it to be a hazard right and Mr Nixon when he spoke to the policy committee he said that as you go up to McMain right you get off of 78 and people want to go down the hill they go to McMain and make a YouTube right so they call that a U-turn Road right and that becomes dangerous because people are trying to do something illegal in that section so again those are the four main roads we're talking about for elementary now you add roads to those because there are roads that have no other exit with those roads right so you're talking North Road on Emerson you cannot get off of North Road but except for that section of Emerson so that makes sense when I brought this up last year which again we were talking about losing teachers I did have budget concerns and I thought that this should go because we were going to cut teachers and see class sizes go up we are lucky enough that we did not have to do that now however when you're talking 65 roads you're looking more now at the high school right the high school is Diamond Hill everyone on the other side of Diamond Hill now right it's in Hazard this area is because they have to cross Diamond Hill right so a lot of these questions have been answered over and over and over right the other section for the high school is the west side of Glenside and the north side of mountain right those are areas the north side of mountain is a very dangerous area because the cars go very fast right it's not like the other areas or Mountain where it's closed right this is at open up people get past South Street and they go much faster now again the police department has written us a letter saying they are very worried about the detrimental traffic that we will see in our community at GL and Mary K McMillan if we don't have busing I also would like to say it's that subscription busing that has been talked about multiple times in the finance committee um and we have said over and over that it's not fiscally responsible to have a four uh 40K to 80k bus with 54 students on it with subscription only busing because we will not make up that amount right on top of the fact that we would have to have that contract before we can even get this students to pay so again that has been discussed multiple times now the idea that we have 100% right uh subscription busing again is a very interesting idea and I think most people in the district be like yes right because it's Universal busing right we can semi offer some kind of busing to every student the problem with that becomes that it's 42 buses to bus our entire District we currently in the finance committee know that we only have 12 buses right so 12 buses and we can barely staff those so I have no idea how this idea of 42 buses will come in on top of the fact that that's not realistic for September right so even if we want to look at this this would be a long-term plan now when we're talking about the bus right and we're talking about Equity this is making it more Equitable the way to do this is to get rid of the students who are not on hazardous roads who are currently getting busing this year year we know that there are approximately 60 students who are getting bus this year who don't live on a hazardous road that is unfair busing right these other areas that you're talking about is not unfair busing the is realistic busing now can we charge in the future absolutely are we prepared to do that this year no we are not but we can do things in the future but we can't do that excuse me we can't to why we are not prepared to charge them right now because one it hasn't been budgeted two we know that we can get reimbursed by the state so I'm not going to charge somebody $1,000 doll if we get 500 bucks back per kid that is wrong on top of the fact that if we go out to rebid we will not have buses to put these students on and we have been told that in the finance committee multiple times so again I think that we really need to think about this and make sure that we're being realistic for September longterm we can continue to make changes we can change this policy every year if we want to but this is September and we have to make this decision and let families know what's going on and I think that lots of people have been telling you stuff that you don't want to hear and that is causing you to have some issues because you are not being honest and open now again point of order excuse me point of order EXC I'm sorry but you point of order if this is going to delve into personal attack yes Mrs Stanley let's not talk about that Mrs Conor thank let have let's have a Content related debate I'm all for it Mrs let's not do what you are about to do Mrs Stanley has the floor she has been advised not to talk about personal I was not trying to be personal I was trying to be about the committee because as you said right subscription busing we could open that up but it's been told to you in committee that we cannot do that that is not an option A especially for next year and I think that you need to be willing to say that because it has been said and you are the chair of the finance and Facilities committee and the district has said it over and over point of order okay that's not a point of order it's a concern of of a of a person in debate we are talking about the policy okay let's just debate the content of the policy unfortunately fin has spent two and a half hours on the and again if we are going to talk and debate the policy given information to people Mrs stany can you finish if you want to get into attacking people let's do it elsewhere we have already I have already spoken with Mrs Stanley she is finished there's no other discussion we're gonna bring it up okay I have a few points do you want go ahead yeah mrsi yeah so we have a corrected um rubric we pay $112,000 to a so-called expert I wanted to ask that so-called expert but I was not allowed to ask in the essence of moving the meeting by you Madame President is how many peer reviewed papers has this expert published how are we let me let me finish so we spent $112,000 I've looked at their contract they're supposed to give us their output which is basically on what B base Bas on which criteria have they identified these 65 roads unfortunately instead of putting something in writing I've asked in multiple emails to the Acting Superintendent to Mr Jesco can I see email communication from this Transportation consultant to the district or anybody in the district which is so when when we hear the district is recommending it the district is not saying it is it transportation that we're talking about is it Mr Nixon that we're talking about is it Mr jovic who is the district so let's not let's stop talking in code and I want to understand what is this consultant in a breach of his contract because his contract clearly says he's going to come here analyze our streets spend time in Berkeley Heights the retired state trooper who came here gave us a presentation according to the contract he's supposed to give us data unfortunately Ely instead of giving us data he used old Maps which many of the residents have complained about we couldn't identify what the color coding was there was a lot of speculation on who coded who color coded the roads and then the policy committee chair said there is a closed door meeting where the transportation consultant where we have spent $12,000 is going to answer questions so if they were going to come here the so-called expert experts were going to answer questions maybe they should have come here and done a followup of their February 26th meeting allowed the whole Community because we paid for them those $122,000 were taxpayer dollars they should have answered everybody's questions instead of saying we don't share our data if they if that is not what their contract says they are in breach of contract and we are expected to believe now what what we just heard as in response to where is the rubric where is the data oh they've given us a rubric anybody can fill it so why did we pay them $122,000 and waste our time if we were going to use we were going to spend our time if Mr Nixon was going to spend our time anybody can fill it Mr Nixon can fill it the building principal can fill it so we're going to go on this expedition of let's take the rubric of a so-called expert I don't know how many peer review are you almost done I would like we would you did you interrupt like that to Mrs Stanley yes I did ask her if she was almost done yes so I'm not done so I'm not I'm not I'm looking at the time I haven't spent as much time as Mrs Stanley so I would like to continue and I have not seen you asking other board members who did speak lengthy comments to interrupt so this is all being recorded and I I hope you are aware that this could be considered discrimination when you treat one board member differently in Robert's Rules a presiding officer has to act neutral unbiased secure I'm asking you to finish yes please so if you wouldn't interrupt me I would have finished so that's my first point and how did we got a letter from Mr Nixon from Berkeley heads Police Department which said that they have concerns about traffic on mkm and GL only and I did talk to Mr Nixon and I asked him if he can go and spend maybe 15 minutes in front of Woodruff in front of Hughes in front of CMS at this dismissal time and look at it and tell us if traffic is not a concern in front of those schools I used to be an emergency medical responder I used to ride the ambulance and I know if there is an emergency on Brierwood West in front of Woodruff or if there is an emergency God forbid somebody has a stroke in front of Hughes or on Mountain going off so there is no way an ambulance can get through so I do I question this report that has come from the Berkeley heads Police Department saying traffic is a concern only at mkm at GL traffic is a concern everywhere if traffic and safety are a concern everywhere maybe let's we haven't yet adopted our final budget let's offer free busing for everybody let's look at cutting some numbers we're sitting on 4 million in I think Surplus we have Capital reserves let's make it Equitable for all our district goals are diversity equity and inclusion why are we excluding somebody let's make it happen thank you thank you Mrs Ziri are we ready for a vote I would I'm sorry just um Mrs Jin I wanted to address um the state aid right um currently the state aid formula is quite complex and the hazard if you designate hazardous kids um uh they get they would get included into the incentive Factor calculation I no one has presented to us um how much what impact this is going to be right like there is no right we don't know we're just saying that we're so it's embedded in the state aid number that it's not a direct refund for hazardous busing so I just want to make make that clear it's not quite that straightforward thank youy there is a bill that is pending right it's an assembly that would that first of all would have the state commissioner someone at the you know at the state level work with uh designate three different types of um uh hazardous Rouse and then work with the local police to Define that for the district so but at present that is just in um I don't know some committee so there's nothing to directly refund the district for hazardous kit for hazardous busing um but the kids would go into a calculated formula thank you very much we're going to End discussion now and move on to the vote Mr secretary uh just a reminder please that uh Mr Heyman uh you you are not able to vote on policy 866 because Mountainside does not receive transportation from Berkeley Heights correct one question are we uh in terms of the item within e that you broke out are we how are we voting on that is that a separate letter or is that a yes why don't we do a through um a through D then we'll do e and then we'll finish with the rest okay so resolution a through D all board members except for Mr Heyman from Mountainside on policy 8 6 so a b c and d so just voting on a to d correct and we had the motion from Mrs Stanley and Mrs jollin was there a second yeah M Mrs Stanley was was the motion Mrs Char was the second okay but I mean the motion was for all I don't know if we care or okay do we need to remotion then for a through D sure let's remotion for a yes Mrs Jolly I'm sorry were you g to say something REM motioning yes okay first second I'll second it okay thank you okay Mr secretary vote on a through D resolution all board members except Mountainside on policy 860 Mrs Jolly sorry just on 8600 no on a through D so um on a I am a NO2 uh 6421 and 8600 both policy and resolution I am a yes on Pol uh policy and reg sorry I'm a yes on policy and regulation 45116 what about b c and d um good on B um good on C and I am uh good on on D okay and then you just were nay on 6421 and 8600 correct correct okay policy and regulation Mr Hyman I'm a yes save for the uh 8600 that I can't vote on so yes on a through D less 8600 P&R and that are you going to abstain on those correct that's 86 is technically exstension I guess technically it's abstention so yes it's an abstention on 8600 and your yes on the rest yes on the rest HD thank you Mr Kiri yes on uh policy 5166 y regulation 5166 no on 6421 no on 8600 policy and regulation yes for uh policy 2270 3160 4160 yes for C yes for D thank you so it's the same as Miss Jolly then correct I didn't hear her vote sorry so you just have a a for 6421 and 8600 policy and regulation restor yes yes thank you very much Dr forer hello okay so you made it very easy we'll be no on policy 6421 policy 8600 and regulation 8600 and yes to the rest thank you Mrs Connor no on 6421 no on 860 policy and regulation yes to everything else Mrs Penna yes a through D Mrs Stanley yes Mrs Bradford yes to all a through D everything passes except for policy 6421 and 8600 both policy and regulation so i' just like to remind everybody that means that we don't have the Hazardous roads added to 8600 policy for September and that we are going back to the the transportation we have currently um moving ahead to hold on hold on I'm not sure what that comment exactly meant but is it's irrelevant not irrelevant to this conversation the transportation team The District transportation team will need to look at what the routes need would look like based on uh the state mandate and there's nothing more to that conversation as it that's not what the district has said okay I'm going to end this conversation now we have voted it has been decided moving on to Administration resolution e approve report of act superintendent resolved that the Berkeley Heights Board of Education upon the recommendation of the Acting Superintendent approved the recommendations for the following cases of harassment intimidation and bullying in Berkeley Heights Public Schools we are pulling out right now 26075 CMS for a vote Yes or No may I have a motion to go ahead with resolution sorry yes resolution e no sorry go ahead it's we're just doing it for the one just the one so we are right we are voting only on just the one case okay yeah oh sorry yeah right so the motion is first of all just on case number 26 0758 CMS and then we will have a motion to do the others yeah okay okay is there a motion so moved second second okay discussion vote Mrs Conor no Mr Hyman I'll obain Mr Kiri no Dr forer no Mrs Charlie obstein Mrs Penna yes Mrs Stanley yes and Miss Bradford yes so we have three yeses three Nos and two extensions so it would be three to three uh with that being said that would be a motion would be a fail on that if you have two extensions so it fails motion fails looking for a motion now for E re it's rejected rejected um motion now for e um Administration resolutions all board members e approv report of Acting Superintendent resolve that the Berkeley Heights Board of Education upon the recommendation of the Acting Superintendent approves the recommendation for the following cases of harassment intimidation and bullying in the Berkeley Heights school system that would be all case all four case numbers there except for the one that we just voted on May I have a motion you just doing e or you gonna go e to M just e may I have a motion for E so moved a second second discussion who's the second oh thank you yes vote Miss Penna yes Miss Jolly yes Miss Kiri no Dr forer uh yes on 26875 mkm no on the other ones well I'm sorry what was that yeah yes on 26875 mkm so you have a yes to that one and a no to the rest no to the others yeah that was mkm yes Mr hman yes Miss Conor yes Miss Stanley yes Miss Bradford yes motion passes moving on to Administration resolutions F through M uh we did have a change of wording on H okay and we had that motion approved so I'm looking for a motion to approve resolutions F through M all board members do I have a motion so moved second second discussion vote Mr secretary Miss Penna yes Miss Connor yes Miss Airi yes Dr forger yes Mr Heyman yes Miss Jolly yes Miss Stanley yes Miss badford yes motion passes going on to education res resolutions a through D all board members may I have a motion for Resolutions a through D all board members so moved thank you second second discussion I I just have a question about this sidebar agreement have we ever done this before where they get paid an hourly rate or is this the first time the sidebar agreement was negotiated with the bhea that's not my question though my question was have we ever done it this way before I do not know yes my understanding is this is the way it's always been done actually the elementary was getting uh $40 an hour um and then uh 22 but uh speaking to the central office and and looking at what what has been done previously it was always an hourly right I am not sure about that um when I was on staff I believe it was different but it has been negotiated with the bhea and this is what we have in front of us uh so a vote on resolutions a through D Conor yes Mr Hyman uh I'm a no to B and yes to the others Mr Kiri no to be yes to others Dr forer uh yes Miss charie no to be yes to the others Miss Panner uh I'm going to abstain on and yes to the others Miss Stanley I'm GNA ask Dana B and yes to the others Miss Bradford no to B uh yes on the others motion passes uh B fails on motion passes for all except for B would would you announce the uh the numbers for B you had one two three you had four a and two extensions moving on to Personnel resolutions a through V all board members resolutions W through AE Berkeley Heights only may I have a motion for personnel no move second second thank you discussion vote Mrs Stanley yes Miss Jolly yes Char mrir just a second I'm looking at the revised agenda with my [Music] numbers yes to all Dr forer yes yes Mr Heyman yes on items a through V as in Victor Miss Kaa yes to all Miss Penna yes to all Miss Bradford yes to all motion passes that was personnel moving on to business resolutions a through F all board members resolution resolution G is Berkeley Heights only may I have a motion for business resolutions a through f a a to G A to G sorry some second who's the first I got it okay and second Mrs con second discussion I would I would yeah I would like to understand a little bit more about Item B appointing the disclosure agent SL registered Municipal advisor can we get a better understanding of what that is I guess that's been going on and it has to deal with the bonds that we have for the district from my understanding that is there's paperwork that has to be filed for the financials to ensure that we have our bond rating every year the School District bond rating that's correct from my understanding I went back a few years and that's been going on for every year whether it's been making it on the agenda I don't know so but my understanding was on last year okay vote what why don't we just file it ourself sorry why don't we file it ourselves yeah why do we why do they file it or who files it it has to be a third- party entity has to be from my understanding yes from reading the disclosure yes okay thank you it's just like having an order to order has to you know um certify it certify our financials as a third party same thing here any other discussion I just wanted to thank the New Jersey Institute of Technology for Their donation um I'm very very excited um that we have so many great people uh looking at our school and helping us uh build our high school program I'm really proud thank you thank you Mr secretary vote Miss Jolie yes CH Miss Conor yes to all Mr Ki yes Dr forer yes to all Mr Heyman yes on items a through F Mrs Penna yes Mrs Stanley yes Mrs Bradford yes motion passes moving on to finance resolutions a through D all board members may I have a motion for Resolutions a through d so moved second second discussion so I just want to say that the bills and everything looked good thank you um I think we got some clarifications on I went to do the bills and we had some questions we did get the clarifications back I think there was something to do with a refund that I wish we you know I think we were being charged at a higher rate wa and then we were supposed to get a refund can we get a detailed um summary of how many hours was refunded from January till April because I think the higher rate that was not contractually obligated was being charged for Legal Services if we could get a summary okay thank you we could look into that thank you roll call vote Miss Penna yes Miss Jolie yes to all except check number 209 839 and 209 968 209 what was the first one um the one that's in the agenda 209 839 839 and uh 209 968 968 Miss Airi S2 acept check number 209 968 209 959 2099 59 and the first one was 209 968 yes yes to the rest no um I'm approving B yes to b and no to C and D Dr forer uh no to check 209 968 and yes to everything else Mr Heyman yes Mrs Conor yes to everything except check number 209 968 209 839 209 uh 839 you said Miss Stanley yes Mrs Bradford yes to all so we have 209 968 did not pass 209 let's see here 209 968 209 959 it's only one 209 839 there are only two of those so that does pass all right so 209 968 is the only check that did not pass everyone everything else does pass can I ask a clarifying question what happens when a bill fails right because it is a bill that the district currently owes how do we handle that in the in the business office I don't know if this a a recovering one because I believe 209 839 was the one from last month right I'm not mistaken so that did pass okay so now 209 968 is a new one so so we got to try to pass it next month and hope we don't get Le fees like what's the not paying I'll address that next month if it's reoccurring then I guess the contractor would come and uh uh I guess present a lawsuit against us so for the check all right moving on to comments from the I just have a clarifying so a contractor can automatically sue us or can we sue the contractor for improper billing like on what basis are you saying that the contractor is going to automatically sue us if we have see I'm not saying they would automatically sue us I'd put it back on if there are multiple attempts of the board not passing it and not giving me a reason for it and it's three four five six months then I'm sure that the uh contractor would come after us uh and do the necessary uh reasons to collect it send it to a collection agency whatever the case may be and if it's Professional Services it can go to arbitration to look at what the billing is is it funky is it duplicate is there something wrong correct unless somebody provides me with information on what the reason is uh I would go back and let the vendor know um okay thank you thank you moving on to comments from the public on any topic during this portion of the meeting District residents and staff are invited to address the board of education on any item the board requests that individuals State their name address town of residence or School of attendance for the record all comments should be directed to the board president and depending on the nature and complexity of the question it may or may not be answered during the meeting by the administration if so the respon would occur after this public portion of the meeting has concluded although the board may not respond to all items during the public form all public comments will be considered the board ask that members of the public be courteous and mindful of the rights of other individuals when speaking specifically comments regarding Personnel manners are discouraged and cannot be responded to by the board students and employees have specific legal rights afforded by the laws of New Jersey the board Bears no responsibility nor will it be liable for any comments made by the members of the public please note that if any member of the public becomes disruptive during the meeting the board president May terminate the participants statement continued disruptions may result in rem in removal from or adjournment of the meeting each speaker's statement will be limited to three minutes in duration Mrs Pogue so I'm not going to disrupt but I might fall asleep so hang in there just for my three minutes um I'm Susan POG I'm uh woodriff school I'm going to read the letter that I sent to the board during the Spring Break and I want to thank Mrs Bradford and Mrs Khana for your acknowledgement and questions about it in the last three years elementary teachers have had many changes in programs since 2021 and this is after covid and hybrid we've had to unpack Teachers College for reading Big Ideas in math TCI for social studies hegerty for phic awareness and 95% for phonics additionally we learned new digital platforms I ready and Link it it has been a lot of change in a short amount of time science will be changing soon after the open S pilot is completed as well as the new climate change curriculum as part of the assessment committee we are evaluating all the assessments for Effectiveness based on survey results teachers agreed too much time was spent on assessment the committee agreed that linkage should be removed from the assessment schedule teachers in the Upper Elementary use many of the teacher resources in the I ready platform while I'm not a fan of digital assessments or more computer time for Early Childhood I understand it will not be going away I piloted star Renaissance with a few of my students as a replacement for IR from my observations watching the students take the assessment and from the feedback they gave me star renissance is not a better choice than I with the influx of change in Upper Administration this may not be the time to make a big decision I know all the reading Specialists also piloted the program and I really hope the expertise that they bring to the table will be carefully considered before bringing yet another new program to the classroom I also have a comment as an educator in this district for 22 years and with all due respect I am disgusted discouraged and frustrated by the workings of the board as a whole we have to start the healing process for teachers students parents and the community it is ingal to work learn to work together our precept this month at mkm and Woodruff alone we can do so little together we can do so much the words of Helen Keller if our youngest students can live by these words our community leaders should be able to as well thank you for listening thank you Mrs po yes good [Music] evening I'm glad I have my eyebrows on because you guys are recording and I was not expecting to get up here and speak at the podium I usually watch every hey we have your name and phoh thank youo 258 simond Hill Road here in Berkeley Heights I'm sure as you all can guess I'm standing up here because of policy 8600 which I just heard get shot down I do have questions one of them would be why anyone would feel that or be mistrustful of a police officer's assessment of these roads yet feel as though they are an expert in their field with EMT and there's no disrespect with that please understand because I am a public servant myself but we must always be careful with the language that we use when you have people in the community that are sitting here listening to all of you I did see a lot of disrespect but that's not why I'm standing here I'm standing here because I'd like to know why policy 8600 couldn't have pass and the modifications be made later it seems like the decision was made in haste because there may have been a time crunch now from my perspective sitting back there if someone sends you an email with the information that you've asked if they send it the day before shame on them if they sent it two weeks before and no one bothered to read the email shame on you I think that that is something that everybody sitting here needs to look at because it goes back to your communication because the policies that you make affect people like me that live on a road where no my son cannot go around the corner walk at least and play with a friend I have to get in my car and drive now you can say it's a decision that I make my made when I bought a house here in Berkeley Heights but I've been in this town for almost 20 years and I've seen a lot of things change and to the point of boards being was ful with money because $112,000 is a lot of money this is not the first time money has been wasted on a consultant group that didn't do their job but because they didn't do their job some of us I feel are going to suffer because no one has explained how this will be replaced busing affects me greatly my is at CMS so the two and a half miles we hit that Mark from where I sit but then if you go to Governor Livingston it shortens greatly is there something that you're going to replace this with do you have any ideas because I haven't heard any come out I think that these are valid concerns for someone that sits in my position I'm not asking asking for you to give a courtesy so to speak I don't even mind paying if you give me enough time to work it into my budget but what I'm asking is what is your plan because I don't think that that's clear for members of the community so if you're going to shoot something down have a plan in place a shortterm and a long-term plan that all of the residents can benefit from thank you sorry for going over I also have my eyebrows on good evening uh John MZ uh 56 uh K Avenue berkele Heights New Jersey so um I do have a lot of empathy for the folks who are sort of facing uh a service that's about to be dropped I don't think it's a black or white issue I don't think it's my solution or your solution I think you guys have time to come back to the table I think what's important is data so I I just want to give you an example and and I and I'm doing this not to be condescending but just to kind of maybe illustrate a point as to where I'm coming from let's imagine I did an audit but so this I'm I'm going to talk in my language I did an audit of your charts and I threw that audit sheet at you and it was blank and I said you're you're charts are off and this is what's wrong well can you point out what's wrong well no it's on there you can figure out like which items you have to improve on right it's a rough prox it's not an exact fit but it's it's a guessing game um I think there is a way for all of you still to get together to work on this um I I really would not want to see families impacted or lose Transportation but I do think whatever agreement is made what needs to be codified moving forward not just with courtesy busing but with everything is that detail and data matters and that if the board is going to improve something this important that it be informed this is a new board disagreements heated discussions are going to be normal that's democracy it's not disgusting it's good it's good that you guys are having debates and are passionate about it that's not a bad thing secondly um I'm actually glad you guys you might be surprised I'm glad you guys tabled the discussion on um or what is it changed that mcferson or whatever that place was what was the name of the place mcferson mcferson Jacob yeah um I wasn't thrilled with anybody that was on there to be honest with you in terms of the search firms um my feeling is I think you guys should give uh Mr Nixon and I know all the rules give him a year let's see how he does he's been in the district for a while you know give him a shot see see how it works research is not conclusive that a superintendent makes any real difference in a district at all um and I I I think there's more harm than good well I mean look at the data there isn't a correlation between super you know there's not a way to really track that or measure that just gonna give I'll give you the research Jordan you always I mean you usually laugh at my jokes so I'll give you a okay but um but they could do more harm I think Nixon has Mr Nixon I'm sorry um Mr Nixon has uh good experience in the district I don't agree I have not agreed with him on everything but I know he knows our kids and I know he knows our community and that to me is a better place to start than Idaho what was it Iowa was it Idaho and then the third thing uh well I don't want to I don't want a superintendent from Idaho give me a give me a second Pam I'm sorry um um Gail give me one second can I have one more you can have another minute or two how about two a minute is good the other piece of it is and again although I I disagree with you miss Bradford and I don't necessarily agree with everything that you do in a meeting I do think you're doing a a good job after that first meeting was very rough but I think the subsequent meetings you've been very fair uh not perfect I mean like you know I'm not perfect but I think you've been doing a much better job uh this time no I mean you know this year all right thank you thank you is there anyone anyone else Margaret LS 102 twinfalls Road um I wasn't going to get up and make a statement but I am I'm very disappointed that the um transportation policy was voted down I live on twinfalls Road it's off of Diamond Hill if my children didn't receive busing to school we would have driven we would have to drive we wouldn't have a choice we can to the reservation I can't walk to school I can walk to conell I can't walk to school my son walked home from GL once after a football practice I grounded him for a week because he had to walk down Glenside Glenside that curvy road with no shoulders that was his best choice somebody on social media said that the kids on McMain should walk through um the noia property that's perfectly safe for them that's trespassing that's private property that isn't a public road when you look at that policy I don't care how we got here I don't care about the consultant water under the bridge you all hired a consultant they gave you a report they came back they talked about the report it's done right move on we need these policies for this board to function for this school district to function and it's just really disen heartening as a member of the public to sit here and listening listen to the back and forth and not move forward so the policy if you're going to change the policy and charge parents on roads like Twin Falls in order to get busing to school there are going to be way more parents that are driving to school because they don't have an alternative and so you have to deal with the traffic and we already know that traffic in front of the schools is horrendous so put those many more parents on the road in front of the schools I just don't see how that's an advantage thank you thank you any other comments okay thank you to the public for our comments moving on to new business um increased legal spending whoever brought that up would like to speak on that um that was me and I think now that we have an RFP for attorneys I would like to understand and maybe put some criteria in there on how [Music] we expect responses to these rfps and also have have a open discussion about what can we reduce in terms of legal spending because I believe one of the invoices today that was on the bills list was for 3,700 and odd just for uh legal review of Oprah requests um if you go back couple years ago I don't think we were spending that much um on any form of review for Oprah uh Mr fola had a Oprah log and I think at some point of time for almost 8 months or 9 months we actually publicly put that on our district website on said um along with the minutes um board agenda on how many Oprah requests were received when did they receive them and when were they fulfilled so we'll have to look at options of opening stuff up and I know one of our board goals is um Community engagement and being more open my only concern is it's April we've had multiple committee meetings and nobody can go nobody in the public can go on our district website and can look at committee minutes meeting minutes we referred to a lot of meeting minutes in today's discussions if any of the public wanted to go look at them they're not on the district website it's minutes are part of our agenda excuse me they're part of our what agenda when we approve the agenda the committee minutes are attached to the agenda is that correct public can public view them my question is me committee minutes have happened are they available on the district website when we this evening everybody gave their committee reports pretty much from all the meeting minutes you have a report that you just seen everybody gave pretty much the mostly the reports this evening aren't they he's saying they're embedded within the the full minutes once once approved and that's what he's saying and posted that's am I correct yeah can I can I add to what she's saying I I know what you're saying if you look at the minutes for the 18th March meeting the finance committee minutes are all hyperlink into the actual minutes but some of the other committees are more the conversation that was had at this table if the point you're making is they all should follow you know a similar format then I think we we need to rethink how are we attaching the committee minutes into the minutes of like this meeting the 18th March is a good example for you to look at thank you Mrs Kaa that is our next one also talking about committee minutes do you want to have something to add to that Mrs Ziri I if I can if I may those links that are embedded in that agenda they don't work all I'm saying is in our District's history we used to until 2022 before that I think until 2023 there used to be a specific location on the district website we basically go and publicly say we have all these committees we come here we give reports we limit the public to three minute conversations but we when we give committee reports we go over almost 12 minutes no offense to you Jordan it was a long one and all I'm saying saying is when we give these reports verbally we've spent the time this is a volunteer role nobody's getting paid for this we've created the Committees we've met we've done the work so we moved on to number two is that correct Mrs so what we what I'm trying to say is why why can't we just publish them separately on the district website instead of embedding them in meeting minutes thank you number two is committee meetings who brought that up Mrs Stanley committee minutes yes so I wanted to just talk with the board about procedure for committee minutes so um I chaired last year I'm chairing this year and all the boards that I've been on over the three years the committee right they work with that the chair works with the admins to come up with agendas and then to write the minutes right so I usually have the staff writing the minutes because it's coming from the district's point of view um to the board usually the the staff would then share it with the chair or the whole committee and then we would kind of look at it and make sure that those minutes were accurate or if there's anything else that we think a board member have might have questions on that wasn't included um but this year I'm I'm struggling because I'm on a committee that doesn't work like that and so I just want to talk with the board to decide how we kind of want to move forward with this and just have a consensus because right like yes they are our committees but the Committees are really supposed to be getting recommendations from the district that the committee then discusses in detail and then brings to the whole board right the full board and I'm kind of struggling to know right like if we're only gonna if we're not going to do that then we need to make sure that everybody is aware right that this is not how we're going to proceed because that's been the procedure for multiple years I've been on is that we work with the staff to bring their recommendations forward after the committee dives into details so just anybody have any anything they want to add on how they think committee minutes should be approached so if I may ask um I don't think there is any guidance on how committees have to run or what committees are actually I think we we asked for it previously there is like a very big bare minimum information on what committees are going to do so basically your statement says that the district recommends what a committee is expected to do I disagree I think committees are for the board created by the board the board president usually asks for our interest we convey our interest to be on a particular committee it's a board committee I don't understand where his district is recommending an agenda coming from yes on certain boards on certain committees like curriculum there will be a a recommendation from the district but when it comes to Athletics when it comes to negotiations when it comes to strategy and planning it is the Committees are for the board for us to work together to come up so there is no um recommendation from the district so basically they are not giving us ideas to work on we do take their ideas it's a collaboration with them but it's our committees I agree that collaboration is the the goal right because right like take policy for instance right after the transportation meeting right me and Gail are both on the policy committee we saw that the district really wanted to bring back 8600 so we worked together to say yeah okay we'll bring it back to the committee but then we also went to the staff and said what other policies do we need for this meeting right because that's coming from them right so again it's it's supposed to be a partnership where I say hey I do feel that the policy committee wants to move this forward let's bring it to policy committee and then it should also be them saying this is what we want to bring to the table right so I do feel like that needs to be intertwined but especially when it comes to the minutes right because the minutes should not be my like you don't want my opinion on something right for minutes right you want the district's View of those minutes right I mean if I could speak I would just say I think the two things one I don't think it matters who like records the comments per say as long as all participants get a chance to review approve and say yet that is what happened I miss something you you know you overlook something whatever it is um the minutes should be should should should be what happened there should be no opinion it should just be this is this is what happened and then again that's why I think everyone who attended should say actually that's not what happened fact fact fact and let's let's chisel it and get it as close to but that's I mean for technology that's sorry it was so long but we tried to exhaust it by putting all all that was covered into it because it was factually what happened yeah so that way the board get clear picture yes correct yeah I actually agree with Jordan it should be an accurate account of what actually partake partt took in the actual meeting it should be an accurate account I I agree does shouldn't matter should be an accurate Mrs oh sorry I think one of our goals was to actually double click on what is the role of a committee what should be the objective of a committee like everybody agrees on what is the goal who's doing what I don't think we got around to actually documenting that but that would be a fair start so that uh we can be on the same page as to what is the role of a committee and I will say not all committees are made equal in terms of the content that gets discussed and some might be a little bit more straightforward than others right so uh just recognizing that yeah i' like thank you I'd like to Second Jordan's point the minutes are what was said and just there they shouldn't have any bias to them it's just what whoever said anything but if I look at you know the what was presented as minutes or I guess from policy right it was all opinion not opinion but it was one-sided I should say it was everything that maybe you had said during the you know but nothing so my report was um actually discussed with uh Gail to come up with talking points for the policy so everyone was clear on what exactly what the policy was for or against right like what we were voting for or against so I did have a discussion with um the board president on that one but yes my minutes though right the minutes are very straightforward right and that's I think the problem is that I'm having a committee that doesn't have minutes that are a attached that are exactly what was discussed at the meeting and I'm really struggling with that because every time I bring it up right there's a lot of issues right and there's not really a collaboration between them and the district and I feel like that needs to be worked on but but the the minutes are the minutes like it's I'm not sure I agree it should be an accurate description of what's it's not even right and I mean I think it work again maybe that that committee is different but you know I think it worked well for athletics right the minutes were the minutes and likewise for Tech the minutes were the minutes it wasn't like verbatim but it captured the essence of what everybody you know had to say so I'm you know I'll try to let me try taking minutes next time in policy I think I think that's that's right so I have Mr Nixon uh currently doing the minutes for policy because that's right the district's View and then I review it to make sure that there was nothing Miss that I thought that the board members would be like hey I have a question on this right and that way it's it's really a good view of what actually happened not my opinion or your opinion right and that's where those minutes come in but that's not what's happening on some of my committees Dr jodano or Mr Nixon do you have a opinion on I just wanted to say something just a minute please Mrs Ziri yeah I was raising my hand for quite some time thank you I'm going to ask Dr um diano and Mr Nixon if they have opin then we'll go to you I hope you realize this is being recorded right and we can go to ethics or any thank you Mrs zurri thank you I would just say that you know I agree like I think in my brief experience you know sitting in on on a lot of the different committee meetings um accurate meetings help us better understand accurately uh help us share the information with the rest of the board and um and and should be and and I agree I've seen different meetings different meeting minutes some are more extensive some are are just more of a brief summary touching upon the points uh that were that were had in discussion there um perhaps further discussion should occur maybe at an earlier time when we can you know just talk about um you know maybe set some expectations as what we want to see how how detailed how not detailed uh Mrs KH I agree not not every not every discussion is created equal about specific topics for so so some some meeting minutes may need to be a little bit more lengthy than others to better explain a point um but also keeping in line with the idea that they just should be a factual account of what was discussed I I agree with what everyone said here I think more importantly than just the minutes themselves I think it's important to do what what what um Jordan did and really when you come to the board meetings it it doesn't really matter you know you want to have accurate minutes of course but the details should be out here in the front in front of the whole public when we're explaining those so everyone gets the gist of what we spoke about what the next plan is going forward so so Jordan that is textbook what you did tonight in my opinion is textbook classic reporting out minutes at a board meeting that's way it should be if they're long they're long it's okay because although the board you know can make them longer if you want I mean although the board with with with you know the committee chair is gonna share the minutes with the committee first and then with the full board it's more important that the public understands what we're doing in those committees and what's happening in those committees and and the plans and the details that are taking place more so than than you as board members and then when you're in the public session you ask questions off those reported outs like oh Jordan I'm glad you brought that up and got really detailed because I saw in the minutes it was you know not as detailed but I was goingon to ask you that question to follow up with it but you already did it for me I appreciate that so it really those minutes should be my like a snapshot a reflection of what happened a generality but the detail should be absolutely said out here so just thank you so we've had many we've had issues it's not just committees I think the entire board has had issues with actual minutes if we can look at our history before we start going ahead and saying what what extent do we need I think it's about time we put in writing what each committee is going to do and I think according to our school or state ethics we cannot admin we can't ask the staff take minutes for us it's our committees so we can take turns there are three people in each committee actually I don't see a reason why there can be four people in Committee in each committee finance and Facilities has to four people so we can have four people we can take turns and like Jordan did with technology we can send them out and say hey this time I took the minutes these are my take these are my draft version you have until 24 hours to respond back with your changes and everybody either agrees I did go back to Jordan and I said I think you know you missed this this this and Jordan pushed back and said well I'm just going to put what actually I feel should be put not a lot of in detail we don't want 10 pages of minutes but there has to be and I'm and I was whine with that so let's agree on what what each committee is going to do what is the goal how are we going to take agenda items how are we going to decide on which agenda items we're going to speak and maybe take turns because we can't technically ask so strategic planning so if if Mr Nixon started taking minutes for every committee okay how many committee Mees finance and facility meets like maybe twice a month maybe during the budget season they're going to meet four times a month okay Mr Nixon has a day job to do Mr jovic has a day job to do so we cannot be demanding and saying hey just because you attend to collaborate with us and we like to you know throw all these ideas at you now you're responsible for minutes no I don't think that's that's feasible that's not how it's done in real world I I have I'm just giving you example even from early on when I when I was part of a team everybody took a stab at minutes or unless you are like a Fortune 500 company where you have a project manager an assistant project manager and a you know somebody like a who comes and on tags along even that person sometimes records the meeting and then transcribes like there is a transcribing tool so I don't think it's feasible to ask or come up with a procedure that Mr Nixon's going to start taking minutes from going forward I don't K Mrs Penna or sorry did you have a comment Mrs Penna no I was oh sorry well I think everybody I think everybody spoke about it but I just wanted to say in terms of procedure I think it's important that we continue the practice where the minutes are sent to the board so that they are able to look and ask questions prior to the meeting I think that's something that is important to continue thank you Dr J one last thing to the board and again this is just my opinion you know you're the Board of Ed but but also in those minutes or when you report those minutes out there should be a recommendation from the committee saying yes we spoke about this we spoke about this the committee is recommending this to be put forward unanimously or two to one vote for full board consideration then have that debate out here it really should be indicted of what the committee spoke about this is what we talked about this is what the administration addressed we're in agreement with the administration we're we're putting it forth for full board consideration or we didn't put it forth for full board consideration and the board could say well am say well I thought that was a really good idea why didn't you do it it should be indicative what decisions were made in that committee thank you yeah if I really quick piggyback on that is just to say that if we're going to spend time talking about the way we approach our minutes and and uh we we we should we should we should get it right with how we how we review minutes how quickly we come back and and just we're not stating the obvious we're not efficient we are hugely inefficient there are boards that are within three miles of here which we all have friends on that RP meetings by 10 why they trust their committees they work as committees so they do the hard work who of the minutes People review them we all ask the questions the work happens in and around and you get in in a meeting not that you're trying to prevent information or or not have a debate but you trust your committees and to your point about about trusting those who have advised those committees again you can always ask in debate but it's there's some consensus you move toward decisions and you become more efficient that'd be great absolutely number three I don't know who brought up annual professional appointments expired in uh December 2023 can I move it in the essence of time it's 11:40 to the next meeting please thank you mrsi and motion on the March 18th meeting for those dates most of those dates have passed right that was um that was mine um no sorry I was going to say I was crossing them out um but I I do think now that we've um you know selected a CSA search firm um we kind of need to um and as we spoke about this outside after last board meeting probably meet again to um kind of come up with a game plan of how we're going to interact you know so it's not just you and so how we're going to interact with the search firm like do the take care of the logistics um so I think I I don't I mean I I I can cross out these dates and maybe come up with a different um uh time that we can talk about it and agree so that we can um have like maybe a set group of us kind of work through the logistics so you're not the one chasing us and that sounds like a great asking us for meeting time thank you thank what motion to adjourn Mrs Bradford what is I was I wanted to just add on Natasha's is maybe now that we've identified a superintendent search firm we need to look at adding maybe one additional conference session every month we have a board meeting I know everybody's busy instead of scrambling or even these three people going and checking hey are you available before we know it it's going to be the summer so maybe let's come up with we're going to add one conference session where the main goal is superintendent search only thank you for the suggestion motion to adjourn second eyes i n abstain meeting adjourned 11:44 p