##VIDEO ID:fKADPEHgnZU## this meeting is being called to order in compliance with the open public meetings law of New Jersey notice of this January 7th 2025 meeting of the Bridgewater ridan Regional Board of Education was posted electronically on the district website and provided on December 17th 2024 by sending a 48 hour notice to The Courier News Star Ledger Bridgewater Township Clerk rard and burrow Clerk and by posting on the bulletin board in the Harmon vwe admin building please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance flag United States of America the stands Nation indivis I will now be taking the roll call Miss Huna Mr Joi here Mr singer here Miss Lee here Mr Pepe here miss kry here Mr Lee here miss lockran here Mr Walker here I will now announce the final result results of the election of November 5th 2024 I will read a statement from the general election a statement of the determination of the board of canvassers of Somerset County New Jersey relative to an election held in the county of Somerset on November 5th 2024 for the election of the township of Bridgewater and buau of R ridan for three three-year Bridge order seats the said board does determine that Jennifer lochran Jeremy Lee and Ashish AJ Joi were duly elected to the Bridgewater ridan Board of Education I do hereby certify that the foregoing is a true full and correct statement of the determination of the board of canvassers of Somerset County New Jersey in witness whereof I have here on to set my hand this 20th day of November 2024 By Carolyn Karen Carrol chairwoman County Board of canvassers attested by Steve Porter Somerset County Clerk I will now administer the oath of office um I would like to ask Miss lockran and Mr Joi to stand and raise your right hand and repeat after me Mr Lee will be sworn in subsequently by Michael manes just a point of order quickly can I do a point of order okay is there Authority for someone who's not amongst the board or board secretary to administer the oath for yes board members it could happen Okay I state your name do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States and this state under the authority of the people so help me God I state your name do solemnly swear or affirm that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law I Poss for the office of member of a board of education am not disqualified as a voter purs pursuant to registered statute 19 colon 4-1 am not disqualified due to conviction of a crime or offense listed in New Jersey statue 18a 12-1 and that I will faithfully impartially and justly perform all the duties of that office according to the best of my ab ability so help me God and now Mr Lee and raise your right hand and repeat after me I Jeremy Allen Lee do solemnly swear I Jeremy Allen Lee do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I'll support the Constitution of the United States and the Conti ition of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and Allegiance and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established to the same and to the governments established in the United States and this state in the United States and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people so help me God so help me God I Jeremy Allen Lee do solemnly swear I Jeremy Allen Lee doem we swear that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office of a member of the Board of Education of the member of the Board of Education and I am not disqualified as a voter and I am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to RS 1941 pursu to rs19 d4.1 am not disqualified due to conviction of a crime am not disqualified due to a conviction of a crime or offense listed in njs 18a 12-1 or offense listed in njs 18a col 12- one and that I will faithfully impartially and justly and that I will Faithfully impartially and justly perform all of the duties of that office perform all the duties of that office according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God congratulations thank you next on the agenda I will take nominations for the board presidency do I have any nominations I'd like to nominate Mr Zinger do I have any other nominations motion to close the nominations second I will now take a roll call vote missa yes can I can I pause for a moment is this on a motion to close the nominations or on the to vote for the president the vote for this is for Mr singer for president yes thank you Mr Ji yes Mr singer Miss Lee yes Mr Pepe yes Miss kri yes Mr Lee yes Miss lochran yes Mr Walker yes congratulations the gavel is yours uh first of all I would like to thank you all for your support um and I hope to live up to uh what I expect of this position and what the board expects as well so thank you all I also want to congratulate Jen and AJ and Jeremy on their election I will now call for the election of a vice president I nominate Emily kalist are there any other nominees seeing none I'll close that and Mr lsky could you call the RO please miss Asuna yes Mr josi yes Mr singer yes Miss Lee yes Mr Pepe yes Miss kri obain Mr Lee yes Miss lran yes Mr Walker yes motion passes congratulations Mrs kri all right ready we're now up to item uh 5f the reading of the board members code of ethics and the way that we usually do this in the way that I'd like to continue to do this is that we have uh each board member read a paragraph of the code of ethics you all should have uh a copy of it if anyone doesn't please let me know um all right great so uh I will ask Barry Walker to start with paragraph one please I will uphold and enforce all laws rules and regulations of the State Board of Education and all Cod ERS pertaining to schools desired changes shall be brought about only through legal and ethical procedures uh number two I will make decisions in terms of the educational welfare of children and will seek to develop and maintain public schools that meet the individual needs of children regardless of their ability rise Creed sex or social standing I will confine my board actions to policy making planning and appraisal and will help to frame policies and plans only after the board has consulted those who will be affected by them I will carry out my responsibility not to administer the schools but together with my four fellow board members to see that they are well-run I will recognize that Authority rests with the Board of Education and will make no personal promises nor take any private action that will compromise the board I will refuse to surrender my independent judgment to special interest or partisan political groups or to use schools for personal gain or the gain of friends I will hold confidential all matters pertaining to the schools which if disclosed would needlessly injure individuals or the schools in all other matters I will provide accurate information and in concert with my fellow board members interpret to the staff the aspirations of the community for its school I will vote to appoint the best qualified Personnel available after consideration of the recommendation of of the chief administrative officer I will support and protect School personnel and proper performance of their duties I will refer all complaints to the chief administrative officer and will act on the complaints at public meetings only after failure of an administrative solution thank you all uh please sign it and then we return it to Mr lumy I believe correct yes and there are two copies uh so that each of you can keep a member a copy of the code of ethics uh I bring it to me with me to every meeting and I think it's very important that we all follow it to the te up next is 5G the election of a representative and an alternate to the Somerset County Educational Services Commission board of directors uh usually we uh take volunteers rather than nominees so I will ask if there's any kind of volunteer for this position Mr walker uh first I'm going to go with the uh representative and then we'll do the alternate so is there anyone else that wants to be the representative to the suers county at Services Commission okay so Mr Walker will be will be voting on as the representative and is there anyone that would like to be the alternate to the Su County I'd like to be the alternate is there anyone else that would like to be the alternate okay then we'll be voting on Mr Lee as the alternate to the Somerset County and Services Commission board of directors I will close that portion and ask that Mr lumy call the RO Please Mr sunna yes Mr josi yes Mr Sanger yes Miss Lee yes Mr Pepe yes Miss kist yes Mr Lee yes Miss lochran yes Mr Walker yes uh the motion passes thank you at this time I'll take uh volunteers for the uh delegate to the New Jersey school board's associations delegate assembly just that one and then we'll take the other one separately alent oh appreciate that if I would have a turn I'd appreciate that to be the uh representative I think Mr pepy will be heavily Sur as alternate for that all right I don't think we have an alternate because it's just the election of a delegate to this to the assembly sure do we need an alternate we usually do okay so Mike you'll be the alternate then unless anyone else wants to be the alternate are there any other volunteers for that position and now the next one is the somerset School Somerset County School boards Association representative is there anyone that would like to take that position on great that's the scsba all right anyone else then I will close that portion and we are voting on uh Mrs Lee to be the delegate to the New Jersey school boards Association delegates assembly with with Mr Pepe as the alternate and Miss Huna as the delegate to the Somerset County School boards Association Mr lsky could you call the V please mruna yes Mr Joi yes Mr Sanger yes Miss Lee yes Mr Pepe yes Miss kri yes Mr Lee yes Miss lochran yes Mr Walker yes the motion passes lastly uh for Section Five we have the appointment of town Representatives is there anyone that would like to be the uh Town representative to Bridgewater I would like to be okay is there anyone else see none that would be Jen as for Bridgewater is there anyone that would like to be a representative for raran can't think of anybody I'd be happy to step in Mr singer and represent the board to raran I appreciate you taking that on thank you anyone else want to volunteer for these positions seeing none I'll close that and ask that Mr lsky call the rooll Miss Huna yes Mr josi yes Mr singer yes Miss Lee yes Mr Pepe yes Miss kri yes Mr Lee yes Miss lockran yes Mr Walker yes motion passes we're up to section six item number six the uh public comment on action items only there will be a second public comment uh section later on individuals and our groups are invited to present their concerns comments and requests regarding the following action items to the board of education at this time in accordance with board policy members of the public are allowed one opportunity to address the board for a maximum of five minutes during this period of the meeting please be advised that a video recording of this meeting will be posted on the district's website and we ask that you state your name and residence for the record seeing done I will close that section of public comment we're now up to item number seven the reorganization Motions we usually do these all together as one there is one change that needs to be uh made uh to item number 7 uh D we had discussed having meetings at 7:00 instead of 7:30 that is on page four right above the right below the calendar and above the motion to adopt policies Mr z a motion for that do we need a motion to change the agenda I don't think so because we're we're voting on the motion as changed but defer to Mr wsky who's deferring to the board counsel you do not need a motion since we're bringing up now before the vote uh so it's it's not been moved in seconded so we're just noting that uh D will be as Revis for 7 pm instead of 7:30 for the start for your annual notice meetings certainly if any board members want to discuss as well we can once there's a motion in a second there could be discussion as well so at this time I'll entertain a motion thank you Barry is there a second second is there any discussion I would like to make a uh comment about uh D if I can um I think I have made this uh item number D or item D um I think I have expressed my concern about the reduction of uh meeting frequency in the past I won't reiterate that but I all my concerns still uh stand and then the uh meeting of the uh the time of the meeting uh 7:30 being moved to 7 is also uh might be difficult uh for some people who might have to uh uh get off work and make the trip uh so I I think that it should stay at 7:30 and for that reason I'm not voting yes to this particular um motion item Mr S I had thought when we discussed this in December that we were going to put two meetings in October or hold a space for a training if we didn't need a second meeting um so I just want to bring that up meant to have that because we said it was too long in between the two I know that we had changed it because there was Workshop see a workshop towards the end yeah I wonder if I can uh if we can accept the first few meetings and let the the board deliberate on the rest of this this year's uh meeting calendar Mr President if if I may to Miss Lee's concerns um the board can approve the uh annual meeting notice list it can be revised so this isn't locked in anytime the board wants to make revisions there are notice requirements in terms of sending back to the paper to revi send a revised annual notice uh but you're not locked in for the full year so if the Board needs to move a meeting date at a meeting date uh or change sometimes that can be done at Future meetings and often we do that um when we're talking about Retreats and or training situations so I think to your concern if we uh decide on the training that we want to have uh or if you know I talked to superintendent beers about a training that we should have we could add that to the calendar as is Miss thank you um if with that understanding uh with understanding that we might be uh uh reintroducing the uh two times per month's meeting schedule I would vote Yes on that condition with understanding might might be modified thank you any other comments on item number seven a through L thank you a through L um I have a one comment um relating to this to the to 7D uh are we voting on The modified schedule for the first couple of meetings or are we voting on that entire schedule with just a 7.m revision the vote is going to be on this calendar as is this one so we're not voting on any kind of modification okay other than it's at 7 o'clock not 7:30 okay perfect thank you sure could could I ask a question about modifying it potentially maybe Mr Sylvester or anyone else what would the if the board as a group wanted to change that would that be a motion at a meeting or would that have to come through the leadership or the board secretary what's the mechanism to change that if it needed to happen before the the board meeting schedule through president uh the board meeting schedule is up to the board so it is something that the board itself can raise uh in discussion the under your bylaws the board president does set the agenda for the meetings uh whether it comes up through committee whether someone makes a motion at a meeting whether someone asks the board president to bring it up at a meeting any of those processes it does not need a recommendation of the administration the board can bring it up themselves uh and you would just need another resolution similar to this to approve a new revised annual notice thank you very much for that overview and I will say uh Lucy I understand that your concerns um my thought process on this is let's try it out see how it goes and we can revise it as necessary if we don't like it how about the 7:30 versus 7 uh can we take a vote uh on the 7 or the 7:30 um time well we had discussed at the last meeting doing it at 7 o'clock and the current motion is for 7 o'clock for 7 o'clock yes so we can always bring that up at new business going forward if we're necessary okay or old business I guess all right any other comments seeing none I'm going to ask Mr lsky to call the role please miss Huna yes m Mr Joi yes Mr singer yes Miss Lee no sorry yes to everything else except the Mr Pepe yes Miss kri yes Mr Lee um no on 7D abstain on 7e 7f 7g yes on everything else Miss lockran yes Mr Walker yes the motion passes with that we are up to item number eight our second public com extension individuals and or groups are invited to present their concerns comments and requests regarding the following regarding any items to the board of education at this time in accordance with board policy members of the public are allowed one opportunity to address the board for a maximum of 5 minutes during this period of the meeting please be advised that if your recording of this meeting will be posted on the district website and I ask again that you state your name and residence for the record um JP 11491 nolwood Drive Bridgewater just wanted to first off congratulate AJ Jen and Jeremy on a good victory uh this past election I wish you all the best of luck I can only ask to for you guys to ask as many questions as you possibly can and that goes for the entire board um but once again happy New Year and I wish the whole entire board all the best of luck this year moving forward um I do have I unfortunately I came late so I would didn't have time to read the agenda or else I would have spoken on um uh the first comment now regarding the schedule and the calendar from twice a month to once a month I understood that that just actually just passed correct can anybody yes um is there if you're able to do it because we're now being on live stream so the Publican here was there a justification is is it just is there a cost benefit to bringing it from two uh twice a month to once a month can anybody answer that Mr le as you know we don't do a q back and forth here so you'll have your comment and we'll have other people do their public comment and then at the end if there is a response necessary we'll make that at that time thank you Mr Le all right thank you but once again happy New Year to everyone and I wish you all the best of thank you to thank you Glenn kinger 475 roolling Hills Road I'm here tonight to bring your attention to harassment by a male student M1 towards my daughter this harassment took place for well over a year I strongly recommend you read every document in there as it is giving you a fine detailed explanation of what happened the documents I provide you outline the harassment and then the gross mishandling of the complaint my daughter filed by assistant vice president Damen story and superintendent Robert beers per your website I have to mention something Glenn just you have to be cognizant when you're cognant okay I I understand that but I'm just saying it for because it's a public service announcement yes I understand that that's why I'm here okay so anything you say up there as far as disparaging individuals it's not disparaging you can look at all the documentation I provide so anything that's said disparaging can be it you know is admissible in any court hearing Etc so I would just advise you to be careful about mentioning names in a public forum but go ahead thank you well it's very obvious that when everybody reads what they'll see so the board of education is a governing body and they are here to responsibility for the proper care of students and that's why I'm bringing this to your attention I have followed the proper protocol I went to the uh super sorry the school counselor gone to I I Alini I have gone to the um principal I have gone to Robert beers none of them have responded to me in the last three to four days for an update on what has happened to my daughter so let me give you a synopsis of what happened I'm not going to use the exact language that was used to my daughter but my daughter for a year on a daily basis by a male student was called the c-word the b word and stupid right before winter break my daughter filed a written complaint based on uh her guidance counselor Xavier Brooks's suggestion out of everybody involved with this Xavier Brooks is the only one who has handled this professionally and took a real interest into my daughter after the winter break my daughter's complaint as well as another student female student F2 filed a complaint against the same male student for the same actions both complaints were given to Damien story and here's how it gets grossly mishandled Damien said he was doing his due diligence so he spoke with Max I'm sorry M1 I'd be really careful about mentioning student names careful about it too you haven't been I I really have sir I you're really going to a bad place here I I'm not going to a bad place I I think what place could I be going to worse than dealing with it's not a back and forth but we shouldn't be disparaging students in public I made a mistake M1 you don't know who the person's last name is but thank you for your comments sir Damen story said he had done his due diligence and spoke with M1 and my daughter and he had made his conclusion he called it playful banter between M1 male student and my daughter so being called the c-word the b word and stupid on a daily basis is considered playful banter by your school counselor by your assistant vice principal be fully transparent when he said that to me I told him off because that is not the proper use of of language to to a young girl my daughter sent her own email to Mr uh Daman and to Xavier saying how uncomfortable she felt during the meeting with Daman not only did he cut her off wouldn't let her finish her sentences and would not take her uh seriously and dismissed her feelings and facts she put in her email that she wanted not to meet with Damian story alone again that she wanted Xavier Brooks with him when requested or required that from Mr beers he adamantly refused that requests or accommodation for for my daughter when we brought it to the attention of Robert beers of what was happening his response in an email was I'm not this is not my responsibility I don't handle this it'll be handled at the high school I responded how could it be handled at the high school when the high school is the issue furthermore it is his responsibility as the superintendent and CEO of a School Board District he is responsible for the action of his administration and his staff so in conclusion it has been 4 days since this has come to the attention of Robert beers and it's been well over a week since it's come to the attention of Damien story and everybody else and nothing nothing has been done I've not received any communication from anybody though I've requested an update as to the status what was going to be happening so I'm now requesting you since I've gone through the chain of command as requested on your website that now the board take this into action and then do their own investigation into why this was so mishandled and to have this situation resolved any questions or comments please again this is not a back and forth so we've accepted your comments we have your paperwork okay it'll be reviewed thank you any other public comment seeing none I'm going to close that portion of public comment we are now up to item number we now up to item number 10 I'll take a motion for adjournment motion to adjourn all in favor hi anyone opposed thank you all for your time tonight our next meeting is January 21st right here 7 o'clock thank you