evening everyone welcome back to open session of the board Bridge Ron Board of Education meeting um next up on the agenda is the student Representatives report thank you um we first want to touch on last week uh the events of the Fine Arts Festival for the first time it was live streamed by brtv um and it overall went really well um there were hundreds of online viewers on the live stream which is amazing along with people in person um and just some feedback I guess for the future since it was just the first year that we did the live stream um people thought that like maybe the quality of the recording could have been a little bit better um but it overall went great so not too many complaints um also this week we're selling prom tickets outside of the cafeteria and um they're only sold this week so we can only they're available from um Monday to Thursday um they're sold for1 $115 per ticket which is an increase from last year um and in order to like buy the prom ticket students first had to fill out a form and get approval from their parents and they also had the option to leave school early which a lot of seniors appreciated um last week being Wellness week for the district um specifically at the high school uh BR TV showcased videos every single morning along with the morning announcements and they talked about um a quote for the day um and I think I saw a lot more people watching the morning announcements and interacting with them um which is better um to you know watch the videos and learn about how they can better um better themselves um and it was I think it was very it was perceived well at least at the high school yeah um also um a lot of seniors have been getting their college applications results back so most of them came out but there's still a few regular decisions applications left and in two days it's um Ivy day so students are going to know if they got into the Ivy League schools and I think seniors are just really excited and nervous around this time because they'll be committing really soon to a college um over the last couple of weeks we had a couple events at the high school including China night um sponsored by the Chinese Honor Society and salsa Night by the Spanish Honor Society um they both were a great success and again I think it's important to you know host these events to learn about other cultures and and um and a lot of people of all different backgrounds attended them and they love to eat the um cultural food and listen to the music and dance along to it which is really great on March 22nd we had our 11th annual sang off um for this year we raised funds for the Kimberly a Nelson Foundation which is a nonprofit corporation established in 2010 and um this Corporation is to honor the memory of Kim Nelson she was um a member of the class of 2010 at our high school and she passed away in September of 2009 so the funds we collected were for her Corporation and at The Sing Off um we had three winners we had Elena gust Cole januzi and Indiana Lou they won the first three prizes but overall it was a great success students had fun and we raised a lot of money so yeah that's the end of our report thank you very much um CA and GI any questions thank you thank you very much next we're the superintend report and thank you Mr Walker and and ladies thank you again for a great presentation and it really is uplifting to see all of the the awesome things that are going on at the high school and at all of the schools throughout the district and and I really appreciate uh the efforts you put in in sharing that with us and um want to also uh thank Mr Moran who who sits in the back I I know that if if you haven't noticed um the prowler which is the high school um digital newspaper has has really take a taken a few major steps forward this year and um a lot of these events that that uh the young ladies have described to us this evening you could really find a lot of details on that and and uh I know Bruce goes and shares a lot of that on our social media feed Etc but um but there's a lot of great things going on and and again thank you for for bringing that to our attention but they did forget one major thing and that's spring break which is starting on Friday I'm sorry so I'm going to chime in with that great news so spring break begins on Friday goes through through um April 8th it's a it's a no homework weekend do I have that correct no homework and and I really hope that people get the time to recharge their batteries relax a little bit Etc as you shared a lot of the seniors are going through the college process hey maybe it's the time to just you know chill a little bit take a deep breath and try to figure out how you're going to pay for those colleges you got into that's for your parents though as for your parents um no but uh but all honestly I I hope everyone does have the time to to take a break relax spend time with your family friends do the like and uh and really get ready for this this last last chapter of uh you know high school for some and uh the last part of of the uh school year so another thing I I wanted to bring to everyone's attention and I know there's been a little bit of chatter so the day we get back is that is the day of the uh partial solar eclipse right it's supposed to be almost 80% 90% right so so what that means is as follows it's going to be a little bit dark around 3:00 here so we get we've received some questions as far as what are we going to do what are we going to do well we're going to have school right we're going to have our regular activities but the solar eclipse starts at 209 it Peaks at 3:24 right and it ends at 4:35 so we're going to be sending something out to to our younger grades because that's when dismissal time is for the younger kids just so parents have it on their radar that look on on uh Monday it's going to be dark when kids are coming home or at least partially dark so um again as far as our buses and things like that as we know that the high school runs start in the dark you know maybe it's a little bit different as we get towards the end of the school year so our bus drivers are are familiar with with driving in those conditions and it's not going to be pitch black like midnight I mean um but be it'll be an interesting development and um I I know that there are classrooms throughout the district who have activities planned Etc so the kids learn about what's going on around them and what a great time for us to really share the the the wonders of the natural world with our with our kids so mark it on your calendars for Monday it should be exciting so that being said and I I I have heard there are a lot of people that are driving to the Adar rondex which is I believe the closest place you could see the total total the total eclipse you have to go Syracuse Syracuse yep Burlington Vermont up by like Plass there are a lot of people going up so we're hoping that within our classrooms and our teachers we're not going to have people look directly at the Sun but of course they they will uh teach their kids about it and obviously you can look out the window and see what's going on because what it say it's going to be quite some time I don't have the exact year I don't think I'll be alive when the next one comes around so it's worth one 50 some years yeah I'm I'm an optimist but yeah it's not going to happen so anyhow um but that's it and I hope everyone again has a happy spring break thank you and so far it's going to be a cloudy day w [Laughter] w so now a as part of the superintendent's report uh president's report I'd like to introduce Gwen Thorton um who's our representative with New Jersey school boards she's going to take us through ethics training and then we're going to do a little Q&A at the end is that the the idea so let me just bear with me while I get my computer to project here and we'll start it up see if I can make this work hang on one second I'm sorry here we go no I'm going the right thank you okay I'm g go there well good evening it's a pleasure to see all of you again um it was a pleasure also to participate um and facilitate your strategic plan but it is nice to see you all again so as part of the one of the requirements sorry that's okay I'm short are thousands of listeners oh yeah I'm sure um as part of your annual responsibilities as Board of Education members you are required to engage in annual ethics training it is articulated in the governance DPR District performance review of the New Jersey quality single accountability Continuum and so we have put together a presentation for our boards of Education that we believe covers the Waterfront and I will be happy to answer whatever question you may have to the best of my ability so well when I do it it does go fast so let me go back up um ethics is really at the core of the public service that you provide you have the honor of serving your community and all of the students within it um but it does set a St set sets a standard um of minimal ethical Behavior by which all school officials must abide um and it's something that is obligatory um I keep waiting for our legislative Brethren down the street from our headquarters in Trenton to adopt a code of ethics but I'm not holding my breath that that's ever going to happen Okay so it is essential that you understand what the school ethics act includes it created an SEC which is not the Securities Exchange Commission which is what I thought when I moved into the state of New Jersey until I became a board member it lays out exactly what is included in the code of ethics it talks about prohibited acts by virtue of potential conflicts of interest and it also was amended to include mandatory re training requirements um for Board of Education members you're also required to annually complete your financial disclosure forms for those of you who are not newly elected you have until April 30th to do so if you haven't please make sure that you complete that form and submit it to the state it is much easier today than when I was a board of education member it had to be filled out in duplicate and it had to be signed two original copies in Inc and delivered to the business administrator so doing it at home is really a luxury um because you can just do it right on your computer and it's painless okay so who is accountable um the provisions apply to all school board members as well as school leaders around conflicts of interest and disclosure statements the code of ethics though however applies to Board of Education members and to Charter School trustees who enforces the act the ACT is enforced by the school ethics commission it's made up of nine members five are non-school officials two school board members two School administrators they are appointed by the governor and they serve three-year terms um you can have no more than five from any one political party with the notion that board of education um members are nonpartisan and not tied to any political group okay they issue two different types of uh opinions or responsibilities for that one is an advisory opinion an advisory opinion you seek prior to taking action if you think you have a potential conflict of uh interest or that your conduct in participating in a discussion or a vote um could constitute a violation of the ACT you can request from the SEC an advisory opinion um prior to participating or voting on that particular concern that you want them to address they will get back to you and let you know if indeed it is a problem or if it's not a problem often times I'm sure you may see in Schoolboard notes that we send to you um electronically advisory opinions are sometimes made public if the SEC believes that it has widespread impact upon board members across the state and there are six members available to vote at a given meeting they will make some advisory opinions public they scrub the district they scrub the board members names but it becomes public and there is an expectation by the SEC that advisory opinions will be read by board members and you are expected to be aware of them which is why we publish them routinely in school board notes okay um they also adjudicate ethics complaints anyone in the public any member of the public not even a member of your town or municipality can file a complaint against a board of education member um complaint is filed and they will then move forward with hearing it um in any given year there are about 85 ethics complaints that are routinely filed and an average of 36 advisory opinions requested um typically um there are not a lot that are made public because they generally are so facts specific to an individual in a district that there's no point um but sometimes there are things that come up that they will indeed make those public we also publish all of the ethics complaints that are adjudicated in Schoolboard notes as well um the mandatory training component you are some of the best educated Board of Education members in the country you're required in the first 90 days of your board service this is a change um to attend new board members orientation they used to give you a year but the ethics commission when they reissued the regulations for the SEC last winter they determined that 90 days was more suitable because it would give you a jump start if you're a new board member in having a better sense of what the responsibilities and roles were in year two you're required to take gov two which is currently around finance and labor in year three student achievement and in year four legal updates gov four you have to take in the first year of any term subsequent to your first term as a board member so in year um 4 in year 8 in year 12 in fouryear increments so every time you are reelected you have to take gov four it is around all of the latest decisions that impact education in New Jersey both from the federal level the state level and if applicable the local level can I the question real quick absolutely I I know in the past that um an appointed board member did not have to get trained for their time at least officially does the 90day um does the 90day Mandate apply if someone were to be appointed do they have 90 days or you have 90 days if you were appointed off off cycle um we have a self-paced online course that you can take at any time we also offer it um in person online hybrid virtual there are a number of ways and in fact currently gov one is available two and three all self-paced online available for you to do it any time and I would always encourage you to take it sooner rather than later um just because it gives you more insights information and knowledge that you know you be beneficial to any board member okay um the disclosure statements again um if you're just on in January you had 30 days to complete it or 30 days after your employment because it does apply to school leaders meaning principles directors supervisors and so forth um and then if you're returning you have up until April the 30th um professional staff at New Jersey school boards Association fill out those same Financial disclosure statements the same way all of you do I've been filling them out for more years than I can count a little secret just write down where all of your income comes from and just make a copy and put it in your somewhere safe and then you don't have to look up all those addresses all over again when they ask you the following year okay um what Authority do they have the SEC they have a various penalties that they can Levy against a board member um a reprimand is certainly exactly what it sounds like you shouldn't have done that don't do it again like every parent says to their child at one time or another centure which is a more formal disapproval by the commissioner it has to be read an open public board meeting and posted on the district for 30 days um a suspension um they can bar you um from for a specific period of time from your service on the board they typically do that if you don't complete your um mandatory training within the time frame that's required and for gov 2 3 and four you have that full year to do it um but again get it done get it out of the road so that you have the information and so you don't find yourself in a position where you're at of compliance with the requirements they also have the authority to immediately remove you from the board um they don't use it often but they have done it and they do have the authority to do that um the SEC makes a recommendation and once the recommendation is approved by the commissioner of Education um then the penalty gets um put into place okay here's the actual code of ethics you're required to uphold and enforce all laws rules and regulations of the state board any court orders pertaining to schools and you will only bring about change through legal and ethical procedures um so what this means is you are required to make sure that you are abiding by all of the mandates that the state issues out of the State Board of Education those that you like and perhaps those that you may not like um whoops we don't want to skip by B um you're required to make decisions in um terms of educational welfare all children and maintain the schools um and not discriminate against any child based on their ability race Creed sex or social standing um and that's certainly the purpose of a board of education right is to provide Equitable opportunities for all students to have access to all of the opportunities of the curriculum and the co-curricular program and it's embodied in the code you're required to confine your action to policymaking planning and appraisal and you will help to frame those policies and plans only after you have consulted those who might be affected by them um often times when you're developing policy um that doesn't mean you have to go meet with every person that might be impacted but you do depend upon your educational leaders to provide you with the feedback and input from your staff from the student bodies and so forth okay you will carry out your responsibility not to administer the schools but collect collaboratively together see that they are well-run as a board of education that simply means the day-to-day operations of the school district are not your responsibility that is why you have staff they take care of the day-to-day operations You Are by definition a policymaking body and that is your major responsibility to see that you have provided policy to ensure that the schools are well-run whether you're talking about um the sequence of curriculum or whether you're talking about the operation of the business office all of those pieces should be laid out in your policy to ensure um that everyone is clear on what their role is as a board of education member okay recognizing that Authority rests with the full Board of Education and make no personal promises nor take any private action that may potentially compromise the board and leave the board open to various kinds of legal issues um so you need to make very sure um that as a board of education member um this is one that is now probably one of the leading ethical violations and complaints that is filed by virtue of the use of social media um and that's around taking um private action so the school ethics commission has really um asked us to make the point to Boards of Education um that you have to be very mind ful of that because it's taking private action away from the board table sometimes okay refusing to surrender your independ independent judgment to special interest political groups or to use the schools for personal gain or the gain of friends you may have just seen in this past School Board notes this past week um there was a board of education member who um voted to name her school after her boss um she was a politician she was not chief of staff um she was the board president and um while this was a very notable politician and it's not about the name of the school it was about the board members participation in voting for um that particular piece they found her to have violated um this particular piece that she had personal gain that would acre to her since they were naming the school after her employer um and that she was also a personal friend of this politic ition so it extended Beyond just uh personal gain um interestingly enough too in that particular case she cited defensive counsel um and I just want you all to know that this is something that the school ethics commission has been paying a great deal of attention to and one of the board members defenses was my my attorney told me it was okay to do this and the SEC came back and said you're a board of education member you're the the board president you should know better that is no defense so you really do have to be mindful um of your responsibilities under the code of ethics um because there have been a couple of cases recently where board members have attempted to say um invoke defensive Council my Council told me this was okay to do um and they're not having that so you just need to be aware of that and it it was just in this week's Schoolboard notes um if you didn't see it you're required to hold confidential all matters pertaining to the district that are discussed in closed session um that could perhaps damage or or put the board at risk with either students or staff or community members okay um and so this when I was a board of education member was the most often violated piece to the code that they used to find ethics complaints around it is no longer um taking personal action has faren away um outstrip this as being problematic okay you're required to vote to appoint the best qualified Personnel available after considering the recommendation of the chief School administrator that does not mean you're required to vote Yes on every Personnel item you certainly can vote no if your reason is not arbitrary or capricious however you are required to consider the recommendations of your um administrative officer your superintendent you're required to support and protect School Personnel in proper performance of their duties um 24 hours before you were sworn in you could stand on the side of the lacrosse game and scream at the coach um that he perhaps was incompetent or should have put your child in or take him out or do whatever once you become a board of education member that's no longer something that's open to you um you are required at all times to support and protect School Personnel in the proper performance of their duties if you have a concern as a board of education member about something that you saw that occurred in the district or about a particular individual um you can reach out to the superintendent and make him or her aware of that but it is not appropriate for you to take action with an individual member of the staff for all intents and purposes from the board perspective you have one employee and that's the superintendent here she holds all staff accountable and you hold the superintendent accountable for their performance okay you are required to refer all complaints to the chief administrative officer your soup and act on complaints at a public meeting only after the failure of an administrative solution you were not the how people if you you know hear from parents or you hear from a Community member that there is an issue um you are required um to allow Administration the time um to investigate and solve and create a solution it doesn't mean a solution that every parent or Community member is going to be happy with it means you have to give them sufficient time to take care of it and see that it is addressed um and not do it at a public meeting okay um I want to go back to this because I skipped it one more um one of the things that I'm this thing is doing it on its own try it again there we go one of the most important things that you can do as a board of education member is to provide access to your public and by that I mean by following the chain of command referring parents referring community members to the individual in the district closest to where the problem or the concern emanates is the best way to handle that you do not have the authority to solve anybody's problem or anybody's concern you can direct them and guide them to who is most likely to be able to do that and we suggest that you start with the person closest to where the problem began so if a parent calls you and is upset about something in the classroom or if a parent calls you and there's a transportation issue who are you going to call well in the transportation issue you would guide them to the director of transportation to discuss the fact that you know the bus didn't stop or it was late or whatever the issue was if it's a problem with the teacher you can suggest to the parent that they start with a discussion with their teacher first if they're not satisfied and it's not resolved to their satisfaction the next person they would talk to would be the principal and go up the chain of command you are the court of last resort problems should not land in your laps and if they do that's okay but you can't solve them so the best thing that you can do is to refer the individuals to that chain and no ify them who they need to talk to and and say I hear you I understand you're upset you can be empathetic but you can't solve their problem for them what you can do is guide them to be able to get their problem solved or at least to have their problem heard um again that doesn't mean they're going to be happy every single time with how it gets resolved but they will have at least had that opportunity to be heard and that's important you want your community your parents anyone in the district to be heard um staff know that they have a process that they can follow to be heard they can go to their building rep they can go to the their Association leadership you know they should not be reaching out to board members um to contact you about District business they have a process they know what that process is and again if that were to happen the appropriate thing is to let your superintendent know so that he or she is aware of that situation because they have have a process they have someone that can be their voice um and assist them if they have a concern okay so that's the chain of command for you to understand and know um when you talk to parents and community members they typically stop you in the frozen food section so by the time they're done telling you you're Frozen um but but be that as it may um again you can't help them you can't solve their problem often times community members or parents may think you have all this Authority and that you can do things like move a child from one class to another you can't it's not your role it's not your job um and you don't want to mislead them to let them think that you're going to be able to help them when you really can't it it It ultimately leads to bad feelings in addition to the chain of command in terms of that what's a board member's chain of command and this is equally important so you know if you're advised of an issue um or you hear about an issue a complaint in the district and that doesn't mean you solicit them from folks either okay which is something sometimes board members will do hard to believe but it happens um you need to then refer the individuals to the lowest level in the chain of command um if you're a board member again you follow that same chain of command with your children because that's sometimes what I hear from board members well you know I have a child in the district so so you have to follow the same chain of command that the public does because the only time you have authority as a board member is when you are SE seated here at a duly advertised meeting of the board when this meeting is adjourned you have no more Authority as a board member once you go out that tour and the meeting's adjourned you're a citizen of Bridgewater or a citizen of riton but you have no Authority okay so you need to follow that as a board of education member if you're a parent um if you're getting complaints or concerns again you can refer them to the individual um that you know needs to be spoken to but then you notify the superintendent so that there are no surprises because if it does continue to rise to that level you want to make sure that your Administration is prepared um and that's an important piece as well okay um I'm not going to go through all of these cases I'm going to send you this PowerPoint and it's um tonight so that you can um see it um and all of those cases are there and they're all live links and you can read them so you can be kept up to date I don't want to take your time I know you have a full agenda um to get through to do that I do want to talk a little bit about prohibited acts you're required to recuse yourself if there's a you're voting on something if there's a benefit to you or an immediate family member in your family having to do with a business interest you cannot use your position to secure unwarranted privileges or advantages for employment any kind of financial involvement that you might have that would impair your objectivity um any kind of gift or favor that is offered with an intent to influence um and any kind of financial gain that you might occre to you um so you should not participate in those kinds of activities other considerations um you should not represent or um person or party other than the Border District in a matter before the board sometimes I have folks who are Educators for example um and they you may have a neighbor or a friend who asks you to go with them to an IEP meeting as a board of education member you you can't be doing that kind of thing it's not appropriate because you are a board of education member you're a board of education member here's the conundrum when you leave you have no Authority a regular meeting when you leave but you're board member 24 365 so there are some things that are prohibited even though you don't have any real Authority beyond what you do at the table and sometimes board members find that a little frustrating and you have to be very careful that when you are dealing with um staff that you not providing direction that you are not giving direction um and that you have no Authority by which to order any member of the staff to do anything and you put them in a very awkward uncomfortable position if you're to do so because you don't have the authority to do that and most Educators um like to um be as respectful of Board of Education members as possible but you need to just be mindful you do not have any Authority in any of the schools um at any time to give staff direction or guidance okay so I I just want to make that um abundantly clear because sometimes that's problematic there's a difference sometimes that you need to be aware of between conflict and recusal um if you think that you have a conflict that is not legally outlined meaning um you you don't want to vote or participate in something there's a public perception that you can't be objective then you would abstain from voting on that issue if you have a legal conflict you must vote and indicate your vote is a recusal so that it is clear in the minutes for the record that you have not participated because you have a legitimate legal conflict and that's something that again the ethics commission has gotten really sticky about about that you can't just abstain you must if you have a legal conflict recuse not abstain okay um sometimes board members abstain if you don't have sufficient information to to vote um and that's perfectly legitimate but if you don't have a legal conflict you can abstain if you have a legal conflict recuse um and I know that may sound like splitting hairs but it it is a significant difference okay um one of the most wonderful things and I actually have copies for you all to take home tonight um that the SEC did was to finally outline all of the potential conflicts when it comes to negotiations or employment of the superintendent um they have now named every relative that is a potential conflict um for a couple of years people were submitting advisory opinions like every week is my third cousin related on my mother's side a problem um and now they have given us a list um this just came out last I think January um literally the ba in the district where I took it stood up and applauded so tired of trying to figure out who was conflicted who wasn't conflicted who could participate who couldn't participate um and this will really help keep everything very clear in terms of both negotiations evaluation of the super superintendent setting terms and conditions of employment for the superintendent as well as um conducting a search okay um in terms of hiring a Personnel if you have a relative who already works in the district um you are conflicted out of participation in having anything to do with the superintendent's contract evaluation terms and conditions of employment um it doesn't matter what they do in the district whether it's a bus driver a teacher a lunch person in the cafeteria anyone employed in the district paraprofessional anyone um they would not be able to participate okay um the superintendent is not permitted to to recommend for employment any relative of a board of education member with very limited exceptions um and so your superintendent cannot do that either okay so those are those conflicts in terms of collective bargaining this is a really helpful chart um and I'm not going to take time to go it through it all um but keep in mind that the SEC has said that if you're a member of njaa or a similar Statewide Union we have some districts that have AFL CIO as their bargaining agent um also aft the American Federation of teachers those conflicts are the same as for njaa because they are similar or or they are similar Statewide associations with teachers in certain districts um here I think believe you have njaa um and again um you know you can see who conflicts you out of participating in negotiations and then whether you're able to vote to ratify the contract I would tell you if you are able to vote to ratify the contract um you have to have all of the component pieces including the salary guides after it's been totally costed out you can't votee if that component piece is M missing if you have a potential conflict okay whoop I didn't mean to go so fast we'll go back um again here are some um pieces if you have a family member for example we've seen instances where a family member has applied for a vacancy on a board if you're a member of the board you can't participate if you'rea involved in something like that um you know when a member we had another board member who was present attended multiple discussions um around um solving um a problem with the family you cannot sit in that kind of session either okay all right um volunteering in schools um this was not something that was in existence a number of years ago um but there are now limitations around board member part participation in volunteering um and so you need to be aware um that has to do with the degree of involvement and the degree of authority um you should never be handling School funds um again you can be a PTO officer that is a separate SEC decision that permits that however um you cannot be am mesed in the school building um you cannot direct students or staff in any capacity if you are in The District in a School volunteering okay um and so you need to be aware of that you cannot direct any staff member or any student um even if you're volunteering okay you can you can any kind of onshot volunteer things you can go as a chaperon on a field trip you can go to read Across America um and that's what I mean by oneshot things you're in there for a specific purpose a limited period of time but you should not be a mesed in the building and being in a school every day so that the staff think you're part of the staff um that's a problem okay and you don't want to have that happen because it is an Ethics violation um potentially if you do that okay okay um in terms of voting and we've already sort of covered this um the difference between a recusal and um um an exstension okay social media I would be remiss if I didn't talk about this a little bit um there was just a Supreme Court case um that we are still in the process of unpacking but that one was on social media largely had to do with um as a public official which you are whether you have the authority to block um community members or other folks in who might want to weigh in on your comments on your website um so that is was adjudicated by the Supreme Court it was sent back to the state courts to to relitigate um and wait we'll wait and see what happens but essentially it says if you don't have the authority meaning the state Authority um to speak on behalf of the district um and you use your private account which you should always use if you're going to post on social media not your Schoolboard account because your Schoolboard account gives um the impression that you're speaking as a in Your Capacity as a board of education member um and so you need to just make sure that if you are going to do that if you're going to post you need to include a disclaimer um the disclaimer is not a get out of jail card for free it's largely based on the content of the speech and so you can issue that disclaimer and I have copy of that disclaimer included in this presentation but if in in you include that but the content of your speech is such that it leads a member of the public to believe that you are speaking as a board of education member um that's a problem and it's very case specific and so there's not one overarching example that I can give you um only to say that we urge caution in this regard we would tell you that the appropriate place to discuss District business is at the dist the board table and not on social media um but again you know I certainly understand that people do it and want to use it but you need to be just ever so mindful about what it is you say when you there saying it okay um and again there are whole raft of cases around this the SEC is spending the lon share of its time adjud Cas adjudicating cases around social media um and again here's here's the disclaimer the following statements are made in my capacity as a citizen and not as a board member these statements are also not represented of the board or its individual members and solely my represent my own personal opinions I would always encourage you to include that um disclaimer and then also to be very mindful of what it is you say on social media to protect yourself and to protect the board okay so it doesn't give you you know that automatically I'm out of jail uh again it's based on content and all I can tell you is that content and perception matter a great deal um so again you're not required to use that exact disclaimer from the SEC however I'm a rule follower I would use it just because it's clear that you're trying to follow the guidelines um and not ignore them um and so that's something that you can do um again you know they've also been very clear that once you're elected it is no longer appropriate to use one's campaign page in order to post on social media um again you know anything that indicates your position as a board member um should not be used so do not use your District email account to to post on social media use a Gmail an AOL whatever you know other kind of account you might have um again they have spoken very strongly about the use of divis of language that derogates from the purpose of a board of education which is the furtherance of Education of all children and so they have been very clear in providing lots of warnings to Board of Education members that speech that is divisive and negative and hurtful um is not something um that they look kindly on um and I can't say that I blame them okay so just points to consider and recom remember um again um we publish all the time in Schoolboard notes in school leader articles around ethics all of the cases um you can go to the sec's website it's part of the Department of Education you go to NJ you know www nj.gov SEC um.com and you can read all of the cases that are there um so that you have a firmer idea of exactly what is said but there is an expectation that you will be aware of both their decision and their advisories okay questions I have an easy one um so in the beginning when I first started I got the impression that when you like abstain from a vote you specifically are abstaining because you're in Conflict no no no I'm what I'm saying is an exstension is used when you there is perception your perception or the Public's perception that you might have a conflict it doesn't mean a legal conflict as defined under the law meaning there are certain things you can't do however if it's I'm trying to think of an example if it's known that that you are one of the things that oftentimes happens um I've had people say to me well of course you're going to vote to approve the teacher contract you were a teacher implying that you don't have objectivity around a particular issue issue is the concern so you could abstain and I always say to boards if you believe there's a public perception that is widespread that you haven't been able to address appropriately with the community you're better off abstaining than participating and being perceived as not being ethical because it's not the SEC says it's not just a legal conflict it's also perception okay okay and that's hard to judge right I mean public perception could be anything about anybody at any given point in time I get that what if it's like a personal perception where you feel like you personally can't be fair in the issue because maybe you hold um um like values that you think are in conflict with like what you're discussing like you can personally conflicted then you can abstain the only thing I would tell you is exstension should not be used to get Board of members off the hook if there's a particularly contentious issue that comes before you think of the RS you know referendums reconfiguration redistricting they're like the RW um and that always can cause problems in a district or a lot of public concern so sometimes you have to make hard decisions so you can't should not use an exstension to to not make a hard decision you were elected by your community to make the best judgments you can sometimes they're hard sometimes they will make people angry sometimes people won't be happy with you but that's part of the responsibility of a board of education member is to fully participate yes two questions or clarifications one the handling of money for the district would that also apply to fundraisers that are L absolutely okay so like zero touching of I would not have anything to do with any District funds that are collected by a school from parents from staff in whatever capacity as a fundraiser okay and the other one is the disclaimer on social media on posting I'm assuming that you're only talking about personal posting because you said not to use your campaign correct you should never use your district for campaigning because it would be a violation no like I had a campaign page before right and there and there that's why they're advising people to no longer use their campaign page um any longer once the campaign is over to suspend it put it on hold do whatever you need to do um and then you if you want to go on social media do it on a personal address but still with the disclaimer absolutely with the disclaimer always any more questions yeah I I to real quick uh in terms of passing along any complaints to the superintendent and up the chain is that always an affirmative requirement like if you hear to you've heard 17 people complain about the I don't think we have a fencing coach so the fencing coach and like it's a known thing like are is there a requirement it's not but but if you know oftentimes brand new board members don't know that there are complaints against a particular individual that have been heard taken care of addressed not true just rumor um I you're not required but I would always air on the side of caution okay you you never want to get to here and find 400 people sitting in the audience ready to have at the board over something that could have been resolved had the superintendent been made aware of it it can it's a on line email I'm hearing out there that people are really unhappy about X right um and maybe I have said this story so if I have forgive me when we were adding on to the high school um I had passed a referendum Peter can verify this um we lost all of the soccer fields and Bridgewater soccer association annually runs their Big Spring tournament that was their huge fundraiser um and we had to take everything to the right of the boys baseball field offline which meant they were losing multiple soccer fields and so they were sure we were not going to um be able to host their tournament which we traditionally did obviously at you know at at one site um and so they all came to the next Board of Education meeting and they brought all their little kindergarteners they were so cute in their little soccer shorts and their high socks and they all sat back here um and were ready to you know go go wild the superintendent I was board president at the time we had reached out to the and Peter too I'm sure Park in Rex and had come up with you know other schools that they could use that were close together so they could use Crim you know they could use the middle school so that they could hold their tournament our goal was not to but they really didn't understand that on June 23rd they were going to be bulldozers on those fields and you couldn't have kids and soccer and parents in the same place um you know we we knew a little bit ahead of time that they were coming um but certainly it was a little bit of a surprise um because rumor control had gotten sort of started and it was like we're not going to approve it and the board's not going to do that it's like whoa fellas you know we're here to work together um build Bridges and so they were happy ultimately um but that's the kind kind of thing you don't want to be surprised about when a gazillion people show up here unhappy for no really good reason because it was a rumor and it wasn't true and so you know those kinds of things that's where there's an affirmative responsibility and if I can ask for any advice or guidance I know it's a good phrase keeping board business at the table so whether it's on social media or just a conversation or somewhere else obviously setting aside anything that would be in Clos session or a or confidential how how would you advise someone who just wants to explain their vote on something like hey why do you why did you decide to vote Yes on such and such you can have that conversation at the board table um excluding of course anything that's executive session right right and you can have that at the board table and and I would tell you board members should talk to one another at the board table and hash those out you know when there's a motion in a second that is your opportunity On Any Given topic to hold forth here's what I think here's what I believe here's why I can't support it here's why I absolutely will support it have you thought of I mean those are the discussions that ought to be had at the board table not on social media at 2: in the morning you know when you get home um again you know in the old days it was before social media was really big um I used to routinely say if you're upset go home sit down draft an email vent yourself till you feel better and then save it as a draft and get up the next morning and hit delete okay pick up the phone have a conversation with a colleague have a cup of coffee talk it out whatever but it you know no one looks good um when people are slamming each other and unfortunately you know we don't have a lot of local media left um we used to have time between our board meeting when the um messenger Gazette used to publish every Thursday so we had an opportunity we met on Tuesday nights they published on Thursday you could actually get in touch with the reporter and correct or ask questions to make sure they understood so that there was accurate reporting but that doesn't happen anymore there you know so everyone's on patch or tap into and you know people have like this immediate need they're sitting at board meetings texting um there's there's no reason for any of that you know we did live before cell phones we did live successfully before um the internet thank you the internet and you know what I was going to say is having your cell phone on the board table um again you know not a good thing there have been board members who have tried to record things inappropriately um and again you know we we did figure out how to take care of our kids and family emergencies even when you're weren't sitting there with your phone in front of you um you can put it on the table turn it over put it on vibrate excuse yourself if you need to go out but there there's really no reason to have this instantaneous and keep in mind all of those all of your phones when you're doing that at a board meeting and the public perceives you're talking to one another across the room across next to each other um without talking they're all discoverable which means that you know anyone can open that material it's all public and a lot of that I'm sure you don't want to be public perhaps especially if you're just saying I don't think his tie goes with his suit okay I'm kidding I know I know I'm teasing you probably doesn't it does it does I'm just teasing anything else any questions thank you for your time and attention as always and thank you Gwen for an excellent presentation as always you know Gwen was a board member for what 10 years here so you kind of welcome home she and Peter on a lot of buildings around the district if you didn't know that her name is on many buildings so thank you for your previous work and everything and thank you for coming this evening appreciate my pleasure safe ride home give Georgia treat all right I will thank you um next up is the president's support I'm going to be brief I'm going to wish everyone a wonderful spring break I want to thank our student refs for you do a great job and I want to have you a nice break it's your last spring break where you're not you know in college so please enjoy it and have fun thank you so much that's all good night vice president report um so for the board calendar uh we um obviously we've submitted a tenative budget um we have the academic calendar on the agenda today uh we're eventually going to review the strategic planning meeting um or did we do that already or is that in April I'm sorry I have it listed in both spaces um to review this yeah that's in May oh it's in May okay all right I apologize I'll move it um then we have Financial disclosure forms as Brennan mentioned earlier there's a few of us that still haven't turned them in they have to be in by the 30th uh we have the public budget meet hearing date April 30th um and and we just had our training and then we have superintendent evaluations I believe that's in April also I'm not sure exactly when that's taking place we're starting the process in April and it statutory it has to be submitted by July 1st for you SEC so we have some time but it's good to start early anything else gotcha um committee reports um academic committee Mr Joshy yes so we met on uh March 21st at 5:30 virtually in attendance were myself uh miss kist Mr pepy Mr Walker and Miss Jones um as Gwen just noted we're a policym you want to get a little closer to the mic because I know public won't be we're a policym entity and we discussed policy all meeting long um and and they're on um the agenda for first reading for tonight uh so the committee reviewed a series of policies that must be aligned to to New Jersey State Board of Education Administrative Code chapter 7 which is managing for equity in education under revisions to New Jersey Law the list of uh protected uh classes have been expanded and the policies now reference the specific Administrative Code rather than the list of protected classes as a result any future changes to protected classes and the code will not require policy revision all policies and regulations will go to First reading policy uh 5755 will be abolished as all requirements are included in other related policies the committee accepted the recommendations um and on the agenda you have um I don't know I'll read all of them but uh 2200 2260 the regulation 2260 2411 11 5570 5750 5755 5841 5842 um are up for uh first reading that was item one on the agenda any questions okay item two guess what policy um two additional unrelated policies were reviewed and the committee accepted St as's changes um this is the bilingual education policy uh and it's revised to include adopted changes to the bilingual code this includes changes to definitions and requirements all of which have already been implemented in the district the second policy treatment of sports related head injuries and concussion was revised to align with New Jersey's model policy and CDC guidelines Miss Jones shared that she spoke with the athletic director who confirmed that uh the district is is already following these guidelines and these include uh policy 2423 regulation 2423 24 31.4 um and regulation 2431 point4 any questions on that okay third item um other topics a board of education member shared a parent request that is being considered by High School administrat regarding information that is available on the website specific to GPA uh two policies will be reviewed at the next committee meeting promotion and retention and student use of vehicles on school grounds and we adjourned at 6:30 our next meeting is on April 18th at 5:30 any questions thank you thank you AJ um commun relations Miss kist thank you um our next meeting is April 11th at 3:15 thank you finance facilities and transportation Mr singer our next meeting is April 8th at 5:30 personal committee meeting Miss Freelander thank you um yes we met on March 19th at 5:00 pm in attendance was myself Miss lockran Miss Lee Mr Walker Mr fonder and Mr beers item number one was the draft of the Personnel addendum which was before you the committee supported the action items any questions on that number two is policy updates we looked at 1140 1530 1523 1550 and 3211 the committee reviewed the policy revision updates that are primarily connected to changes in the law and the recommendation was that the committee supported the action items any question on those number three policy review part one of the 1000 series the committee discussed the review of the Thousand Series this included a discussion of which policies would be reviewed at the next Personnel meeting and no action was taken number four our Hillside assistant principal update Dr fonder Mr beers provided an update on the hiring process for the new Hillside assistant principal position for next year which will be approved as part of the personal addendum this evening no action was taken number five enrollment and Staffing update the discussion uh provided an update on Staffing at each of the levels and answered Committee Member questions regarding Staffing plans for next year no action was taken any questions the April Personnel committee meeting will be held at held on April 16th at 5:30 p.m. here at the Wade building we adjourned at 5:57 p.m. any other questions thank you m Freelander leaz liazon or Del reports just want to mention briefly that uh on uh what was it March 22nd we attended the S County School Board association's uh unsung heroes meeting uh presentation uh a number of board members were present it was quite nice to have almost the most number of board members I think one school beat us up by one person uh but uh man Bill okay well that's fine we didn't need to mention them uh and uh our district uh uh in addition to the board members we had uh administrators and uh uh one of the guidance councelors were there and she uh introduced our unsung hero of the year which was Arena thod uh and spoke of her and and her accomplishments uh and we're very proud to have have her in our district uh as a senior and uh we wish her all the best and uh congratulations thank you st bring that any other Lea on our Del reports great me can yeah go ahead okay um I wonder if uh going to our own Fine Art fast is a delegate or or Leon but I I wanted to say thank you for our art uh art education program and teachers and involved uh supervisors and I'm very proud of what the teach what the students are able to do what the teacher are able to teach her kids um so congratulations to the art program um so now I want to if I can start with the delegate report uh so me and family uh attended the town council meeting remotely on March 21st and uh relevant to our school district um during the council report there was mentioning of planning board discussing the Bon field uh bathroom constructions and field house um I'm glad that it's moving along smoothly um I think we already know that um so uh want to also mention that April 11th there will be a public input Workshop of the town's Master Plan update uh it's 7 p.m. at township building I feel like wonder if our board or our Administration should send someone uh because we are kind of a big uh presence in the town um so all citizens are welcome I think maybe we can consider that uh and also I felt worth mentioning is the U safety of lithium battery dis disposal there was mention of fire in the recycle Bang from waste lithium battery next meeting is April 4th thank you thank you I can actually report Out Mr beers and I and the um architect project engineer and the project architect attended the planning board meeting where where when we do projects we the the township to planning board has a courtesy review so they reviewed our courtesy plans and gave input so it was a nice meeting they were very one of actually a former student who just graduated last year is on the planning board so he was very excited to see the the parking lot and the and the bathrooms for the bass loone facility area so one other thing I can you want anything else you want to say on that Bob you were there oh any other leas on our daily reports open to the public individuals and or groups are invited to present their concerns comments and or requests regarding the following actual aims to the board of education at this time in accordance with board policy members of the public are allotted 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 District's website go once thank you okay um item 12 approval of the minutes March 20 12 2024 regular session so moved is there any discussion Mr Stars can you call the role please miss Freelander yes Miss Lee yes Mr josi yes Miss kist stre yes Mr singer yes Miss Huna yes Mr Pepe yes M lockran yes Mr Walker yes motion passes approval of action items Personnel Personnel 24-25 is there a motion second any discussion Mr St can you call the role please miss Freelander yes Miss Lee yes Mr josi yes Miss kist yes Mr singer yes Miss Huna yes Mr Mr Pepe yes M lockran yes Mr Walker yes motion passes I want to take a minute to welcome uh well not welcome but welcome in your new role uh Jacqueline chleo who is the current ETS at JFK School who has been named now as the assistant principal at Hillside School 12-month position welld deserved we're we're delighted that that uh you applied for the position and were named to it so once more congratulations thank you thank you so now before you leave we we all have to take a picture right he's looking at should we want to take a yeah just do just do all right I'll go and all right let the boss do it take a let take a two minute break take a couple minute break [Music] here Happ e e e e e e conratulations we yeah let's moving moving on curriculum curriculum 24-54 through curriculum 24- 57 do I have a motion second second any discussion Mr ders call the role please miss Freelander yes Miss Lee yes Mr josi yes Miss kri yes Mr singer obstain on curriculum 2456 yes and everything else mruna yes Mr pepy yes M lockran yes Mr Walker yes motion passes business 24-16 to business 24-11 is there a motion so moved second any discussion the uh the jcpnl um so 109 is that tied to the am I correct that that's tied to the referendum and savings therein yes you are correct I love those answers Sorry Miss Lee do you have a question yes I have a question about the the financial report um I was curious like um it's uh it's a it has a starting date and ending date for February 29th of 2024 I wonder if the numbers that's presented in this file is that up to this this date of spending and uh and uh budgeting or that's projected through the end of the year it's through February 29th it's accurate by that day yes okay that's all I want to clarify thank you any more questions Mr SC can you have the rooll please miss Freelander yes Miss Lee yes Mr josi yes Miss kist yes Mr singer yes mruna yes Mr Pepe yes bless you bless you Miss lockran yes Mr Walker yes motion passes special services 24-30 is there a motion second any discussion so per the conversation I will be refusing abstaining from this so everyone knows because I sit on the somerson County Educational Services Commission board so to be clear and transparent any more discussion which do I have to do is the recu orain Mr Stars which technically if you have a legal conflict I have a legal conflict because I would just like presentation either or one at a time so anyways we'll discuss this later any more discussion do I also have to recuse the same way then as alternate as no because I would actually sign the contract because I'm president of that board okay so that's the reason why right so yes so you're you're the alternate and only voting privilege is what I I would I'm not aable so yeah that's but thank you for asking any other questions Mr Stars can hold the RO please M Freelander yes Miss Lee yes Mr Joi yes Miss kri yes Mr singer yes Miss Huna yes Mr pepy yes M lockran yes Mr Walker abstain recuse whichever it works motion passes other 24-33 through 24-35 so moved any discussion and would be Havey H and close session yes that the calendar well the Calendar's not so the calendar can go so you going first sorry so I think everyone has a copy of the calendar yes so would it be a friendly so if you have a you have a question on the calendar no I have a question regarding 2434 so that way have a done and close session okay can we I move to table other 2434 until later on right is that what we're doing till till after discussion close session yep is there a second of that motion second so just tailing that one on we can we take a any more discussion I need to call roll call on the motion this is just a motion to table motion table 24 34 244 that's okay I got it the motion vote is on the table uh Miss Freelander yes Miss Lee yes Mr Joi yes Miss kri yes Mr singer yes Mr sunna yes Mr Pepe yes M lockran yes Mr Walker yes so the resolution is just other 24-33 and other 24-35 so I have a question on other 2435 okay are there any questions uh no you're good we're good sorry you have a question yeah so I just had a question um first of all I really wanted to thank the calendar committee and the administration for the time and effort you guys have put into the calendar and going back to it I did have a question um I was looking at um some surrounding school districts to see how they're dealing with the you know the complicated issue of every reh holiday being on a weekend and how they're handling Lunar New Year in Eid um I did notice that Warren in um is going back to school they've adjusted it so that their inservice days are actually starting on the 26th and the students are coming in as early as the 28th um which gave them a little bit more wiggle room our calendars are extremely similar um except that they are not going to be using Lunar New Year or Eid as their takeback days I was just curious if there was any discussion or thought on adjusting I know that we're moving the inservice date um for an August start for faculty was there any thought or consideration on bringing students back sooner to make those adjustments there was initial conversations but it was quickly um met with app I don't want to say dismissed but let's say it did not have uh a a a resounding reception reason why I asked is because our facilities are open anyway especially with a lot of the sports and other activities beginning at the end of August so I just thought it was an interesting idea if if some if a lot of faculty and staff are coming back already for um early programming um we also know that a lot of camps let out early um most of the day camps and sleep away camps have students returning by August 15th so I don't know I was just going to throw it out I think we've actually discussed that it's a good idea and a lot of 9 through 12 districts as in Mr beers' home District they go back early because majority of half the school high school and 912 District are usually participating in activities starting August 15th or give or take give or take a few weeks there so football and other activities completing ban you know cheer all the activities so it's been a conversation but we are K to 12 District so sometimes it doesn't I know Watch Hill is discussing it in other areas so as you add those holidays you know and we have to be concerned plus we only have 10 weeks in the summer to get our projects done and well next five years are pretty busy Summers so some things to consider there too so your thoughts Mr beers and and Mr beers is right he did bring that up and uh it was not uh well received in a nice way but you know there's a push back there is is Wang comparable to our district like in terms of size and Gres watch original is I think so similar to our size it's only to high school yeah yeah Watchung Regional is small and um Watchung Hills you know similar size high school they're about 500 fewer kids I I know from an instructional standpoint those two days because my school I mentioned last time starts the Wednesday and Thursday before Labor Day and it's really good as a teacher just to have those they they two half days in the district so it's it's a good way to kind of start classroom teens without kind of diving into a full day and then you're kind of you come back from not that you're 100% ready to go by any means but coming back off Labor Day you can kind of hit the ground running rather than starting with kind of day one you get those first day jitters out of the way then you have a nice break and you ease your way into the year and then you can go so there definitely some advantages to that um the one question I had is I know there were some issues on on the margins I see in January 2026 says we're reop open schools on on the 3 which is a Saturday I assume that should be the the fifth I I can imagine starting on the Saturday would not be too well received Les resoundingly than the other one but we'd be different than other districts doing that Mike that's correct starting on the I'd be down for a random Saturday but I don't think it'll go over too well well in this calendar you know we're starting one day in August so at least that's a start maybe the following year we can do like your District's doing M maybe do you know Wednesday Thursday e a start yeah well that that's what we do actually Wednesday Thursday and it may not be the right thing for for this District I don't want to speak for anyone just in my own experience I didn't think I'd like it but then it was it worked out quite nicely it's a start I just have oh okay okay go ahead okay I just have one question our our our give back days for excessive weather two of them are still in well actually I guess all of them right all of them are kind of still in the winter so what are we going to do if it snows after there is there is precedent for that anytime you have a really bad winter with massive storms then it starts to come off of Spring Break um this year would not this year um 25 26 it would come off I believe it would be starting on the 30th because Good Friday is on on Friday the 3 m and that's Easter weekend so we would start giving back on the 30th but yes I I mean anyone who's been an educator for for a long time I know in the 90s when we got hit with a few storms um there was no spring break there there have been several times that it's happened in the past I I would like to also make a comment about this calendar I feel like U I agree with what Stacy has said uh I wonder if like there's opportunity ways that we consider so that we can we can preserve those religious holidays um I can't um speak for everyone but from the people that I know of uh there's a lot of children uh students that's involved in those religious holidays I remember