##VIDEO ID:D22ZExDVzS0## Le you're loyal hello and welcome to the Monday January 27th 2025 Hillsboro Township Board of Education in accordance with the state Sunshine Law of New Jersey adequate notice of this meeting of the Hillsboro t board of education was provided on January 8th 2025 for the Hillsboro Beacon and The Courier News uh Mr eer if you can please take rooll Mr Davis here Miss Jackson Miss Craig Miss Lenny beer here Mr Lee here miss nurse here miss stats here Mr hiio and Mr Mar here take a motion to move into executive session whereas the open public meetings act chapter 231 laws 1975 provid public body May exclud the May exclude the public from a portion of the meeting which the public body discusses certain matters which confidentiality required ised in section 7 of the ACT resolved by the Board of Education the town of hillsbor in the county of Somerset in state of New Jersey as follows matters to be discussed are a student disciplinary matter and HIV appeal and grievance hearings uh matters will discuss executive session sh it is close to the public when the need for confidentiality no longer exists can I get a motion in second so moved second all in favor I see you around 7:30 thank you each yeah one two one two yeah e [Music] s you [Music] no no I two for put on e e yeah e [Music] yeah all right e e e e one two e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e yeah e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e hello and welcome back to the Monday January 27th 2025 Hillsboro Township Board of Education we are now back to Executive session apologies for over but we have to cover the topics that we have to cover unfortunately uh so we are now back and we will start back Mr record with r Mr Davis here Miss Jackson here miss Craig Mr Ling beer here Mr Lee here miss nurse here miss stats here Mr hio here and Mr Marie here we have a quum stand for the Pledge of Allegiance Pledge of Allegiance [Music] all right I would like to acknowledge the correspondents as listed and we will now move on to the board president's report all right I'd like to read a proclamation uh whereas the Hillsboro Raider marching band continues its tradition of Excellence representing Hillsboro Township with pride and distinction and whereas The Talented students and dedicated staff of the Raider marching band under the expert guidance of Jules haran and Nick Liberton have demonstrated ex exceptional musicality Artistry and teamwork throughout the season and whereas the Raider marching band has achieved a resounding Victory by winning the 2024 us bands group five open state championship a testament to their hard work and dedication and whereas the band's exceptional performance earned them an impressive score of 96.4 the highest of the night along with caption awards for best music best overall effect best visual best percussion and best color guard and whereas the Hillsboro Township Board of Education recognizes the vital role of music education and fostering creativity collaboration and self-expression among our students now therefore be it Proclaim that we the Hillsboro Township Board of Education to hereby celebrate celebrate the Hillsboro Raider marching band for their outstanding achievement in winning the 2024 us bands group five open state championship and capturing all caption awards we extend our heartfelt congratulations to the student staff and families the band and encourage all citizens of billsboro Township to join us in recognizing this extraordinary [Applause] accomplishment if I could uh can I for any band members who are here in a second I'm gonna ask you to come up to this wall where president Marini uh can uh present Mr ran and Mr clipperton with these proclamations and maybe take a couple of pictures but I m r Mr clipperton are you here oh there there you are yes would hang on before that would either one of you like to come to the podium and say a couple words about or or student leader or whomever please send someone up to to say a couple words about the incredible performances this year we would really like to hear good evening I would first like to thank U Mr buy and the board of education for inviting us to be here tonight and for this special recognition this marching band season flew by and it's amazing to reflect on all the amazing things we accomplished and how far we've come in such a short amount of time it was so rewarding to watch each member of the band grow as musicians Marchers Spinners and people as everyone took ownership of their role to be the piece that made the difference even more significant I loved watching a strong sense of unity develop within the sections and throughout the band as a whole um during each performance and show it was really evident uh everyone's commitment to the team and it was so uh it was so inspiring to witness the energy and the intensity with which everyone performed with consistent determination passion and pride we developed into a state champion [Music] Ensemble we're so grateful for our fantastic directors Jules and Nick and our amazing staff that guide us and push us each day to be the best we can be without them we would not be state champions [Applause] great job pride of Hillsboro and thank you again for this honor while while Mr Marini is getting up there and and we can soon have all of the students and also any of the adult leaders who who would like to take a picture or two that would be great I also want to say uh this is one of our most actively involved parent groups that you can possibly imagine the the support for over many years it's no wonder why this is such an excellent group and an excellent organization from top down from the students the parents to the administrators to our leaders our staff leaders it's very much appreciated Mr Ireland for your oversight of the program again congratulations to you all and I think it's probably going to be best can I have all the students and anybody involved we'll go against this wall it might be easier for a picture so please come up so we can get a picture I I got my shirt on too so I'm going to get in there that thank you I did get permission to take my shirt off so I conduct regular board business the rest of the way uh but I did want to thank again everybody for coming out tonight we realize we have a full board meeting and we don't expect unless you really want two parents and students to stay for the full board meeting so uh the next part of um I'm sorry are you done with your president's report yes okay moving to the superintendence reports um we are going to be talking about a board ethics oh wow that cleared out the room so unfortunately for members of the public uh and also for the board members here we seem to be having some technical difficulties normally I broadcast what's on my screen behind me we're not able to do that tonight but I assure you that anything that we have is an attachment to the public you can look at it online um additionally all of the board members should have a handout right here so my apologies Mr Fogerty that you can't follow along right there so good evening it is that time again for the board's annual ethics training and I'm going to begin with uh some uh basic requirements in terms of how we function as a board of education I'm then going to talk to you about the code of ethics I'm going to talk to you about some advisory opinions and also talk to you about social media in the context of the board's policy so I want to begin by saying that as a board that uh we are empowered uh pursuant to state statutes title 18a uh it's generally understood that we have only express Authority not implied Authority so we can only do those things as a board that have been delegated To Us by the legislature um we enforce the rules of the State Board of Education uh we make amend and repeal rules for our own govern our own governance and management of the schools and we do all those things that is necessary in order to ensure a thorough and efficient education here in Hillsboro the most the most critical things that we do are approving the curriculum that meets the New Jersey student learning standards adopting a budget that provides for a thorough and efficient education for all students in the district hiring the necessary certified Personnel to educate the D the Stu the district students and to develop policies for the management of the school district most importantly while the board takes action with regard to all of these important uh uh decisions and uh uh all all all of these all of these important uh measures in order to ensure that the schools operate and function properly we don't do any of these things alone all of these require uh the recommendation of the superintendent uh the only exception to the superintendent recommendation where the board can act without that recommendation is with regard to uh rehiring of uh non the rehiring of non-tenured employees who may have been non-renewed by the superintendent so every May 15th the superintendent makes a decision about employees who are non-tenured as to whether or not they'll be offered an employment contract for the following school year uh May 15th that decision is a final decision however the employee who is affected by that decision has the right to seek a hearing before the board and if he or she does so the purpose is to convince you that the superintendent's decision is wrong and that they should be offered a contract it is the one and only time that the board can make a decision uh to hire certified Personnel without the superintendent's recommendation I'm on page five so thank you C up to me so um with regard to official action by the board has to be taken at a public board meeting uh so there and there there needs to be Quorum when the board is in session uh what that means very simply is that we cannot take uh we cannot take action in executive session uh there are only two exceptions to that uh one is with regard to uh the certification of tenure charges and the other is with regard to making decisions regarding harassment intimidation and bullying and that is because the legislature has provided for those two exceptions to public action by the board um meetings must comply with the open public meetings act what that means is uh that we need to publish adequate notice uh we need to come here uh um and uh we need to ensure that uh uh we need to ensure that we are not taking action by by committee uh we're not taking private action by consensus of the board um and to to impress upon you the importance of compliance with the open public meetings act that is not within the jurisdiction of the commissioner it's within the jurisdiction of the Somerset County prosecutor's office so a violation of the open public meetings act uh would uh would be addressed by the prosecutor's office so committee meetings uh do not uh do not consist of a quorum uh a quorum of our board is five board members we're a board member of nine uh committee committee meetings are less than five board members so there's no obligation to comply with the open public meetings act uh some uh uh some advice however is with regard to emails and text messages uh you want to be careful of that it's a trap for the unwary uh if in real time we are exchanging emails or text messages with one another uh we are discussing board business arguably that constitutes uh uh taking official action without uh with outside of a public board meeting and would be a violation of the open public meetings act so there is no prohibition against a board member sending email communication to another board member you indicate do not reply you're not looking uh you're not looking to engage an active discussion about that uh but once uh there is an active discussion taking place uh by uh five board members or more that uh clearly runs the risk of a violation of the open public meetings act the board operates as one unit not as an not not as individual board members what that means is that once uh we have a robust discussion here at a board meeting uh we share our opinions with one another once the board adopts a single course of action by majority already vote other board members are expected to respect that decision even if you are dissenting board members you may dissent to express your disagreement engage in a discussion here but once the board makes a final decision we're expected uh to to respect that in open public meetings in order to preserve the Quorum and to ensure that the board expresses a single consistent position it is our president alone who speaks on the board's behalf board president may ask for contributions from other board members in terms of committee reports or even with regard to something that you want to weigh in on and offer your opinion and your or your comment but you must be recognized by the board president in order to do that with regard to actions taken by the board uh press releases comments to the Press also made by the board president pursuant to the board policy but if there was going to be a press release issued by the board about a matter that the board had not that was predecisional that the board had not taken action on that would require uh under our board policy a majority voted the full board before that press release could be issued so boards can the board and the administration the role of the board and the administration is intended uh to be a collaborative uh relationship the board's direct responsibility is to make policies develop plans and evaluate outcomes not to manage the day-to-day operation of the schools what that means very simply is that the day-to-day operation of our schools is delegated to the superintendent and he delegates that Authority uh to to his cabinet his administrators they delegate that authority to their subordinates the board cannot engage in decision-making with regard to our day-to-day operations members of the board are responsible not to administer the schools but to see that they are well-run and to hold our superintendent our business administrator our assistant superintendent accountable to make sure uh that the schools are well run so by by virtue of Statute and by virtue of the board policy a board member cannot exercise any administrative responsibility with respect to the schools and most importantly an individual board member cannot command the services of any School employee it would be a violation of State Statute and a violation of the board's policy if a board member were to call the principal of the high school and ask the principal of the high school to provide him or her with information an individual board member calls the school business administrator or even the superintendent and request them to prepare a report or to provide information would not which would not otherwise be readily available for the entire board so what that means is that if you as a board member believe that information should be provided to to to you that information that a report should be prepared then you bring that matter to the attention of the full board and the full board makes a decision here at a public board meeting whether the administrator should devote the time and resources to prepare that report or that information for the benefit of the full board also um uh we do not have access to the school district schools uh with uh with with with with any any greater Authority or any greater access than any member of the community we're expected to comply with the visitor's policy I understand that when board members walk into our schools you know they are recognized as board members very often there is a sense as to why you are there and uh um you're there as a parent you're there uh not in your official capacity uh but as a parent so you must comply with the school visitors policies we we we as a board delegate certain responsibilities to our administrative officials the superintendent who administers the school district um he is obligated to inform you of the happenings of the district makes makes operational recommendations to you that's usually done in the superintendent report at each at each monthly board meeting and then of course there is also um M Mr eer who oversees the business and maintenance operations of the school district he prepares the budget he maintains fiscal plans serves as general accountant he is the uh registered official purchasing agent of the school district essentially controls the keys to the kingdom with regard to uh our financial operations so it's often said that we're collab that we should work collaboratively with the administration that our relationship is intended to be cooperative not adversarial uh what that means very simply is that you share your concerns with the administration in in advance of meetings you want to make sure that you have all the information you need in order to react to the resolutions that are on the agenda you want to be able to make an informed decision that's the reason you ask for the information in advance very often if you ask for that information here at a public board meeting the administration will not be equipped to provide you with the information which is frustrating for you as a board member because you may need that information to inform your decision so when you get the agenda if there is information you feel that isn't there that you need in order to make an informed decision you should contact the board president the board president in turn will request that information from the superintendent and the superintendent will make that information available to everyone because chances are if you need that information to make an informed decision your colleagues may need that information as well um be mindful of those things that we can discuss here and those things that we discuss in executive session those things in executive session are exceptions to the open public meetings act it allows you to go into an executive session and to have a discussion uh to make decisions and uh that that discussion is also uh uh uh very often of a confidential nature and I'm going to touch upon that in just a moment uh with regard to complaints uh under the code of ethics for school board members and our board policy and you can see that throughout uh this presentation that we that that I've identified board policies in your bylaws that are essentially in the mirror image of the code of ethics kind of a belt and suspenders code of ethics controls your behavior but you as a board have also uh um you have you have also included that as part of your your your policy so it's codified either in your bylaws or in your other policies and regulation regulations so suffice it to say that before you can act on a complaint individually outside of out outside of a board meeting or collectively at a board meeting that before you can act on that complaint you've got to refer to the superintendent for an administrative resolution before you can act on it and it would be no different than if there was a hot issue here in Hillsboro and this audience was ready to storm the best deal even assuming that they're making a compelling argument for you to take action and to resolve their complaint you cannot do that as a board until it's been referred to the superintendent uh for a resolution and only if you're not satisfied with that administrative resolution can you take it up as uh can you take it up as a full board so the code of ethics specifically requires board members to support District staff including the administration you will support and protect School Personnel in the proper performance of their duties and what does that mean very simply what that means is that we do not outside of a board meeting criticize our Administration or our school personnel we certainly do not vilify them we do not want to take any action that is going to uh that that is going to make it difficult for the superintendent the administration or for our other staff members to perform their duties a violation of this command occurs when there's evidence that the board took deliberate action which results in undermining opposing compromising or harming School Personnel in the proper performance of their duties there's also a qualified privilege that comes to you with regard to the discussion that takes place at a public board meeting so if there's going to be discussion uh uh with with with with with regard to some recommendation that's being made by the administration uh and if there's some criticism of that recommendation that's being made you want to do that here you want to do that as part of your discussion with the board uh you do not want to do that outside of a public board meeting doesn't mean that you can't disagree with a recommendation by the superintendent um uh you have a robust discussion you you certainly can express what it is that you disagree with but outside of a board meeting uh you should support the superintendent in the proper performance of his uh of of his job the board as an entity so the powers of the board and the authority of a board member are not coextensive what does that mean that means very simply that what the board can do doesn't mean that you can do that individually our board policy says that no board member by virtue is of of his or her office can exercise any administrative responsibility with regard to the schools or as an individual command the services of any School District employees so you see it here twice you see it here twice and this is most often the provision of the school ethics act where there are alleged violations of board members where board members have overstepped uh their uh policymaking uh Authority and responsibility and where they have demanded that a school employee and administrator uh um take action in response uh to a direction by an individual board member keep in mind that that can only be done by the board as a collective body board members on their own have no supervisory Authority if you stepped out of this uh assembly here tonight and you were unhappy with the condition of the hallways and there was a custodial or maintenance employee with an earshot you would have no authority to direct that individual to do anything you would need to direct that concern uh to the superintendent and the superintendent would then react uh in kind confidentiality there is probably no area of the school uh of the code of ethics for school board members or our board policy that is more important than confidentiality and confidentiality uh for the most part are those things that we are going to be discussing in executive session um and very often uh those are things that involve our employees and they they may involve olve our employees illnesses they may involve leaves of absence uh they they may involve highly confidential things involving our students um and their rights are protected by state law and federal law and so a transgression of those rights uh not only violates confidentiality with regard to the code of ethics for school board members but also runs the risk that it could potentially Prejudice the board in terms of our legal liability so Student Records personally identifiable information about students in our school district their privacy rights are sacct so are the Privacy rights of our individual employees which is why there is an exception to the open public meetings act that allows us to have those discussions in closed executive session so we want to be very careful about Personnel matters student matters and of course negotiations um the confidentiality of that is so that the board's position obviously is not compromised by a public disclosure of our position uh with regard to uh Collective negotiations or even negotiations outside of our uh collective bargaining units if for example we were negotiating for the purchase of property the sale of property those negotiations would also take place in closed executive session so that we do not compromise our bargaining position with regard to whomever we are negotiating God bless you so um I have given you the code of ethics for school board members um I'm not going to go through all of those specific Provisions I've highlighted the most important but what I do want to be clear about is that the code of ethics for school board members jurisdiction lies with the school ethics commission the school ethics commission is appointed by the governor the school ethics commission has jurisdiction over uh uh over a prosecution of complaints that are filed with the school ethics Commission uh there is a distinction uh uh between the code of ethics and prohibited acts uh so if it is alleged that you have committed an act for some financial gain or to gain an unwarranted Advantage uh where there are financial implications those are prohibited acts if that complaint comes forward you are prosecuted by the Attorney General's office the Attorney General is the attorney for the school ethics commission if on the other hand the complaint involves your conduct as a board member uh your conduct with to your relationship with the administration your conduct with regard to not acting upon complaints without a resol without an opportunity for the complaint to be resolved by the superintendent those types of complaints have to be prosecuted by the individual who files the complaint and anyone can file a complaint against a board member except the board itself so the board itself does not have the ability to file a complaint against one of its own members if you believe that one of our trustees is violating the code of ethics uh is committing an ethical violation you must step back as a trustee and you must file that complaint as an individual board member um in addition to adjudicating complaints uh the school ethics commission also issues advisory opinions so if you as a board member are concerned about whether or not you can perform a certain function whether you can be involved in a particular activity either in District or outside of district and you are concerned about whether doing so would violate the code of ethics you have the ability to request an advisory opinion from the school ethics commission and an advisory opinion is just that the school ethics commission and they're good about this if you get the request into them by the 10th of the month they usually will get an opinion out to you uh within the next month or two they meet on a monthly basis just like you do and they will give you advice as to whether or not you can or cannot engage in that particular activity can you go back one slide for me please 16 so the limits of the code of ethics are clearly seen in the limited involvement that board members have in Personnel decisions and this is where you see that the school ethics commission has said to you that uh Personnel decisions you need to be very careful that you're not engaging in uh the day-to-day operation ations of the school district that you're not uh that that you are not usurping the role of the administration uh which would be a violation of the school ethics act so um your role in hiring is to vote to appoint the best qualified Personnel available after consideration of the recommendation of the superintendent doesn't mean that you have to accept his recommendation what it does mean is that you can't leave frog over him select somebody else to make an appointment you can send the superintendent back to the well for another candidate um you also are obligated uh to um consider the superintendent's recommendation and if you decide that you're not going to accept it it cannot be for arbitrary or capricious reasons so if the superintendent is recommending the renewal of teachers who are going to achieve tenure you could not reject that recommendation because you are philosophically opposed to tenure there's got to be a legitimate reason why you are not accepting the superintendent's recommendation to appoint a particular candidate uh regard to the hiring practice I want to emphasize this there is no per se legal impediment to the board being involved in the hiring of of personnel however the restrictions that are placed on you if you are going to be engaged in that are so significant that it doesn't seem to be worth uh the uh it doesn't seem to be worth the exercise so if you were going to be involved you could not be interactively involved the superintendent would have to approve it uh you would simply be allowed to sit and look look at the interviews as they take place there could be no active engagement you could not present questions you could not make inquiries I mean essentially you have to question uh What uh uh what efficacy your presence would have in terms of that interview process so the school ethics commission has advised against it except for uh interviews that might take place uh uh for the assistant superintendent or the superintendent's immediate cabinet so with regard to advisory opinions so you can see that there were a number of advisory opinions in 2024 uh that came forward to the school ethics uh to the school ethics commission I'm G to I'm going to talk to you about a few of those because I think that they they they highlight things that we deal with all the time and also highlight the the kind of instruction that you get from uh the school ethics commission when you request an advisory opinion so there was a request by a board member as to whether that board member could participate in negotiations if he or she has an a emplo Aunt employed in the district but is not a member of the local union and so the school ethics commission reiterated what they have been saying now for about a decade uh with regard to previous decisions that board members cannot participate in any aspect of negotiations including voting on the collective negotiations agreement after there has been a memorandum of agreement if they have a relative employed in this District so if you have a relative employed in Hillsboro you cannot participate in this process you cannot vote on the contract and you cannot be involved in any issues concerning the superintendent's employment in the district next advisory opinion dealt with a board member who was an Adjunct professor uh in a graduate program at a local college and the question was does the board member was also Professor have a conflict related to Personnel School ethics commission said that any uh any employee of the school district that was enrolled in that graduate program any issues concerning that employee that came be before the board the board member would have to recuse him himself or herself but interestingly enough the school ethics commission took one step farther and said not only do you have to recuse yourself with regard to any Personnel who are involved in that in any any Personnel who are in your class you would have to recuse yourself from acting on any Personnel recommendations concerning any employee who was actually part of that graduate program so many of these graduate programs particularly for supervisors for doctorate programs uh uh th those programs are cohorts and they involve any number of programs taught by different professors in this case the school ethics commission said that any employee in the district who was involved in the entire cohort you would have to recuse yourself now the other term that's important here that has gained recognition and did not have that recognition before is this concept of recusal you know we have historically looked at uh a affirming opposing uh uh or abstaining um and recusal has not been something that has really found itself into our decision- making but New Jersey school boards has emphasized over the last year that recusal is appropriate where you have a conflict so an exstension is appropriate where you're not comfortable voting on something for a particular reason a personal reason perhaps you don't have enough information perhaps you weren't at the executive session where the matter was uh where the matter was discussed so you're not conflicted but you do not feel comfortable voting on that particular resolution that is an exstension but where you are conflicted because you have an interest a personal interest a financial interest uh some uh uh uh some some some interest that prevents you from participating that is a recusal and the difference is that a recusal essentially is a non-vote it is if you are not here and present so just keep that in mind in terms of uh going forward uh if uh uh uh if you are going to be either abstaining or recusing yourself on a particular issue other advisory opinions that came forward uh board members involvement and interviewing personnel as I've explained to you uh one or two board members can sit for the interview but cannot be involved another advisory opinion where a board member said you know we're concerned uh about our ability to retain staff in the district uh we've asked the superintended to provide us with information we're not really uh excited about the information that's coming to us we think it would be more productive for board members to sit in on those exit interviews um uh to find out why employees are leaving the district and the school ethics commission said a hand a thumbs down on that uh that clearly would be usurping the authority of the administration you would be involved in the day-to-day operation of the school district it is not part of your policymaking uh Authority uh number of school ethics commission decisions not advisory opinions but School ethics decisions this past year where board m MERS got themselves into trouble so you can see that in this Lacy Township case a former board member was found to have violated the school ethics act when she endorsed new members to the board in her official capacity while she was on the board and ultimately the school ethics commission said that because she did not self-identify because she did not say that she was endorsing the candidate as a private person and because she left the impression that the endorsement was coming from the entire Lacy Township Board of Education they found her to be in violation of the school ethics uh the school ethics act and if by the time this case was adjudicated uh if she had been on the board they would have suspended her rather than only censuring her but by the time they got to this decision the board member was no longer serving on the board so they issued a censure rather than a suspension that case in Manchester Township Board of Education in Ocean County Board member violated the school ethics act when he remained a volunteer football coach even after having been appointed to the board for two months and so what does that mean being a volunteer football coach where you are going to be supervising student athletes potentially supervising uh staff you are involving yourself in the day-to-day operation of the schools you have gone beyond your policymaking Authority it is prohibited but because this board member was unaware of of of of that restriction they found a violation of the school ethics act but did not issue a penalty uh because it was only for a two Monon period of time so in determining whether a violation occurs the commission looks to the board member's level of interaction uh and what that means is that you know if you're involved in constructing sets for a school play if uh you are uh uh involved in uh fundraising for the marching band if you're doing something for uh a booster club if you are uh engaged in some other school activities uh which is um uh which doesn't involve supervising students or staff there are no restrictions so again that is not you're not involving yourself in the day-to-day operation of the school as long as you do not have a supervisory decision-making responsibility with regard to students or staff next case came to us from a case in um uh in Kate May County uh it was found that a board member violated the school ethics act uh she had an nextdoor neighbor uh a friend uh who was an employee of the school dist District apparently that individual had been subjected to some disciplinary action uh the the the friend wanted to write a rebuttal uh to the letter of reprimand that she received uh asked the board member to carry it into the school district uh asked the uh the board as asked the board member to deliver it to the business administrator to distribute it to the board and not to disclose it to the superintendent this checked off all the boxes so in terms of invol D in the day-to-day operation of the school district undermining the authority of the superintendent dealing with a matter that was confidential um taking action that could Prejudice the board uh all of that led to a suspension from the board for 60 days so that's a pretty serious uh uh that that is a pretty serious penalty to be issued by the school ethics commission uh but uh the the board members conduct clearly warranted that kind of a response Manu Township Board of Education board member was found to be in violation of the act when he called the complaintant supervisor represented himself as a board member and complained about the actions that the uh individual had taken at a public board meeting so imagine that I am an employee of the Montgomery Township School District and I come to you at a public board meeting and I'm railing against the board and I'm railing against the superintendent and I'm doing that meeting after meeting after meeting and you know you no longer can tolerate it that it's disruptive and you feel that that I've crossed the line that I've been offensive and I've been insulted insulting so you take it upon yourself to call the superintendent Montgomery and say you know what I think you need to call Steve fogy and I think you need to have a talk with him because he is coming to our board meetings and frankly he's making our life miserable ultimately that was found to be a violation of the school ethics act why because the board member took action not authorized by the board took action arguably that could Prejudice the board from a position of liability potentially had a chilling effect and a violation of My First Amendment rights by discouraging me from coming to public board meetings next case comes to a set of Alami Township Board member violated the school ethics act when she used her position to further her Personal Agenda regarding her child's disciplinary record so this is a board member who had a a child who got himself into some difficulty had a disciplinary record she wanted it expunged uh was unsuccessful decided to take it upon herself uh to uh contact the superintendent board counsel other members of of the board individually in order to seek their intervention to reverse the findings of that disciplinary action that was clearly found to be a violation of the school ethics act taking individual action which would Prejudice the board undermine P undermine personnel and that resulted in a penalty of uh public reprimand and the next case uh comes to us out of East Orange in Essex County uh and uh this was uh a board policy that came before the board and essentially it dealt with the naming of buildings and the board was considering a policy and critical to that policy was that a building could not be named after you unless you were dead and so ultimately this board member uh uh railed against the policy opposed it voted against it and then had a pocket resolution to rename this School building in honor of the lieutenant governor with whom for whom she worked for uh that was found uh she was a chief of staff uh and that was found to be a violation of the school ethics Act and why because she surrendered her independent judgment to a special interest group and she also uh sought to gain personally uh from uh her decision to move that resolution forward guidelines for social media so every year I speak to you and all the boards of educ a that I represent about social media and I know for the mo for the most part that I am generally ignored about this um I I would rather that school board members not be on social media at all but I know that they nevertheless decide to be on social decide to engage in social media just understand that social media does not give you a veil of protection so you want to be careful that if you are exchanging uh uh opinions or comments on social media that it not be viewed as you resolving a complaint that you not addressing a complaint that should go to the superintendent even with Emojis and thumbs up or thumbs down that's speech it's communication if you do that you want to be careful that you're not responding to something that might be considered a complaint you also want to uh ensure that you're not disclosing uh confidential information uh you want to make sure that you're not using your title or position uh uh with regard uh to any representations that you make and you also want to be sure that you self-identify and by self-identify what I mean is that you need to issue the following statement that that the comments that you are making are in Your Capacity as a private citizen and not in your capacity as a board member these statements are also not representative of the board or its individual members and solely represent your own personal opinions now I can tell you that after you make that statement there's hardly anybody that's interested in what you're going to say because it's exhausting to even consider what that all means but the school ethics commission has said you cannot do this halfway it is unconditional and unequivocal and the way that you keep yourself in a safe harbor if you're going to express an opinion about board business not about anything else but about board M business then you need to self-identify using that disclaimer and if you are newly elected to the board and you had a campaign website you want to discontinue using that campaign website because it is a trap for the unwar now with regard to whether you need to recuse yourself um based on contract negotiations what I have given you is really kind of a uh a chart uh that will help you to identify if you are employed in another school district you are a member of uh the same Statewide Union or you have a relative or a spouse you can follow that chart and you can determine what you can participate in what you can vote on and whether you can participate in issues concerning uh the superintendent um it's clear there are no exceptions you can identify your your relationship your familiar relationship and determine what you can and cannot do and you are finished with me for this year any questions thank you thank you Mr Fogerty is everybody ready for the quiz now no okay um continuing on with my superintendent report I wanted to uh take a moment to to thank uh the community to thank students uh thank the haa who was here thank my board members thank my administrative team most of all thank my staff yesterday was kind of a significant day for me uh yesterday it was h two years uh since I have been superintendent so today is day one of year three for me being superintendent here in Hillsboro and I remember if you remember two plus years ago there was a lot going on in in Hillsboro and uh it took the work of a lot of people to move in the right direction so as part of my superintendence report um I wanted to just briefly it's actually it's a little wordy I wanted to go over some of the major things that we together as a community have accomplished over the past couple years and I think that's most especially important in light of what was going on here before um it's an attachment to the board agenda if anybody really wants to look at it later but there are a few things that I wanted to touch upon because I believe we've embarked on a journey of significant progress and Innovation laying the ground workor for a brighter future for our community our accomplishments span a wide range of areas demonstrating our commitment to Excellence in every facet of our district I first want to briefly talk about enhancing the Educational Foundation uh this board myself and everyone is charted a course for the future we developed an implemented a new strategic plan to guide the district's Direction and priorities after the expiration of the previous plan in June of 2022 so there was a gap in that for a while and we put that together this plan outlines our vision for the future and provides a framework for achieving our goals securing our future you know we successfully passed two crucial referendum questions ensuring adequate Staffing levels to provide our students with individualized attention they deserve we created a culture of safety and established the district's first ever school security team to enhance safety Pro protocols and procedures for all of our schools we Champion fiscal stability through tireless advocacy We've Been instrumental in in shaping legislative changes that brought much needed Financial stability to our district for this past year allowing us to focus on our core Mission educating our students I will continue to do this for the future investing in our infrastructure we have dedicated significant funds to critical construction and HVAC upgrades creating modern comfortable and safe learning environments for our students and staff Al it's been a little cold this week but it's really cold outside too expanding opportunities we are planning for the implementation of full day kindergarten and Elementary School redistricting initiatives that will enhance the educational experience for our youngest Learners this redistricting the first since 2002 is a major undertaking and full redistricting will not take place and I'm announcing this for the first time until the fall of 2026 uh we may look at some some small carve outs over the course of this time but full District redistricting will not take place until fall 2026 we centralized for efficiency by creating a centralized registar we have streamlined processes improved efficiency for our families and staff we tried to increase access in some afford affordability this board suspended the payto playay fees ensuring that all students have equal access to extracurricular activities in the area of elevating academic Excellence I call it we've we're driving Student Success we've seen a market increase in student achievement result results as delivered at multiple board meetings this is a testament to our dedicated teachers and staff and our focus on datadriven instruction we've implemented a comprehensive support system expanded the implementation of New Jersey tiered system of supports in grades K to8 providing a multi-tiered framework of interventions and supports to address the academic behavioral and social emotional needs of all of our Learners kids just don't come to the schools with their brains come with their whole body their minds and their experiences we're broadening our Horizons we've expanded dual enrollment opportunities with prestigious institutions such as rvcc TCNJ seat and Hall and soon the top university in the country the University of Delaware provide I went there providing our students with a head start on their college careers we've really expanded there we're reimagine reimagining our support programs we've transformed our Title One programming from just focusing on kindergarten to include enriching family nights Saturday sessions and summer programming fostering a small a strong partnership between school and home we've expanded summer learning we broadened our summer credit advancement program Beyond math to include other courses providing students with more opportunities to accelerate their learning we've earned well-deserved recognition our commitment to academic rigor has earned us a place on the advanced placement School honor role and supporting teacher collaboration we've created a valuable lesson plan repository fostering collaboration and sharing the best practices among our teachers we also want to talk talk about empowering our Educators and investing in human capital we've increased our instructional staff every year that I've been here we've added intervention specialist and restored a v a vital vice principal position at the high school ensuring that our students receive the support that they need to thrive when it comes to streamlining processes we have removed unnecessary burdens from our observation process allowing teachers to focus on what they do best teaching when it comes to celebrating success we have implemented new and improved ways to recognize the outstanding contributions of our staff members and if you follow us on Facebook the past week it's kind of exploded we have lots of Staff members to celebrate and improving retention our efforts to support and value our staff have resulted in improved retention rates ensuring more continuity and stability for our students when it comes to strengthening our operations and securing vital resources we have successfully procured in the two years over $960,000 in competitive grants not the federal grants not the title grants but competitive grants we had to go out there and get $96,000 maximizing the resources available to our district we restoring essential Services we reinstated courtesy busing ensuring that all students have safe and reliable transportation to and from school we're maintaining fiscal responsibility we've received two consecutive thank you Mr recer Flawless Financial audits with how many recommendations no recommendations demonstrating our commitment to sound fiscal management we're successfully navigating any external reviews that are thrown our way we completed the NJ qac process with high marks and we were identified as a high performing District we also successfully underwent Consolidated Federal monitoring for all federally funded programs and passed there too we're starting to modernize our infrastructure by enhancing communication we upgraded our district communications platform to include a more userfriendly website a robust mass communication tool hopefully some of you have the app and oh I was here in the convenient mobile app keeping our community informed and engaged we're also trying to Foster Community Partnerships and build Bridges we've significantly improved our relations with the township committee leading to the procurement of some free educational resources and a partnership repairing unsafe tennis courts which may be used by residents as well for pickle ball when not being used by our students these accomplishments are just the beginning we're committed to continuous Improvement and Innovation and we're excited to build on this Foundation to create an even brighter future for our students our staff and our community and when I really think about that about accomplishing and there's a lot I didn't add but I can see people's eyes are glassing over and you get bored when you hear a superintendent talk for a period of time that's actually a lot to accomplish within the span of two years and there's so much more that I could have mentioned and as superintendent I'm just kind of you know along for the ride that blocking fullback clearing the way for my talented staff to get things done partnering with the community working with the board members so I want to thank each and every one of you it's a lot to do two years and we're not done yet so Mr President I'm going to blame Mr Fogerty for going so long for my superintendent report today but I did want to share that um I'm thankful to be here two years and looking forward to the years in the future and that concludes my superintendance report all right thank you very much so we will now move on with committee reports uh can we start with education okay so we met on uh January 21st and uh we reviewed um committee Norms the 2025 26 District calendar revised math curriculum K through 4 revised course proposals Algebra 2 CP Algebra 2 trigonometry CP Algebra 2 trigonometry honors book adoption review and Ed committee dates that's it thank you very much uh we will move on to HR our committee met on January 22nd um we started the discussion with the HR committee meetings for the next year um and then moved on to committee Norms we discussed the sidebar with the haa to recruit and maintain maintenance staff we discussed a salary adjustment for the assistant business administrator and we talked about a job description for the master schedule supporter which will be um a stien position at the high school to help with scheduling all right thank you very much and Mr Davis operations operations met on January 17th like the other committees we reviewed the committee Norms of behaviors and protocols for how we are to conduct meetings uh we did set a schedule for the upcoming year essentially once a month Mee and review issues uh we discussed several issues that will uh be board issues to be voted on by the board in general these included uh a review of preschool tuition rates and uh our preschool tuition rates uh have been have not been touched for 10 years or something like that and so we're looking at really increasing those are still the Best Buy in town but uh we needed to bump that a little bit uh just general things you know still repairing the fascia at wood Fern School uh the maintenance issues that uh the HR Committee just mentioned uh setting up a payroll schedule that would allow us to have a more competitive stance in terms of hiring and bringing in qualified maintenance staff uh reviewing uh certain budget question uh the redistricting project which is ongoing which in turn feeds into the all day kindergarten question and what may happen there uh and um that was about it all right thank you very much all right we'll move on to governance and I will go through those meetings so like all other committees we went through dates to meet and uh agreed to an agenda um one of the things that I guess was kind of mentioned by all committees is in the beginning of every year we go over our committee Norms as was explained our committees are are for four board members that meet uh at a minimum of once a month with an agenda so it is not a quorum um but given that obviously there are board members who want to be kept up to date on changes so one of our committee Norms was that uh when agendas uh and minutes are made available that the entire board will be communicated to that every individual committee's agenda is up updated and updated if there's any changes between the initial push and when me occurs that the entire board would made aware of any changes so so there's General awareness across the board there are sometimes um when we have non-unanimous agreement with agreement to move forward to full board decisions um uh our superintendent sends out a Weekly Newsletter to the board and he will include for the entirety of the board an explanation of the dissenting opinion uh that made any V will be goward non unanimous and I think last but not least was more of an operational item that if we generally meet in the for conference room uh and if we don't have full attendance in person that we will move into a place that's a little easier to hear for those that are virtual for those meetings so uh those uh Norms will be applied to all committees um but great discussion to incremental improvements as we move along uh we also discussed our board retreat um and we'll be working with party to help facilitate that um we do have on the calendar now uh a meeting to discuss with her plan for that um Bo Retreat um we also have JC Community engagement night I know we had a very successful one um recently and we are planning to have one in the spring and one again in the fall um for the one this in the spring uh we do obviously have our added board meeting that we're planning to put in place for for the uh budget we're going to consolidate that meeting weekly with the engagement night so we can have kind of uh getting two things covered in one night um we look forward to communicating that out for uh March 10th uh 2025 board event and committee uh Community engagement night um and then just a look at the open items um to be discussed and that's it any questions or comments from board members on any of the Committees okay seeing done we will continue to comments from the Board of Public uh public and the 2025 2026 budget and action agenda we very much welcome in from the public during board meetings be 230 periods of time the meeting will be open public comment members of the public are inv the comment to do if they're attending in person during the first public comment period members of the public May comment about any items that are on tonight's agenda before the board votes during the second public comment period members of the public May comment on any school or School District issue and a member of the public field may be of concern to the residence of the school district as per BYO 0167 for you your com Prov address there's a 3 minut limit on public comment please understand that our public forums are not structured as question answer sessions rather offer us opportunities to share your thoughts with the board instance where the board bels there's a misunderstanding or accuracy the board president superintendent will address the comment dur any times a member of the public makes a comment as a question about personel hiring decisions kindly kindly notes that the open public meetings act and privacy rights of public employees and C therein do not commit the board to discuss personel issues in public session can you hear is your microphone working is my microphone working it's low let me raise that okay so it is public comment so if anybody wants to come up and this first session is on the action agenda uh or the budget hi good evening another Fuki I was here at a Boe meeting about a year ago I think to talk about adding eal fit to the school calendar for 25 2026 I think it was the education committee that approved the first draft of that calendar so thank you it's very very satisfying and wonderful to see that first time I'm seeing it with my own eyes um so I think there's a me multiple members of our community here just looking forward to that vote um and appreciating the inclusivity thank you thank you good evening Henry goodu um I never miss public comment so um I I do want to take a moment just to Echo the the previous sentiment thank the board for creating a comprehensive calendar uh this has been something that we've striven to create for years and I think that this one not only meets the needs of the community when it comes to uh you know possibly cultural days or religious days but it also is a very balanced one educationally so I think a lot of hard work went into this um I know that we often give feedback on the calendars I think this one reflects a lot of that feedback and I know that more details will come out to staff as to how some of this will play out um and I think that they will find this to be a very balanced wellth thought out calendar I just wanted to put that on the record and thank the administration of the board for putting this forward thank you for your comment okay seeing no others right now I will close the first public comment session any board members comments before we continue I have a comment um with regard to the calendar and the new holidays that have been recognized in the calendar uh many years ago when I was an undergraduate student I was majoring in education and English I'm a certified teacher for anybody who cares and uh you know part of the Mantra of the day basically was that you know religion doesn't exist we don't want to have any discomfort or disruption and of course we went through many years and a couple of Decades of expunging any mention of religious holidays from school calendars you know we went from Christmas to winter break and from Easter to Spring Break and so on and I always found that to be a very myopic kind of approach it's to pretend that there's no religion in the world the fact of the matter is uh religion and Faith of various types uh matter to 90% of the people on the planet and to go through some exercise that given cultures do or do not engage in certain celebratory or or momentous periods of the year is really a deficiency in education it doesn't enhance education and adding these names to the calendar I think matters a lot uh it's important to recognize these holidays that you know that are reflective of our community and the people in our schools not just into some Pat izing sense of tipping the hat but really in the sense of the students that participate in the education process uh are made more aware and more familiar of the diversity and the communities and the people uh that make up this community and it might even be more affirming of their own culture and their own family and their own religious beliefs which is fundamentally very important thank you just to follow up with what uh Mr Davis said I I agree with what what his point is and also um I it acknowledges the importance of having students here instead of just oh well they're you know it'll be an excused absence if it's a religious holiday um and a lot of them value being present in school in order to learn not just okay it's all right that that J exempt from that and it it assesses value to to all uh religious observations or as many as as possible um and to that end um I really appreciate the uh Creative Solutions and the open-minded input um to resolve some of the difficulties um yes it does go later in the year but um I think it's the best possible outcome thank [Music] you all right Miss Jackson just um so I was just looking at it just occurred to me in November where it says half day it appeared on first glance that everyone had a half day but Miss Jackson just pointed out that the notes say that it's um grades K through four but if you look at the um the picture it looks like at first glance it appears that everyone's having a half day from November 21st to November 26th where in fact it's 21st 24th and 25th are for K through four as in years past so I think the footnote needs to be adjusted okay the footnotes okay but the the picture looks makes yeah like we will the the content that you're expressing is is correct and if we can make that look better on the calendar we we we'll clean that up otherwise high school students will be very happy yeah yeah high school students aren't all just going to be getting out for that we we will make that clear all right thank you all right so uh first we'll do the approval of minutes to a motion approval of uh January 6 2025 public meeting minutes can I get a motion in second so move second all in favor I all right we will move on to the action agenda thank you Mr President I would ask for the board's consideration of the approving the following motions uh motion to approve travel related expenses affirming the superintendent's HIV determination for the attach cases staff for extended day wraparound instructional services for ESL students staff for Title One family engagement nights overnight trips revised Mathematics Curriculum K through four new revised course proposals book adoption the 2526 District calendar which people have mentioned uh continuing the long-term suspension of a student whose name is on file and Mr President I believe you have a walk-on item or two I have two um 11.11 be it resolved that the Hillsboro Township Board of Education here in referred to as the board hereby adopts the recommendation of the superintendent to continue the spens of a student whose name is on file in the superintendent's office until the next regular meeting of the board as more specifically set forth in the resolution that is attached here to and made a part hereof via further resolve that the superintendent is requested to provide the student family with a written statement of the board's decision together with a copy of the resolution and 11.12 be resolved the hillsb tant Board of Education here and referred to as the board hereby affirmed the hip determination in hip case number HHS 2024 25- Z4 which was the subject of an appeal hearing before the board on January 27 2025 and transmit a copy of the board's decision to the affected students parents can I get a motion in a second so second uh Mr eer will take rooll I have sorry sorry my apologies uh comments questions from the board I do n um I'm glad that everybody is happy with the calendar that's fabulous I just don't want it to go to the background I want it to be uh something that we continue to work on when we have now put it as a school day the primary election date in June that was a there was some conversation about um prioritizing safety and it's still very important to me that we are looking into it with these buildings and that we are finding places where the it can be locked is is my priority above even the security like such you know this is a place where we can have all of the outside doors locked and an environment where anybody entering can only enter the cafeteria or the same is true with the gym but there's also two other schools so I just want to make sure that we are on top of that and there is a plan if there's uh staff and students in the building that day sure I can I can address that Safety and Security is always always top on my mind um our coordinator of school safety operations is looking at this right now uh and if the board felt truly um conflicted about that and wanted to I'm not going to recommend a professional development Day on June 2nd or or 9th whatever it is for next year that first Tuesday in June I've heard too much from my staff that that's kind of a waste of a professional development day um the only thing other option the board would have in looking at this calendar and trying to be as inclusive as possible we did also look at giving Easter Monday off as that tends to be a you know it's not a religious day Easter Monday but it tends to be a time with a lot of travel my only recommendation if the board wants to close on the primary Day in June would be to open on Easter Monday and then move that day off into June because I'm not going to um I'm not going to provide extra professional development day for my teachers on June 2nd when they're getting out uh you know 15 school days from them so I don't know if that's something the board wants to continue to talk about over time um which is fine but that would be my my recommendation I will give you as a board uh Mr Stoko's proposal for how he plans on doing this and I'm just saying that if that is not acceptable which I think it will be but if it's not acceptable then um that that Easter Monday day is a day to look at thank you any other comments before we move to R Mr H with respect to the Florida trip for the band I just wanted to express again my concern that the cost of the trip is $1600 per students and especially um that it's right like a week the end of the the um trip is like about a week before final starts and I just do feel that for because this happened last year for a different group I think it was choir it just seems to me that quite a lot of instructional time is lost for students and especially in terms of preparing for finals that they have now um lost that time like instructional time and especially now that we're I think we're not closing on wa are we not closing did we CH no that's later okay um but also that's Memorial Day week so it's like they're be off Memorial Day week and then they will be gone again like so it's a it's I just feel like this I I I personally think that it's expensive whether or not parents can afford it is subject to um discussion about what we consider a Ford but there is a lot of pressure for students to attend these trips and it's money that maybe parents um did not expect to out put out but now we being pressured by their children's peers thank you Miss that's uh there is opportunity for fundraising I guess but um I I'm also concerned about that uh as uh something expected of a student to uh help offset their own costs for a field trip especially for that amount because again that's more work that they would have to do to offset the cost so I I continue to be concerned about the costs and also the timing thank you all right uh we'll now move to rooll Mr Davis yes M Jackson yes but I'd like to abstain from 11.2 yes Mr Lee yes Miss nurse yes Miss stats yes Mr H yes but I will abstain from the Florida trip for the band and Mr R yes motion passes thank you in the air in the area of human res resources i' ask for the board's consideration of the following approving the following motions retirements abolishing a position approving appointments leaves of absence student teachers mentors coaches and co-curricular advisor master schedule supporter TurnKey trainers six and seventh period coverage resending seventh period coverage extra coverage group changes and approving haa sidebar agreement uh can I get a motion a second so move second any discussion by the board before we vote if I could say something if that if that would be okay sure uh for item 12.14 I just really wanted to say that this was a true Spirit of collaboration with the district as well as the haa um in helping to recognize our maintenance uh personnel as uh critical infrastructure workers for us and also looking to get skilled laborers what I was most proud of was Mr Good Hugh Mr eard and I all went over to builds and grounds Department um to talk to all of our maintenance Personnel so when we walked in the door first of all they thought like an atomic bomb dropped or something with a three of us walked in and we assured them it was good news when we delivered to them the news that we were looking out for them to retain them and to rec Recruit new personnel and to acknowledge skilled labor uh they were happy and as I walked out one of the maintenance people came up to me and said Mike thanks for not forgetting about us it's not always easy for me as superintendent to get over to the buildings and grounds Department with everything going on but it was significant for me to hear that from a staff member so I was also happy to go around and Shake everybody's hand that day as did Mr Goodhue as did Mr Eckard but the board approving this will make significant inroads uh to re to recruiting positions that we currently have open and also acknowledging the hard work that our staff does for most employees um most people don't see these employees so um I just wanted to say it's very significant thank you all right I might add just for what it's worth that uh the conversation in committee about this issue uh was endorsed unanimously and enthusiastically yeah agreed all right we'll move to ro Mr Davis yes M Jackson yes M Ling beer yes Mr Lee yes Miss nurse yes Miss stats yes Mr Hill yes and Mr Marine yes motion passes thank you in the area of operations I'd ask for the board's consideration to approve the following motions monthly bills monthly financial statement financial status line item transfers disposal and sale of obsolete equipment the pr preschool tuition rates designation of signatories and the proposal from Lan Associates for services related to the HS Ada exterior compliant ramps can I get a motion in second so mooved any discussion okay seeing that we'll move to role Mr Davis yes M Jackson yes M Ling beer yes Mr Lee Yes M nurse yes M stats yes Mr Hill yes and Mr M yes motion passes thank you in the area of policies and regulations I would ask the board's consideration to approve the policy for first reading and was sent to the full board through brass tax all right any can I get a motion in second so move second any discussion by the board seeing none we'll move to roll Mr Davis yes M Jackson yes M Ling beer yes Mr Lee yes Miss nurse yes M stats yes Mr Hill yes and Mr M yes motion passes we'll now move on to the second public comment period we very much welcome input from the public during board meetings there'll be 2 30 minute periods of time that the meeting will be open for public comment where members of the public are invited to comment which they may do if they're attending in person during the second public comment period members of the public May comment on any school or School District issue that a member of the public feels may be of concern to the residents of the school district as per BYO 0167 before you state your comment you'll be ask to provide your name and address there's a three minute limit of public comment please understand that our public forms are not structured as question and answer session rather as offered as opportunities to share your thoughts with the board in instances where the board believes that there's a misunderstanding or inaccuracy the board president or superintendent will address the comment there may be time to a member of the public makes a comment ask a question about Personnel or hiring decisions kindly note that the open public meetings Act and the Privacy rights of public employees accompass therein do not permit the board to discuss Personnel issues in public session H Henry goodu Hillsboro Education Association uh I just want to take a moment to thank the board thank Mr vulpi uh for 12.14 um the buildings and grounds in particularly any of our ESP members often feel that they are the unsung heroes of a district I think buildings and grounds in particular falls into that they keep these buildings safe along with our custodial staff and I think that the board um took decisive action to recognize that and inv in that department so that we can continue growing as a district um and I do sincerely appreciate the comments uh from Mr Davis about the fact that this had unanimous support because it sends a clear message to our members that they are valued so I do thank you for that and congratulations on your second year and to your third hi Leisa Gaber bis live in Hillsboro just wanted to thank everybody who came to the and supported the district um with the state aid formula meetings there were four that were held um two in Trenton I think one bit far away like an hour and a half away and then one in Somerville we had lot of people come in support of Hillsboro superintendent many board members the mayor haa um a lot of committee uh even principles I think possibly all the principles possibly were there um um as well as I think some some other high-ups in in in the in the staff um and it was just great seeing everybody come out um and also everyone who submitted uh writings to them so hopefully something will happen hopefully they will listen hopefully their programmers will figure out a way to make us whole and not at least make us let us go negative unless something super CRA happens and you know they give us enough notice that we can prepare for it thank you thank you for your comment okay seeing no others I will close public comment I just like to add that meeting with the sumers county there was a lot of Hillsboro representation there it was kind of funny they had a list of signups to speak and down the list and he's like anybody but Hillsboro here so we had I don't know 40 people 50 people we had the biggest contingent there by far yes but there were a bunch of districts who some seemingly had it worse than us that were there to present their case but um there were some good presentations by members of the board and members of the community in support so I second your comment hopefully it it'll yield some positive results any other board members want to comment for course M stats I probably should have mentioned this earlier um this is with regard to item 11.7 um motion to approve new revised course proposals I'm just grateful that um to the administration that uh we're adding another level of Algebra 2 um so we're now gonna have Algebra 2 CP and algebra to trig CP to better serve um the needs of our students okay see no other comments All right we will take a motion to adjourn so moov second second all in favor I see you next time than thank you