##VIDEO ID:KniM13nPad8## good evening everyone than thank you for coming to the September 9th board meeting in accordance with the state Sunshine Law of New Jersey adequate notice of this meeting of the Hillsboro Township Board of Education was provided on September 5th 20124 to the Hillsboro Beacon and The Courier News can we have roll call please Mr Davis here Miss Jackson here miss Craig here M Ling beer Mr Lee here miss nurse here here M stats here Mr Hill here and Mr mine we have a quum wonderful um is there a motion to move into executive session so move second thank you where no whereas the open public meeting at chapter 231 of the laws of 1975 provides that a public body May exclude the public from that portion of a meeting of which the public body discusses certain matters for which confidentiality is required as permitted in section 7B of the ACT resolved by the Board of Education of the township of Hillsboro in the county of Somerset and state of New Jersey as follows one the matters to be discussed are two hi appeals two the matter discussed in executive session shall be disclosed to the public when the need for confidentiality no longer exists with the motion say all in favor all in favor okay we will see you back around 7:30 thank you e e e e e e for 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 one two 1 two three one two three 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 for e e e e e e e e e e e e welcome back everyone Mr can we please take roll one second answer back Mr Davis here Miss Jackson here miss Craig here M Ling beer Mr Lee here miss nurse here M stats here Mr heo here and Mr Marine we have a quum wonderful please stand for the Pledge of [Music] Allegiance I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible liberty and justice for all correspondence is as listed and on to the board president's report there is no report so the superintendent report sure thank you um I really want to thank all of the Hillsboro Educators who made our opening a great one I got a chance to meet with our entire staff in the Hillsboro High School gymnasium on Tuesday and we started off in a very positive man manner I'm also thrilled that I've been able to get around to all nine schools uh in our first few days here and to see that everything is going pretty well of course there's always those beginning of the year issues that we see but our staff and our Administration are making sure that everything is off to a great start um last year at this time we had a slew of Transportation issues and i' say probably cut those down by about 75% of course we always have transportation issues as as the Years start and we appreciate everybody's patience but I'm really happy to see that we are moving in the right direction there so stay tuned as the year goes on we have a lot of big news that we'll be uh talking about uh throughout the course of this year including at the October meeting I'll be uh revealing to the board as well as the public a um part of our strategic plan that's a dashboard that we'll be able to keep track of uh but we have a little bit more work to do before that time but board members you'll see it before I reveal it to the public uh so you can get a first glance um so again thank you to everyone um and thank you to my staff members too who emailed me after last Tuesday um I shared some of those well wishes with the board um and I really appreciate the fact that you found something of value in our speech that we uh we had on Tuesday and finally I want to say I made a mistake how often is it that you hear either an elected official or a superintendent say that they made a mistake at the last board meeting I had said that uh when it came to title one I'm sorry about there's a fly here when it came to Title One funds and collaborative Federal monitoring uh that we could not use that money uh towards staff salaries that is only partially accurate with the collaborative Federal monitors clarified for me was that we could not use that towards salaries the way we had been doing it because we had been combining Grant funds with local funds in order to make sure that certain salaries were paid we can use Title One funds towards salaries if it is exclusively uh for that salary and not combined with anything else so we're making some adjust and some of the things that we're doing but I just wanted to say I made a mistake we all do kids do teachers do we can correct them when we can and we move on so other than that I just want to wish everybody a great start of the school year uh thank you for everything that you have done so far and I look forward to everything we're going to accomplish together uh ahead of us that's my report thank you Mr vulpi um we are moving on to comments from the board in public we very much welcome input from the public during board meetings there will be 2 30 minute period 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 are attending in person during the first public comment period members of the public May comment about items that are on listed 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 that a member of the public feels may be of concern to the residents of the school district as per bylaw 06 0167 before you state your comment you will be asked to provide your name and address there is a three-minute time limit on public comment please understand that our public forums are not structured as question and answer sessions but rather are offered as opportunities to share your thoughts with the board in instances where the board believes that there is a misunderstanding or inaccuracy the board president or superintendent will address the comment there may be times when a member of the public makes a comment or asks a question about Personnel or hiring decisions kindly note that the open public meetings Act and the Privacy rights of public employees Encompass their and do not permit the board to discuss Personnel issues in public session seeing no comments from the public we will move on to approval of the minutes can I get a motion to approve executive session minutes from August 19th 2024 second thank you all in favor I and then there's another set of minutes as well yes and a motion to approve the regular meeting minutes from August 19th 20124 so second thank you all in favor okay we will now move on to our education agenda thank you I would ask for the board's consideration of the following motions uh approving professional travel related expenses uh professional travel related expenses for Allison Landing beater uh professional travel related expenses for Jean truo professional professional travel related expenses for Jane stats uh to affirm the superintendent's HIV determination for the attached cases approve Mathematics Curriculum writing approve concurrent enrollment courses and stiens for 2425 revising prior action item 12.2 to approve stiens stiens for staff participation in Yi and the PLC and approving the submission of an amendment for and accept the transfer of funds within the esa and one more from Miss nurse yes we do have at 10.10 a motion to affirm the superintendent's harassment intimidation and bullying determinations after conducting a hearing at the request of the parent the board affirms the superintendent's harassment intimidation and bullying determination for case numbers HMS 20232 4-12 and HMS 2023 24-13 as kept on file in the office of the superintendent can I get a motion to approve 10.1 through 10.10 I have a question if I may yes sure Mr um on item 10.1 one of the uh trips that is being requested is for Waco Texas and in the past there have been objections by some board members of two distant trips I don't have that kind of objection but wo Texas is okay with me but I just wanted to point out that that's in there okay thank you oh I'm sorry still waiting in second second thank you Mr Mr Davis yes M Jackson yes M Craig yes Mr Lee yes Miss nurse yes Miss stats uh abstained 10.4 yes to everything else Mr H Yes except for 10.1 to um vote no on the staff traveling to Texas the two staff and to abstain on 10.3 motion passed thank you in the area of Human Resources I'd ask for the board's consideration of the following motions uh retirements and resignations affirming appointments a revised employment contract for 2425 revised start dates of newly hired staff revised bus drivers and bus Aid hours resending employment contracts approving a transfer and change in assignment approving a change in employment status approving leaves of absence approving mentors and Buddies approving student teaching placements approving SE sixth and seventh period coverage approving extra coverage approving summer work hours approving group changes approving the auxiliary athletic event fee schedule for 24-25 approving high school extended Media Center hours approving revised science lab coverage and approving a unified fall coach for 2425 can I have a motion to approve 11.1 through 11.19 second okay Mr discussion oh sorry call for discussion seeing no discussion take roll Mr Davis yes Miss Jackson yes Miss Craig yes Mr Lee yes Miss nurse yes Miss stats yes and Mr Hill yes motion carried thank you in the are of operations I'd ask for the board's consideration approve the following motions monthly financial statement our financial status line item transfers an agreement with the Educational Service Commission of New Jersey for the 2425 school year approving The Proposal from the L lln Network for the 2425 school year approving the disposal and sale of obsolete equipment accepting a donation approving a settlement agreement approving out of District placements and resending action item 13.15 from the August 19th 2024 for meeting can I have a motion to approve 12.1 through 12.10 so second any discussion seeing none we'll take rooll Mr Davis yes Miss Jackson yes Miss Craig yes Mr Lee yes Miss nurse yes M stats yes and Mr yes motion carries thank you in the area of policy would ask for the board's consideration to approve the following policies um 13.1 policies reviewed by the education committee for second reading 132 bylaws reviewed by the governance committee for second reading 133 policies reviewed by the HR committee for second reading and 13.4 policies reviewed by the operations committee for second reading I'm looking for a motion to approve 13.1 through 13.4 second any discussion seeing none we're ready for roll Mr Davis yes Miss Jackson yes Miss Craig yes Mr Lee yes Miss nurse yes Miss stats yes and M tro yes motion carries we'll now move on to Second public comments we very much welcome input from the public during board meetings there will be two 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 are attending in person during the first public comment period members of the public May comment about items that are listed 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 that a member of the public feels may be of concern to the residents of the school district as per bylaw 0167 before you state your comment you will be asked to provide your name and address there is a three-minute limit on public comment please understand that our public forums are not structured as question and answer sessions but rather are offered as opportunities to share your thoughts with the board in instances where the board believes that there is a misunderstanding or inaccuracy the board president or superintendent will address the comment there may be times when a member of the public makes a comment or asks a question about personel or hiring decisions kindly note that the open public meeting Act and the Privacy rights of public employees Encompass the in do not permit the board to discuss Personnel issues in public session seeing no comments from the public I'll open up to the board Mr Davis yep um in a recent brass tax which is a document that the superintendent shares with board members there was a clarification that uh policies and reg regulations are different and to summarize briefly at least my understanding of the writing is that whereas policies are crafted or approved by the board as it turns out which may be something that had not been clear previously that regulations do not need board approval uh unless the specific policy mandates that the regulation be reviewed by the board that may sound like a kind of a fine point but my concern and maybe this is something we should discuss at the board retreat that's coming up I'll email it to somebody is that if the board does not uh approve regulations and if regulations are crafted by the administration uh ostensibly to fulfill the policy uh but if there's no view of that if there's no accountability for that uh we end up with uh policies or just window dressing and the administration does whatever it wants anyway and that concerns me I can I can address that too I I would agree with that concern if that's if that were to what would be taking place um there does there's no board vote on regulations yes you do we have a policy company and obviously you can review all those policies make changes if you needed to and everything but then it goes on a public agenda and it is voted on by a majority of the board as far as regulations go it is my full intent to still bring all regulations to the corresponding committee um we then also post the regulations publicly so they are there for any member of the public including you to review they just don't have to be voted on and approved by the board at a public board meeting so there still will be transparency but you're right there is that fine line between what a board's role is and then what administration's role is but I can tell you as the chief administrator in the district when it comes to a regulation it is my full intent to be open and transparent with you and and committee and say hey this is where I'm going with this regulation and if four members of a committee said I think that's a horrible idea Mike well I'm gonna have to really reflect and think maybe I need to do something differently if everybody thinks that this is a horrible idea so if it was more clandestine if I was if I was saying something along the lines of Joel you don't need to see the regulations because that's that's my job I would have those same concerns but what I will do is I'll prove myself over time um and just make sure we're both doing our jobs correctly that the board's approving what they need to approve and that I bring you good information so that you have a good understanding of that I appreciate that very much and U sometimes the problem isn't with the person who is currently in the position absolutely so if there ever is another superintendent if you should just extend my [Laughter] contract kiding but uh I I still have that concern understood yes um I I I I like seeing that that uh Point made that you know we are our I don't know how many times have been told that our job is to make sure the schools are well run not to run the schools and that seemed to be this idea of that we are responsible for policy not regulation seem to be aligned with that but to Mr Davis's Point um if we have a a policy about clowns you know there can be no clowns in the classrooms that's overriding policy and then if we read the regulation and there's all these things about having clowns in classrooms then it you Hooves us to say well GE they're not following the policy by that regulation is proving they're not following the policy so absolutely um you know for us to get involved in the fine points of implementation of policy um is one thing but to make sure that the regulation is in agreement with the policy is still all alignment with what is expected of us absolutely and and part of the board's one of the board's major responsibilities is to hold the superintendent responsible for the proper implementation of policy so I know you gave Kind of a Funny example there but you know if you passed a policy that there's no clowns allowed in schools and and you were getting emails from parents hey superintendent is allowing clowns in schools then then somebody should be have the board President should be having a a conversation with me about what's going on here I wanted to use an example that was not possibly existing yes correct what have something against CL I wanted to bring to the hillsbor residents attention um a service a free service for New Jersey called perform care you can access information about perform Care at their website which is performcare nj.org and I'll just briefly read about what they offer um it's part of the children's system of care and that supports youth up to age 21 with emotional Behavior avior Al Developmental and substance challenges and these family centered inhome wraparound services are provided at no cost to families regardless of income or insurance so some of the reasons that families might call perform care are for depression or anxiety bullying or being bullied um intellectual or developmental disabilities substance abuse Etc so I just wanted to let families know this hopefully nobody needs it but this is a free call for services available 24 hours a day 7 days a week and you can find out more at their website which is performcare nj.org thank you thank you Mr hio and if any members of the public found that interesting needed um and just couldn't quite keep up with where to find that if you contact uh um our director of School counseling Cindy pval she can put you in touch with perform care they do offer a lot of wonderful Services as Mr hio mentioned right there any other comments from the board seeing none I look for a motion to adjourn second all in favor have a good night everyone thank you