##VIDEO ID:ioegdO6i7VE## guys good evening and uh welcome to the January 6th 2025 hillsbor countship Board of Education reorganization and regular 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 January 2nd 2025 to the Hillsboro Beacon and The Courier News please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance flag United States of America so I'll Now read the election results from the November election the Miss Elaine Jackson received 9,809 votes Miss Jane stats received 10,328 votes Miss Allison Landing beer received 8,461 votes Janna Hamid see received 5,890 votes and Miss Diane ronard Gala received 6,300 votes so the candidates elected to the board are Elaine Jackson Allison Lanning beer and Jane stats all returning to the board at this time I'd like to at this time I'll call each of you individually up to the podium to administer the oath of office and we'll start with um Miss Jackson bring the mic closer yes Square orir do solemnly swear or affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey they true Faith allegiance to the same the governments established in the United States and in this state The Authority people govern and then I their true faith and algi to the same and to the governments established in the United States and this state under the authority of the people so help me gu I your name I Elaine Jackson doly swear orir do Solly swear or affir that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the off of ucation that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office of member of of a board of education that I am not disqualified as a voter pursu to rs1 and that I am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to rs9 4-1 nor disqualified due to conviction of a crime or offense listed in 188 nor disqualified due to conviction of a crime for offense listed in njsa 18a 12-1 and I will Faithfully partially andj perform all the duties of that office point to the best of my abilities so and that I will faithfully impartially and justly perform all of the duties of that office according to the best of my ability so help me go congratulations Jerry microphone you speaking to the Mike you can vended I Alison Lanny peder do solemnly swear States Constitution of the state of New Jersey that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey true Faith ALG EST United States state and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States and this state under the authority of the people so help me God I I Allison Landing beer do solemnly swear that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office of member of a board of education I not disqualified and that I am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to rs19 colon 4-1 dis nor disqualified due to a conviction of a crime or offense listed in njsa 18a Colon 12-1 and I will Faithfully partially and justly perform all the duties of that office according to the best of my ability and that I will faithfully impartially and justly perform all of the duties of that office according to the best of my ability so help me go congratulations hi James stats do Sol do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States and the state under the authority of the people so help me God I J stats do solemnly swear that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office of me M of a board of education and then I not disqualified as a voter pursuant to rs9 colon 4-1 nor disqualified due to conviction of a crime or offense listed to in njsa 18a col 12-1 and that I will faithfully impartially and justly perform all of the duties of that office according to the best of my ability so help me guide so at this time we'll call for election of officers I'd like to uh take nominations for the office of President uh I'd like to nominate Mr Paul Marini any other nominations not see any others now close nominations and we will take a vote on Mr Marini as president of the board of education for 20125 Mr Davis yes Miss Jackson yes Miss Craig yes Miss Lanny beer yes Mr Lee yes Mr Marini yes Miss nurse yes Miss stats abstain and Mr tro abstain and I apologize I did Skip one line we did not do the the first roll call so we'll do that right now as well uh Mr Davis here Miss Jackson here miss Craig here miss lenning beer here Mr Lee here Mr Marini here miss nurse here miss stats here and Mr Hill here we have a COR all right thank you for your support we will continue with the meeting thank you Mr eer will now take a motion to elect the Vice President are there any nominations I'd like to nominate Miss Cindy nurse thank you are there any other nominations okay seeing none I guess we'll take Ro so this is for approval of Miss nurse as vice president Mr Davis yes M Jackson yes Miss Craig yes Miss Ling beer yes Mr Lee yes Mr Marini yes Miss nurse yes Miss fats yes and Mr he abstain all right with that Miss nurse you are now Vice President thank you all right so we'll now move on to the board president's report and with that I will go through um appointments so for the Liaisons as of this point we're not going to make any changes if anybody has any request we'll make changes considering the same board members uh for the board committees uh for govern sorry for Ops that will be um chaired by Mr Davis um looking here we have here um Miss tro Mr Lee and myself uh for HR that is chaired by Miss nurse that we'll have Mr Lee uh Miss lenning beer and myself um for ED ation that'll be chaired uh by Miss Jackson with Miss stats Craig Miss Craig it's been a long day and myself and then for governance uh we have uh the chairs of the other committees which is Miss Jackson Mr Davis Miss nurse and myself as chair I call you Cassie too much I don't use your last name uh all right great thank you so that is the appointments that we need to cover for today and for the other committees for the negotiations committee and for other AC committees those will stay in place as they were to end the year no changes there all right I think with that um just thank you again for everybody I'm glad to see everyone's back we have a consistent board it's a it's a great thing to make progress moving forward and that we'll end the board president's report we'll move on to the superintendent's report thank you it is nice to have consistency and have everybody back congratulations to the three of you who won and congratulations to Paul and Cindy as well uh I first would like to wish all of Hillsboro and everyone here happy New Year uh welcome back I'm looking forward to doing some great things in 2025 and although the public was introduced to Dr Kathy rean um last meeting she's now sitting at the days with us and we welcome her for the next several months uh filling in for Dr feltre while we look for fir so welcome I also on a personal note just want to I told her I'd do this I want to wish my my wife a happy 10th wedding anniversary that we just celebrated recently um so sorry about the personal but you know I'm a husband I have to do these things as far as some good news for the district I'd like to say congratulations to Hillsboro High School students Ava Quinn and shy gavi on their successful audition and acceptance at the 2025 all Eastern choir Ensemble evil will be one of five soprano one singers out of 24 total New Jersey students in the treble choir shy will be one of six Alto one singers out of the 36 New Jersey students in the mixed choir this is quite a big accomplishment congratulations to those two Hillsboro High School students so in case you didn't notice we had some snow on the ground today and as superintendent I get lots of calls and emails about all kinds of things as it's related to snow so I just wanted to remind everybody that we do indeed have three builtin snow days in our calendar so while students only need to attend school for 180 days our current calendar has 183 days so those are the three snow days uh we can afford having school closed without needing to adjust our calendar three times if for some reason we would need to uh have further snow days Beyond those three uh we will then be open on the following dates in order depending on the timeline uh February 17th uh April 14th and April 15th as publicized on our district calendar if any of those snow days are not used they will be added as school closing days on April 21st May 23rd and May 27th in that order so this is just a public service U message to the board as well as the community everything that I just said is on our district calendar at the bottom so it's nothing you have to remember or write down if you look at our district calendar it tells you all things the most important thing is that we can close school three times and not encroach on any other days uh that we have uh off right now as you may know from my previous superintendent support the pride of Hillsboro uh Raider Marching Band came in first place and they were the 2024 group 5 open New Jersey state champions We will be inviting the entire crew and recognizing them as a part of my superintendence report at the second January board meeting so we certainly look forward to recognizing those students and staff members speaking of recognition at our February board meeting we will be recognizing all of our teachers of the year and education Support Services Professionals of the year that will be at our February board meeting one thing that you've consistently heard me talk about as superintendent for two years is the lack of fair funding for Hillsboro and in my mind that is even more glaring as we are the only School District in Somerset County that has been hit by the effects of S2 for several years equaling millions of dollars and I put out some things on social media and also some emails out there that it's time to be heard about State funding uh State Fair funding for Hillsboro um right now the New Jersey legislature is considering changes to the school funding Reform Act and the New Jersey Department of Education has announced a local meeting where Educators and members of the public make comment on school the school funding law this is an opportunity for the people of Hillsboro to have their voices heard we sometimes have our Representatives come and they speak to us but this is a chance to get your voice on a larger scale so on January 8th that is Wednesday from 6:00 pm. to 8:00 p.m. at the Somerset County Government Office located at 27 Warren Street in Somerville again that's 27 Warren Street in Somerville in the first floor conference room you can have your Hillsboro voice to be heard if you do want to get up and speak at that meeting there they are asking that you register in advance and any member of the public who hasn't seen my social media post or or staff member who hasn't gotten an email please just reach out to me I can send you the link to register but again I just want to say that is this Wednesday January 88th from 6 pm to 8:00 pm at the Somerset County Office located at 27 War Street in Somerville in the first floor conference room I will be there I will make my opinion known I hope others can make their opinions known as well and I find it heartening that they're coming to Somerset County but honestly I don't know how many other districts outside of Hillsboro might be showing up because they've been doing well so I think it's important for for Hillsboro to be seen um with a good amount of people there that this is important to us because Mr record you can correct me if I'm wrong and you can take that factiously with all sarcasm we still don't know our state aid at this point right nor will we for several months you know for about seven or eight weeks or so yes so we are again in that situation where we are building a budget without a very large variable and one of the things that I will be advocating for when I get a chance to speak is some kind of access and some kind of portal that I can see in as the state is putting things together even if it's not 100% accurate that along along the way I can see where are we so there may be other things that you want to advocate for please keep in mind you'll have the opportunity to do so with representatives from the state this Wednesday from 6:00 to 8 at the Somerset County office at 27 waren Street in Somerville and Mr President uh that concludes my superintendent report for tonight all right thank you very much all right now we will move on to the meeting schedule I'll take a motion to approve the meeting schedule can I get a motion in a second somebody second okay all right so is there any discussion on the schedule oh miss nurse um I in in looking at it and I know that we did um some different things this year which I really like the community engagement um we had more opportunity to talk as a as a board with the extra um time that we had however I feel like March is a crucial month with budgets coming up um and a time that people do come out and speak so I was hoping that we could add a March second March meeting um and I also feel similarly I'm not sure about everybody else um having two in October you know it's the start of the school year um again you know a lot of voices to be heard as we start the school year by both um the community and The Faculty um you know when they like to bring our attention to things um so like I would be recommending that and then hopefully just letting the public know that on those months you know that we might only have one meeing that we are hoping to have more community events like we did this year I think the discussion was one in the spring and then one in the fall again yes I think so that's I guess long as same lines I I think with the exception of the you know July and August and December I'd like there to be two opportunities each month for the public to to make public comments and um if we're at least uh mindful of making adding the community engagement night or the re uh the board retreat which are always opportunities for people to speak up um uh that would maybe satisfy uh what Miss nurse is saying as well as my concern for the opportunity for people to make comment so I think if we were to put in a second one in March as you mentioned and we do a community engagement night maybe in February that actually has two meetings January February March April one in May one in June one in July one in August two in September two in October with the change and then November December aesome also just you know I took a look at our um proposed or the the schedule that we're working on for next year the calendar school calendar um June 23rd might be very close to the ending date I know that we talked in the past about how that gets to be a very busy week I don't know if we also want to move that June date until earlier in the year I mean earlier in June excuse me not the year so I think we can adjust this as we go along if we're okay with one I would suggest keeping that we can discuss Ming that up maybe at one of our committee meetings can I can I just add that for June One Challenge to to moving it earlier than the 23rd would be um that's like the last closing out of all the bills for the for the school year so it's anything earlier we would not have a lot of our utility bills we would not have a lot of other bills in place and time so can we take a note for an update for the next meeting to add a March and add an October I think you said in there and we'll take a revision of next committee meetings to establish the date and move forward with this one for now is that all right that's fine I mean I support that that was just my thoughts no I I agree I think I think those timings your point is well taken um that makes sense does any board members have any other comments on this before we move to role okay look to roll then Mr Davis yes Miss Jackson yes Miss Craig yes Miss lenning beer yes Mr Lee yes Miss nurse yes Miss stats no Mr heo abstain and Mr muray uh yes motion passes we'll take a motion to approve minutes uh 9.1 motion to approve executive session minutes 126 24 and motion to approve public meeting minutes 126 24 can I get a motion in a second second any discussion on the minutes all in favor hi hi I'd like to acknowledge the correspondence as listed um I don't believe we have any committee reports since the last board meeting so we can move forward and we will move straight to the comments from the public and board um in public input on the action agenda or the 2024 2025 budget we very much welcome in from the public during meeting board meetings will be 230 minute periods of time the meeting be open public comment or members of the public are invited the comment which they may do if they're attending in person during the first public comment period members of the public May comment about any 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 Fields may be of concern to the residents of the school district as for bylaw 0167 before you st your comment you'll be ask to provide your name and address three minut limit on public comment please understand that our public forms not structured as question and answer sessions but rather are offered as opportunities to share your thoughts with the board and inces where the board believes there's a misunderstanding or inaccuracy the board president or acting super acting super the superintendent will address the comment there may be times when a member of the public makes a comment or as a question about Personnel or hiring decisions kindly note the open public meetings Act and the Privacy right of public employees Encompass therein did notate the board to discuss personel issues in public session okay seeing no comments any board members want to make any comments before we proceed okay seeing none we'll move on to the action agenda thank you I'd ask for the board's consideration of the following motions in the area of Education uh to approve travel related expenses affirm the superintendent's HIV determinations for the cases an overnight trip approving staff for Le program approving staff for the MLL summer program preparation work approving extended day wraparound instructional services for immigrant students and accepting a 2425 carryover for Esa can I get a motion and second so moved second any discussion on the agenda okay seeing none we move to rooll Mr Davis yes Miss Jackson yes M Craig yes M Lanning beer yes Mr Lee yes Miss nurse yes M stats yes Mr Hill yes and Mr Mar yes motion passes thank you before I get to the area of Human Resources I'd like to note in um one of our human resources the untimely passing of Jose chicas who was a very dedicated custodian um the Hillsboro Township Public Schools for many years we lost him over the holiday break and I worked uh closely with him when I was principal of HS and his contributions to the um Hillsboro Township Public Schools are very well recognized that being said in the area of Human Resources I'd ask for the board's consideration of the following motions uh retirements and resignations appointments transfer change in assignment change in employment status leaves of absence co-curricular advisor six and seven period coverage extra coverage and TurnKey trainers can I get a motion in a second so move second uh any discussion at the agenda seeing them will move to rooll Mr Davis yes Miss Jackson yes Miss Craig yes M lenning beer yes Mr Lee yes Miss nurse um yes for everything except for 14.2 um I know one of the candidates uh personally so I will abstain Miss stats yes Mr H yes and Mr mer yes motion passes in the area of operations I'd ask for the board's consideration to approve the following motions monthly bills the designation of the public agency compliance officer monthly financial statement our financial status line item transfers resolution for a settlement agreement with the haa accepting donations and approving a resolution for submission of a project to the Department of Education can I get a motion and second second any discussion by the board question Mr Davis why are there no bills they're generally the second meeting of the month um the one that we do have on here tonight is just because there was a easy pass tag in one of our buses that was not picked up so there would have been a $100 fine if we didn't pay that bill tonight um if it waited till the 27th it would have been a week late and we would have been F so the the regular bills will be on on the 27th thank okay seeing your others move to roll Mr Davis yes Miss Jackson yes M Craig yes M lenning beer yes Mr Lee yes Miss nurse yes M stats yes Mr hio yes and Mr Marini yes motion passes thank you and I saw two errors on tonight's agenda I'll make sure of that no we don't have an Acting Superintendent in Hillsboro I noticed that at least I hope we don't at the moments and there also we should have deleted it there's a policy section 16 we have no policies for approval tonight so Mr President we go right on to uh item 17 all right comments from the board public we very much welcome inut from the public during board meetings there are 230 minute periods of time the Mee we have public comment where members of the public the comment which do if they're attending in person during the second public comment period members of the public May comment any school or School District issue M of the public feels may be of concern of the residence of the school district as for bylaw 0167 before you see your comment yes provide your name and address there's three limit on public comment please understand that our public forums are not structured as question and answer sessions but rather offered us opportunities to share your thoughts with the board inance where the board believes it a misunderstanding or in accuracy the board president or superintendent will address the comment there may be times the member of the public makes a comment or ask a question about personel hiring decisions kindly note the open public meetings Act and the Privacy right of public employees that comes therein do not permit the board to discuss Personnel issues in public session okay I see no individuals coming up for comments we'll open up to the board for any comments before we close the meeting um I just wanted to give a little update from the high school um after extensive polling I've decided to focus on um issues regarding hillsb bathrooms as my predecessor did and I'm meeting with Mr Doo soon to discuss that and then also for the student council they're um currently hosting their an in the planning of Hosting their annual senior citizen dinner thank you thank you may I ask a question about that what are the ongoing bathroom issues now um there're the same ones from last year I don't think um my predecessor was able to completely solve them so it's like sanitation how many students can leave at a time the fact that there's a f minute waiting period at the beginning and end of every period issues like that okay I'll be interesting to see and would love those monthly reports about how that is hopefully moving along a little faster this year Miss D are the bathrooms still locked between periods yeah s um I attended the uh billsboro uh Robo Raiders uh kickoff uh Dr Regan was there and Mr vulpi and uh it's great to see their excitement this is where they revealed what their challenge will be for this year and uh it was very inspirational thank you anyone else all right I will take a motion to adjourn so moved all in favor hi all right see you in a couple weeks thanks everybody