good evening and welcome to the Hillsboro Township Board of education's January 2nd 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 December 22nd 2023 to the Hillsboro beacon in The Courier News please stand for the pledge United States of America to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for [Music] all so at this time I'll share the election results the official election results from the November election Miss cassander Craig had 6383 votes Miss Cynthia D calante nurse had 7,472 votes Mr prit pal fanda had 3,486 votes Mr Paul Marini had 6,287 votes and there were were 180 read in votes so with these results the three candidates that were elected to the to serve on the hillsbor Township Board of Ed for the next three years were Miss Miss nurse Miss Craig and Mr Marine there was also two questions that were on the uh on the ballot that day but um Mr W has shared the results of previously but just to recap the official numbers for the security department question there were 6,299 yes votes and 5324 no votes so that question did pass and then for the additional Staffing question there were 653 votes and 400 4,973 no votes so again that question also did pass um so as Mr VY has done previously we thank the community for for their support with these questions at this time I'd like to administer the oath of office to the three uh incoming board members and I'm going to start with Mrs Craig first if you can meet me at the podium so please raise your hand I st name do Solly swear or affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey I support theti of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States and this state 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 guide under the authority of the people I state your name I cazandra Craig do Solly swear or affirm do you Solly affirm that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office of member of a board of education that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office of member of a board of education and that I am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to rs19 col 4-1 and that I am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to rs1 1941 nor disqualified due to conviction of a crime or offense listed in njsa 18a Colon 12-1 nor disqualify due to conviction of a crime or offense listed in njsa 18a 12-1 and then I will faithfully and partially and justly perform all of 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 congratulations and welcome to the [Applause] board feel free to join us at the B next will be Mr Marini please raise your right hand and repeat after me I state your name I Paul Marini do solemnly swear or affirm you solemnly swear 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 and I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and the governments established in the United States and this state and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the government's established in the United States in this state under the authority of the people so help me God under the authority of the people so help me God I state your name I Paul Marini do solemnly swear or affirm do you solemnly swear that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office of member of a board of education that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office of member of a board of education and that I am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to rs19 col 4-1 and that I am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to rs19 col 4-1 nor disqualify due to conviction of a crime or offense listed in njsa 18a 12-1 nor disqualify due to conviction of a crime or offense listed in njsa 18a 12-1 and that I will faithfully and partially and justly perform all the duties of that office according to the best of my ability so help me God and then I will faithfully and partially and justly perform all of the duties of that office according to the best of my ability so help me God congratulations welcome back to the [Applause] board and last name is [Applause] nurse please raise your right hand and repeat after me I state your name I s c Cy nurse do solemnly swear or affirm do solemnly swear or affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States in 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 and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States and this 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 under the authority of the people so help me God go I state your name I Cynthia cind CA nurse do solemnly swear or affirm do solemnly swear or affirm that I possess the qualification prescri prescribed by law for the office of a member of a board of education do Solly swear or affirm that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office of member of a board of education and that I am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to rs19 col 4-1 and that I am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to rs19 4-1 nor qualified due to conviction of a crime or offense listed in njsa 18a col 12-1 nor disqualified due to conviction of a crime or offense listed in njsa 18a col 12-1 and that I will Faithfully partially and justly perform all of the duties of that office according to the best of my ability so help me God and that I will faithfully impartially and justly perform all of the duties that of that office according to the best of my abilities so help me God congratulations and welcome back to the board [Applause] thank [Music] you so at this time I would like to take the uh the first official role of the new board Mr Davis here Miss Jackson here M Craig here miss L beer here Mr Lee here Mr Marini here miss nurse here miss stats here and Mr here here we have a so at this time I would like to take nominations for the office of president of the Board of Education I nominate Miss stats for [Music] president I nominate PA Marini see no other nominations of this comment I will close nominations for the office of board of board president and I will call for a roll call vote of that during this vote you were to State the name of the person that you were voting for first person to get if either of the two reaches five yes votes that person will become the president starting with Mr Davis Paul Marini Miss Jackson Paul Marini M Craig PA Marini M lny beer Paul Marini Mr Lee Paul Marini Mr Marini Paul Marini Miss nurse Paul Marini Miss stats Jane stats and Miss tro Jane stats so Mr Marini is elected with the with a 72 vote for um to be the board president for the next year uh Mr Marini please come up and assume the D thank you the [Applause] chair I'm good it's my moment thank you Mr eert uh now we will take um nominations for vice president open it up to the board to nominate I would like to nominate Miss nurse president any other nominations can I nominate myself please I nominate Joel Davis okay thank you Mr Davis so as with the presidential vote uh you will need to uh during roll call State um either Miss nurse or Mr Davis uh and five votes will allow uh that person to be vice president so we can move out the all Mr Davis Joel Davis Miss Jackson Joel Miss Craig Cindy nurse Miss Lanning beer Cindy nurse Mr Lee Cindy nurse Mr Marini a Cindy nurse Miss nurse Cindy nurse Miss stats Cindy nurse and Mr heo abstain okay with that Miss nurse is Vice President congratulations i' say you can move seats but I think you're already in the right seat so that was simple all right so we will now move on to board president's report um and for this I will establish the board committee approvals um and we will the liaison will do at a future meeting and we'll we'll put up on the website um but for the Committees we do have the committee individuals so for HR uh that will be chaired by Miss Cindy nurse and will include uh Mr Lee Miss lenning beer and myself uh for Education that will be chaired um by Miss Jackson and that we'll have uh Miss stats Mr Lee and Miss Craig for operations that will be chaired by Mr Davis um will include Miss tro Miss lenning beer and myself and then the governance committee which is the uh chairs of the other committees plus myself will be myself as chair and then uh juel Cindy and Ela on the on that committee as well and that concludes the board president report thank you Mr President I have a couple of things uh to go over in my superintendent report first I wanted to make sure that as we have elected new board members and board leadership uh this is School Board recognition month in New Jersey so if you wouldn't mind me uh reading in this Proclamation for the work that school board members do it states whereas the New Jersey school boards Association has declared January 2024 to be school board recognition month the time when all residents can acknowledge the contributions made by our local school board members and whereas the Hillsboro board of education is one of 581 local school boards in New Jersey which sets policies and overseas operations for public school districts and whereas the Hillsboro Board of Education Embraces the goal of highquality education for all New Jersey Public Schools students and whereas New Jersey's local school boards help determine the educational goals for the approximately 1.4 million children in Pre kindergarten through 12th grade and whereas New Jersey's 5,000 local school board members who receive no remuneration for their services act as advocates for public school students as they work with administrators teachers and parents for the betterment of public education and whereas school boards strive to provide the resources necessary to meet the needs of all students including those with special needs and whereas Boards of Education provide accountability to the public they communicate the needs of the school district to the public and they convey to school administrators The public's expectation for the schools and whereas New Jersey can take pride in its schools which rank among the nation's best in key achievement indicators such as the national assessment of educational progress scores and the preparation for college to advance placement offerings and sat assessments now therefore be it resolved that the Hillsboro board of education does hereby recognize the services of local school board members throughout New Jersey As We join Community Statewide in observing January 2024 as Schoolboard recognition month and be it further resolved that the Hillsboro Board of Education urges all New Jersey citizens to work with their local Boards of education and Public School staff toward the advancement of our children's education thank you all for your service to the school board thank you Cassie for what you're going to do on the school board and if you don't mind give if you don't want to give yourselves a round of applause give each other a round of applause because it's hard work being a school board M and Cassie if you if you didn't know it did say in there no remuneration so I think that sometimes is I'm kidding sometimes it's just what you guys do for For the Love of students and for the love of kids so thank you for that further as part of my superintendent report as Mr recer did say I did want to again thank the people of Hillsboro um for the results of the election uh particularly for when it comes to the two referendum questions that have been passed we are very busy hiring and as you uh will notice on this agenda and future agendas we will identify the position that have been hired uh with the you know in parenthesis referendum under the hire and I'm very proud that we have been working hard and not only do we have hires in the pipeline and some we're still searching for and want high quality candidates we have three on the agenda for tonight one of those people I'll be introducing to you in a second who is here uh the people of Hillsboro chose to have school security as a priority in our schools with uh Personnel I'm very proud to introduce uh former police chief of the Randolph Police Department David stoko who is here tonight and he will be our first coordinator of school security operations uh Mr stoko if you wouldn't mind just coming to the podium introducing yourself to the public and uh then at some point after you're approved you have to get home because your first day is tomorrow thank you superintendent B good evening everyone uh thank you for having me here tonight it truly is an honor and a privilege I hope that everyone here had a wonderful holiday season and very happy New Year I consider myself very fortunate and blessed to be here school security is a topic that I'm extremely passionate about and I want to thank superintendent bupy and his team for putting their trust and confidence in me to head up your school security initiative school security is something that we all play a vital part in and have a responsibility for I look forward to supporting and complimenting the entire team here the staff parents faculty students students and helping continue to make Hillsboro School District a safe and secure environment that is conducive for Learning and student development so thank you again it's an opportunity I'm very excited to work with everyone here and uh excited to do great things and further your security initiatives thank you thank you daveid and welcome aboard thank you and just so everybody knows one of the many responsibilities David's going to be taking on with me is on Friday we have a full day of interviews scheduled for the building monitors position and it is my hope that if I can't fully staff all of our buildings on the January 22nd uh board agenda that at least we have most of those hires made and I also wanted to talk to the community again thanking for the the referendum questions you know that when you went into the into the booth and pushed a button there was a very specific number there how much money uh was involved that the community was willing to give we are not going to exceed that number I put together a couple presentations with some approximate numbers for for things um but we are going to stay I want to make it very clear in those guidelines as we start to hire staff and some teachers uh some teachers are going to come with some experience uh when we hired a counselor who's on this agenda uh that comes with a master's degree and automatically puts them on another scale in in our um on our guide uh but in the end we're monitoring the hiring salaries as well as the type of benefits people are taking and are budgeted for and we are staying within those budgetary guidelines so I just want to make that clear as you start to see some hires come across everybody was uh budgeted as a teacher on ba step one because as Mr eard will tell you that's what we have to do according to the state is it likely that every hire we make is going to be a step one probably not but that's going to involve a lot of work for my business office and myself keeping track of all numbers including things like supplies and health benefits along the way so I just wanted to let everyone know uh that we are looking very carefully at all these numbers and we are going to hire great people both as teaching staff members and supports for students and also for uh building and safety security um so that being said uh that's my superintendent report for the so just to clarify for the public if we have a budget for a for a security role and that includes both the salary and benefits that's correct the total cost not to exceed for that individual is the combination of those two amounts that's absolutely correct yes and that overall number will not exceed uh the number approved by the voters okay there were some questions on the internet so I that CL the internet somewhere and and obviously if anybody has any questions you can always reach out to me in the office I'm very happy to answer any of your questions about the referendum additionally I forgot this uh if you go on the uh the website since November 9th uh there has been a main headline on our website that says thank you Hillsboro that has frequently asked questions about the referendum it's got three pages full of stuff and as new questions come up I answer that and update it on a regular basis so if you do have any questions about the referendum before you shoot an email or make a phone call take a look right there uh we're happy to be open and transparent and let you know all the information that we can now Mr President that concludes my superintendent thank you very much all right uh the next item on here is the meeting schedule so I will first take a motion and I think there'll be a lot of discussion from board members on this so actually may I Mr eard is it Poss like how would we move this um topic to after public comment because the meeting schedule has changed significantly I would like the public to have an opportunity to make a comment on it before the board votes that's sure thank you absolutely sure we will move it till after first public comment and before the other action agenda items thank you for that recommendation Mr y all right so next we will move on to motion to approve meeting minutes um that is 9.1 motion to approve executive session minutes 12 1123 and 9.2 motion to approve regular meeting minutes 12 1123 um can I get a motion a second second okay any discussion I have just a small comment just is really small typo um in the regular meeting minutes there was a point when I was talking about school boards and it said um covering six years of case law in one hour it should be 60 there was so minor I just said let me say it tonight thank you uh okay we will update that all right with that with that adjustment um any other discussion on the meeting minutes ising beer I just I will need to abstain on those two since I was not present and I'm assuming Miss Craig you will also abstain um so with those abstentions seeing no other comment all in favor I I okay thank you all right I would like to acknowledge the correspondence as listed uh and we will move on to committee reports uh and let's start with operations if you don't mind there was no operations no operations this uh do we have HR yes the HR committee met on Wednesday December 13th from 4: to 5:30 p.m. the items discussed were job descriptions uh long-term substitute and Le replacement compensations Personnel matters um two of them and then we discussed about the job description and the application for coordinator of security and operations and then we did move on to the activity participation fees and discussed um where we were going in terms of the rest of the year in discussions and decided that um for the next few months that we were going to take a look at the spreadsheets about how many uh students are involved in the clubs at all the different levels and also uh to start taking a look at the clubs and their purposes okay thank you um and Mr kid is no longer on the board he's the he was the chair of Education I have I have it if that's okay um so the education committee met on December 12th uh on our agenda was the approval of several new course offerings at the high school first course was a semester elective called forensic science which will replace um course course called medical laboratory techniques um student interest appears to be more in the area of forensic science um a textbook to accompany the course was also reviewed and pending approval I believe tonight since we missed last meeting the course would be offered starting in September of the upcoming school year um three additional elective courses were reviewed including intro of business sports and entertainment marketing and investing the district is looking to strengthen a CTE pathway in business for students and these courses would help to achieve that finally um AP photography and selected Topics in college math for the last course is reviewed AP photography is proposed as a ful year course enabling students to learn more advanced photography techniques um as well as positioning them to be qualified to take the AP 2D art and design course um this course may come up for a title change in the new year as we need to be in line with the college board's naming conventions and selected topics in college math will combine the current course of the same name and applications of mathematics to ensure that all math courses offered will meet graduation requirements thank you uh and for governance I add a conflict and I have the minutes so I will read those and if there's anyone else that was there that would like to add any other commentary please feel free um for the governance committee the main action item was reviewing the board uh meeting schedule for this year which we're going to have as an item that we will discuss shortly um there were a couple informational uh discussion items one was the referendum next steps and that was The Hires that we have on the agenda for today so discussion of salary Etc um we then uh discussed the Strategic plan phase two so obviously that survey went out to the community um we had some of those discussions and now we are meeting in person on a Saturday um for six or eight funfilled hours to review the results of that uh and last but not least uh an update on the tax bill mailing from the township um it's a cost associated with that any other comment I just have a comment um when board members are speaking if we could speak into the mic it's hard even on the day to hear and I think there is some yeah yeah oh really I like really close thank you is this easier to hear we we thank you Mr all right and that concludes the minutes all right so now we will move to the first comment comments from the Public Public input on the action agenda in the 2024 2025 budget we very much welcome in from public during the board meetings there be 230 minute periods of time the meeting will open public comment members of the public by the comment which they may do if they 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 sorry it disappeared on my screen 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 concern the residence of the school district as for bylaw 0167 before you say your comment you'll be asked to provide your name and address limit on public comment please understand that our public form is not structured as question answer sessions but rather offer as opportunities to share your thoughts with the board and instance what the board believes Miss understanding or accuracy board president or Acting Superintendent will address the comment very many times when a member of the public makes a comment or ask a question about personel hiring decisions public need act the rights of public employees Encompass there and do not permit the board to discuss personal issues public session there's no last year all right [Music] hi Amy Salinger teacher at Aon Road school and ETA treasur is this budget also it's very hard to hear or is it just action agenda right now any comments on the budget or I it was hard to hear um so this is about the budget for next year as the operations committee starts to think about those things I don't know about anybody else but I'm freezing in this room right now I have my jacket on our the hallways on this school this is where I teach um there's no heat in the hallways if you walk through our hallways it is Frid I know they're working on it um so just when thinking about it from a budget standpoint just working on ways to like make climate in our buildings during when it's hot I mean the air conditioning is great now that most spaces are air conditioned but in the winter the heat is not consistent so you know as you start to look at that and look at operations like looking at ways to streamline that or make it more efficient our building and grounds guys are great like they'll come they'll get up we don't have enough of them of course um so just something to think about as you move forward with the budget for next year and thinking about you know the the many climates of all of our buildings and the best way to make it a comfortable learning environment for everybody certain rooms didn't have heat today like it's you know it's I'm cold right now I don't know if anybody else is but just something to think about so thank you thank you for your comment Henry Goodhue uh Hillsboro Education Association uh good evening congratulations to the returning board members and the new ones um I would like to speak to item 13.1 which is travel uh on the agenda specifically the travel to the 25th International Conference on autism intellectual disabilities and developmental disabilities um this obviously is a a needed topic and an important one so I take no issue with the conference itself um but it did raise concern to myself and many members that were sending two administrators to Hawaii for $ 6,455 and4 um that's made even more difficult when many of our members are denied travel to even sometimes in the state or the tri-state area um I know that the board received communication from one of our officers uh discussing a time that she sought to attend a conference in Connecticut and was denied that because two uh another administrator was going when in fact we're sending two to this and I don't know if they're presenting or or what the context of their attendance is but I do know that even our members who've been invited to attend at different conferences and to present at them sometimes at no cost have denied in the past and I realize the past is the past but we are in a situation where we're considering the morale of our student of of our staff and we're considering what we can do to make them feel valued and this is sending you know perhaps not intentionally but this is sending a very difficult message to them given what they've gone through um I would also say that I think it sends a problematic message to the community when we've asked for their support in kind of building ourselves back um and I duly recognize and fully recognize that these are different funds this is title two it's not the same funds as our general operating so I fully grant that what I'm saying is optically I don't know that others in the community would see that what they're going to see is we're sending two administrators to Hawaii and the problem with that is when you look at what goes on at that conference because I was curious the first day sounds important there's a lot that goes on the first day the second and the third day most of the time is made up of poster walks so there's morning breakfast poster walk breakout session noon poster walks General General business afterwards for the association that's presenting this so the question is what are they doing in the time that they're not having poster walks or a general breakout session for three to four hours so accumulative maybe six to eight hours over those two days of whatever is happening in those breakout sessions the brochure for the event goes on to say and I quote escape to a tropical Hideaway at the Hilton Hawaiian Village located at the widest stretch of Beach this 22 acre Paradise features the best pools and water slides in y ke K as well as the only saltwater Lagoon dive into culture with daily activities the on-site Li out and discover the picture perfect stay in Honolulu that's the that is the brochure from the conference and whether or not that stuff is there that's what our members are seeing and that's what downtime will be used for when we can't even leave the state to go to something that directly benefits our students so whatever is decided tonight I urge the board to think about both the explicit and the implicit message of the passage of this item thank you thank you for your coming Paul Paul Anderson Woodfield Estates uh I want to Echo what Henry just said uh I've been to Hilton Hawaiian Village but it's for a vacation a honeymoon it's not a place you go for a seminar okay especially at the expense of the taxpayers uh I'm sure it's a very informative uh development program for these administrators to go to uh I'm a parent of a severely autistic child and I can appreciate them needing to learn as much about that but I looked here tonight before on my phone there's multiple seminars in New Jersey nearby even New York City on various issues with autism and that's something they should be looking into and in this environment where you've just taken the taxpayer for more referendum money which hey the thing was approved and voted on uh but we got to take the taxpayers into mind and start running this District like a business you're the CEO of the district and you guys are the Board of Trustees so you've got to step in and uh make a decision on something that's probably not necessary uh I wonder if these two people went to Atlantic City for the teachers convention okay a lot closer lot more reasonable and apparently they might have learned something if there been a seminar on autism down there so I just want to bring that to your attention thank you thank you for your comment yeah like to add some comments sure to clarify one thing before I ask Dr feler to clarify a couple things too as Mr hyu did State these are not being used from local funds uh these are title funds so this is not something that is coming from the taxpayers of Hillsboro um and as far as the uh conference itself and what it is for Dr phry would you mind uh speaking to that and board members you also have some notes in your um board docs for yourself there too um as far as the conference and what it is for um it is for autism uh our high school Community Based instruction program um has been recognized as a model program for diversity equity and inclusion um for for improving outcomes for individuals with autism with disabilities and um intellectual as well as as developmental disabilities and because of this the two administrators were asked to present um it's it's an International Conference on autism intellectual disability and developmental disabilities they've applied to present for the last three years this was the first year they were accepted um I mean they obviously knew where was when they applied but they've applied for the last three years um I don't know where the other two uh conferences were the last couple of years we don't have a say as to where the conference is held but this year it's in um Hawaii it's a special honor to present at an International Conference um they have presented um well Dr radwan has presented um in Atlantic City just this past year as well as last year and um Dr Lopez Lopez went to Washington DC to represent um the district um at our recent conference in the fall as well so so just to clarify there's no District funds being spent on this no this is title funds this is federal funds through professional development you know and and uh Dr phry please correct me if I'm wrong because I may very well be wrong but as far as with the title two funds uh we have approved um both uh staff members U not administrators for out of State travel and uh was there one for international travel as well we we sent a teacher to uh Dublin Ireland this year with with the title two funds with the title two funds yes we did so I can't speak to when they were denied I believe that was before me so hello sorry um oh um hi Leisa gabes I live in Hillsboro just wanted to touch basis on uh the 8.1 the motion to approve the regular meeting schedule I just I mentioned at the last board meeting it'd be nice if we could go through the summertime basically so that you could put the board at that meetings on the calendar that gets printed and I also wanted to add one other thing that I know that you have uh booked out the next year for you know just when are when are the days going to be open and closed so I just thought it nice if you know that goes from uh 24 and 25 that's on the calendar on the website right now so it would be nice if we could have the Board of Ed meetings listed if you you know next year in January or whenever you decide that you wanted to add uh extra Community meetings or you wanted to change when a board retreat was you could you know you could probably make those those tweaks I don't think the public would mind so much um but just for the few people who try to uh schedule their activities around board meetings it'd be nice to have them on the calendar thank you so much thank you for com all right seeing no others we will close the first public comment session and we will move back to 8.1 motion to approve regular meeting schedule so this is kind of of I gu a brainchild of you and I speaking over the course of the year and looking to can you raise my mic up hello can you hear me better now yes okay great just keep yelling if I go too quiet so the the idea with this um meeting calendar was kind of the idea of we don't want to meet just to meet because we're meeting twice a month that's what we always do we just want to show up and maybe have 20 me 20 minute meetings say our peace and leave um so the idea here in the adjustments to the meeting schedule were to add some more community events where it made sense uh more Community direct Community interaction as well as additional board Retreats throughout the year so the whole board can meet as a whole to discuss um you know as a publicly posted meeting and take advantage of some of those times to to move that forward as well as maybe having some of these meetings be uh just regular meetings with no action agenda just for discussion points throughout the year so you'll see here within the calendar behind me we do have some additional dates moved in here for HSA visits Community engagement nights um secondary board member HSA visits and then I believe one two Retreats throughout the year um in addition to that so I will open it up to so I guess we first that motion and a second and then we can have official discussion by the board so can I get a motion a second on this 8.1 calendar item so moved second all right any comments and discussion by the board on what's presented up here on the screen um go ahead who first what Miss Landing beer you can't hear me so I can say things you don't know sorry um I just wanted a clarification on uh board member HSA visit um I'm fully in support of that but I just wanted to know if we could have more of an explanation of what that might look like how many of us would be going you when this was originally discussed it was was an idea I brought up and we discussed it at the governance committee and the theory behind it is we have nine Board of Education members and we have nine schools and that we thought it might be nice um to recognize our hsas that we're not just reaching out to them when they need some we need something from them but to develop a relationship with them so that in February we could decide that hey who's going to take which school's HSA meeting and then again in November hey let's switch it up and let's get to know a different HSA meeting because we do value the uh participation of our hsas very much uh I've had a chance to get around to a lot of those meetings and I know that the board members have said that they would like to have some FaceTime as well so it wasn't about a committee or people going it was we got nine buildings we got nine hsas we got nine board members we can I'll let you guys figure out who goes to which which one and the limit would be four obviously per per meeting with them if if you wanted to go to more than one that's great thank you thank you for the CL Mr Davis thank you uh I as a second year board member I still feel somewhat overwhelmed by the Avalanche of information the the speed with which issues come across uh reading through the agenda notes prior to a meeting trying to have some sense of arms around things so my concern is that I would not want to adapt a a meeting schedule where we would have less contact with one another where there to be less information flowing I don't want to just show once a month and and say yes to things and you know it it's been said that well why while we may reduce business meetings or public meetings or things like that we don't want to necessarily reduce board events or B board contact opportunities and that's my biggest concern because I I learn the most from interaction and conversations and comments made by fellow board members and and I think it's a great Point Mr Davis I think the idea here was by having multiple board Retreats that allows us to have full board communication share ideas review topics and and replace one agenda meeting with the retreat off site so you're actually in my opinion you'd be getting a little more out of it because now twice a year you get the whole board kind of can openly discuss items without having a set action agin action agenda for that meeting so that may or may not meet your criteria of of what you're looking for but that was the idea behind it MERS and just to clarify I think if you know when you hear about something it sounds like oh only one meeting a month but if we look closely at it there are really we've always only had a meet one meeting a month in July and August so that is pretty much stays the same June with the amount of endof Year events that were coming and with people and our administrators spread so thin and you know some of our board members are also in attendance at a lot of these end of the year events we thought that that would benefit everybody and and giving full attention or more attention to those end of year events but like Mr Marini said the board retreat is in place of a second meeting so there's more ample time for us all to talk together um and I think there's only just maybe three or four times during the course of the year I think the two months where we go to the HSA visits will be those um I think too if we ran it and decided after February wow this didn't work out so great and we need to have more my assumption is and excuse me if I'm wrong but I think that we can say wait a minute this didn't work out so well and let's go back in November and let's make that a second meeting and then we can orchestrate um HSA visits in addition to for those that can give that time so I think the board can always call for additional meetings should you know and I think back to I think back to covid times I think boards were always like scheduling oh my gosh there's some new thing we need to have a new meeting about it I think that um what you described is an accurate structure and there needs to be more board meetings that's board's prerogative yes special meetings just require regular notification periods and then emergency meetings can be emergency the other change that you didn't mention just so everybody has full transparency here there's not two meetings on this in December we were pushing two weeks in a row just to get the two meetings in I think the last meeting that we had this year was like a 15minute meeting with nobody here to show up because we were just fitting those two meetings in December so there's never no value in a meeting but you know those things could be potentially consolidated Miss that's aside from the oh sorry aside from have the loud bike there one any glass break um aside from the point that uh Mr Davis made which which were good points I'm also concerned about the fewer opportunities for the public to make comment and and I understand sometimes there are we have meetings where there is no comment or very few comments but um we can't predict what can happen that could prompt people to want to come to the mic and speak publicly um and I I do although I do appreciate the community engagement night I would have liked to have seen more of that um the HS HSA visits are nice but that's one board member at each location so it's not really a a sharing of information among everybody certainly not people who don't have children in schools um so I guess my main point is uh the lack of opportunity for the public to to speak publicly um in some venue for related to the schools so and just just a point it's not limited to one board member per you get have up to four of those so we can have more than one board member at different HSA meetings there's just a point that we have nine board members that could do one each but if people want to attend multiple back to school uh HSA meetings they could as well Mr H so with respect to the HSA meetings with the visits one of my concerns is that um we we as board members when we were elected we we knew Monday nights and not we knew Monday night was going to be the night second and fourth you know sometimes it it varies a bit but HSA meetings are all different nights of the week so that you know kind of I think puts some people may not have that availability that doesn't mean that they don't care to go like for example with the referendum meetings at the back to school nights I looked at the calendar it did not fit my schedule several of them were my children's back to school nights or I had a standing meeting that I had to go to so I actually didn't attend any of the referendum meetings um I don't know how many other board members did I know that um I saw it back to school night at the high school Miss stats and Mr Lee but I don't know for the other schools right um so that's point one point two um I had sent around a proposal because because here's the thing at governance I was like yeah it sounds like a good idea and then I thought about it and I was wanted to talk about it with the full board on the December 18th meeting which was you know cancel due the weather unfortunately so that was a missed opportunity which kind of puts us in a in a tricky predicament because this proposal I didn't really want to throw it at folks on the break so I was only you know sent it today so did not really give people a chance to to review it but when I compared the different um the regular meeting which is second and fourth Mondays that would be 22 regular meetings in a year that would be 22 opportunities for the public to speak um did we have a board retreat last year in 23 so we had so that would that was 22 public meetings for the public to speak one board retreat for all of us to talk in depth okay with the you know administrative SLG governance proposal that's 15 regular meetings so that's seven fewer meetings so seven fewer opportunities for the public to speak um it adds two board Retreats so that's a Delta of one from last year um it does add a community engagement night and two HSA visits however it is not like those like I feel like those two should be in addition to rather than instead of and and so my proposal kind of takes us back to um 2010 I think prior to Dr Schiff coming to our district so this is just like when I was looking through the um historical things where there were two board meetings a month the first board meeting was an act sorry it was a work meeting where board members could that would be an opportunity to do reports um committee reports it would be an opportunity to do board members training um hear presentations from Administration on different topics that we may request to know about like Innovative programs um it's also an opportunity for students to come and share what they're doing I believe it was lovely to have the mixed Corral Come and sing I think in the past we've had students from the elementary schools give presentations about the the stories that they wrote I remember one year there was like a great presentation it was like to music it was like I think it was Kesha this is me and like they all had like um it was a video but we also had students showing this is them like the art the art that they did and I think that we got away from that with covid and it would be great to bring that back and a work meeting would be an opportunity for us to have that back um the other concern I have is by going to essentially like one Action meeting a month we lose we lose the [Music] um the appointments I'm concerned about Personnel appointments where it becomes then perhaps back to the way the summer is where it's like you either do it retroactively or you um you know give that authority to the superintendent and I feel like as a board in in a way that that is one aspect of the board's responsibility to review it even if it may just be um um routine but that we do have that opportunity to review it and by going to one meeting a month I feel like we've we've voluntarily given that given that up um I did in the proposal note that there were some in December it was that it was a back-to-back meeting so I crossed that out um but under my proposal it would be um 19 opportunities for the public to speak with two board Retreats so kind of a compromise between the two um but especially like what I'm thinking about is the work meetings would be that opportunity for us to talk kind of like now like I would have loved to have had this conversation as a full board rather than just in governance because as we as we and and here's the problem right you know when we talked in governance okay it sounded good but then you you percolate on it right kind of like um when we had the home school discussion right Miss nurse like you you thought like some things that come up at a meeting it's like okay they made some good points but now I oh like I think about it oh but I had to vote that night so it seems a little bit rushed whereas like if you have a work meeting and then you're actually voting two weeks later you had some time to percolate on it and to think about it so I would my proposal would be if we could approve um just the January 22nd meeting because that's the same on all of them and in committee perhaps the governance committee could review it people could think about it and then at January 22nd we could adopt then the 2024 calendar and actually it reminds me Miss nurse had a great idea is that when we adopt this calendar could we go through January so that way we don't have this so a new board um will be seated in January that would give them opportunities to think about these things rather than being um asked to vote on a a agenda like when they're just like brand new so that was my proposal thank you okay listeners it's great to hear everybody's perspective and that's why I I like this and you know there was a push for board Retreats I like the idea of some working meetings but I think maybe if there is I would agree that it sounds like we have to talk a little bit more to see I don't know what that's going to look like though because now we're back to committees with with four of us um so I don't know if you're thinking Gan that it gives everybody time to hear what's been said tonight and think about it and be ready to speak to it at the next their next committee meeting and also at the January 22nd hopefully that we could um you know kind of hash it out in committees have the you know I I propos I'm not married to this proposal is just a starting point idea um but I think giving people some time to think think about it will um at the January 22nd meeting perhaps that could be when we could have that full board conversation maybe people have different ideas I don't know maybe this is just a year of trial and error every time I get closer to it it um but you know in thinking what you're saying and and trying different things for for me I like the board Retreats I think they're great I wouldn't move those I'm glad that we have two instead of one but where we do have the HSA visits maybe we think about replacing them for those work slash work sessions where action may be taken and then in December since we only have one meeting maybe that's where we try to get to an HS just to try everything to see what we like but I I I think if everybody thinks about it we can table is it possible to table this until January 22nd can I you guys can decide to do whatever you want to do but I just want to add a couple of things in you know I first started circulating this and I know there's been some minimal discussion in July um I don't know what I can add value to in bringing it back to committees for further discussion other than just a continual circular discussion because it's been out there for for many months the other thing Mr Hugh what I'm I'm hearing you describe is like really that other meeting is a committee of the whole and right now if we wanted to do committee of the hole where everybody gets to hear everything going on and not taking action on it um you just approved committees so the board and its bylaws does have standing committees so what I am hearing as superintendent is you want the Committees and then you want the committee of the whole because we don't know if everybody is going to agree with what the committee decides so I think if you're going to have further conversation about this rather than a conversation about the schedule it's got to be what kind of board do you want because because for example this was discuss at governance this was then published out in the minutes this was then put forth and if the whole Board needs to discuss it my question to you is do you want your committees or do you want the whole board doing work session items before action items that I think seems to be something at the Crux of this here I disagree I think and I I think that's because this involves everybody right our committees are there to tell you know HR does HR operations does operations Education Works on the education aspect some such as when we're all going to meet and what would be the best and most positive for us and our establishing for our committees is something that we should all talk about yes it was talked about in governance but like you said it was talked about in governance it was put in our you brass tax which is our form of communication from the superintendent to the board and now we're supposed to vote on it so there was no discussion I don't think that that means it's a committee of the whole I I think that means this involves everybody and everybody should be able to talk like this so I understand the work I don't see the work session similar unless we're just calling like if everybody starts feeling more comfortable and having these discussions at the de maybe we don't even need to separate the two maybe these just what our meetings look like I think that's more of the point Miss Nur is either we have these more meetings where we're doing working sessions one of them if we do that we might not need the committee meetings because we're I'm basically having committee meetings the first Mee the first meeting of the month because I kicked my water bottle um so but I'm I think you're I don't want to say you're twisting it in my mind it sounds like that but it's probably not but like I said I don't think that we all need to sit here and discuss every item that HR committee does I think this involves everybody something like the school calendar whether it's different opinions on that should be a discussion for everybody's thoughts and opinions so I I don't I still find relevance in having committee meetings where we can focus on different aspects of the district but there are times when we need to have these discussions so you know we're we're here ing opinions we want to hear from the committee Community but we also want to hear from each other yeah I sh thought um as as a board member one of the principal ethical issues that is kind of drilled into us when we get oriented uh to become a new board member is we need to at all costs avoid ever having conversations where there's more than four people you don't want to accidentally come up with a quorum or something like that U and a lot of this information does get shared by email gets bounced around and you know email can also be thin ice you know if you've got five people on the CC list I'll suddenly you have a quarum but it's uh and not that I want to invent new administrative tasks but when this item was published you know we we get to see these things and sometimes I reply by email and but I only reply to Mr vpy or Paul or the Pres current president because you know heaven forbid you don't want to copy all but if there were perhaps some mechanism whereby such emails could be aggregated if we want to use a that word uh maybe once a week or whatever would be pertinent to say say a topic like this that involves the whole board and the comments could be shared uh anonymously so you know board member one said this board member two said that to give us some opportunity to kind of feed at the trough of what people are thinking without it necessarily being u a live conversation or or Quorum endangered meeting I don't know who would do that or how many more people would' have to hire to get that done yeah it's it's kind of tricky because that's the brass tax but yeah I I think for the this is some inside baseball I think when it does come to that Joel I think there's a lot of times in my Friday Communications to the board that I do exactly that I say a board member asked a question and I try to publish that that information to to everyone but as far as anonymously emailing each other we would we would probably be violating Sunshine laws and can't do anything like that so so if we're looking at the schedule as it's on yes um I mean one option would to meet make make the HSA visits for example at a meeting and invite the hsas to discuss and make it a meeting with the ability for a public comment that's one option it gives you two more meetings the only one that really wouldn't be a meeting would be the community engagement night and now you're talking about one meeting in uh June July and August one in December um and then the only other out buyers would be the two treats so I mean there's there's a bit of compromise there so we could schedule the HSA visits as a meeting and invite them here to have discussions that's also an option and part of my intent too and I just want the board to whatever decision you make to make it with full information my intent in proposing something different to the board um as far as meetings was to find ways for you to engage with the community with the limited amount of time you have and you could just say just schedule more meetings but to miss Trio's first point um some people can't make certain meetings at certain times so I was trying to put together a set schedule where the board and administration would go to a community engagement night to see people go to HSA meetings to see people because I think it's not only important for you guys to interact with each other or to have an open Podium where I'm looking at the audience and there's you know a single digit amount of people here but to find ways to to further engage with people and that involves sometimes trying something new so I wanted to provide something new where we could get out there and and and see people that being said that's the information that I was thinking for the board if that doesn't work for the board it's your decision to decide how you want it to schedule meetings Mr H so I definitely appreciate the um the this proposal because I think it is thinking outside the box and trying to get more engagement and as you were both speaking I thought that you know I I I still like going back to meetings a month except for when the meetings are back to back um so that we can have this conversation like this I would love at the next meeting to talk about the 24 25 calendar for the HSA visits though what about inviting them right right but like celebrate them not to have a conversation but like tell us what you're doing in the schools so that it's part of the um like the work meeting basically work meting idea think you could do both yeah I think we can invite the hsas anytime if we wanted to do that but I also wanted to at least from my end Express to the HSA hey we're interested we don't just want you interested in what we're doing we want to be interested in what you're doing we want to go to the schools and talk to you about your issues not necessarily have to come have you come to us so again that was my intent you guys can decide what you want to do with that yeah I think the thought there was and this predates Mike but HS built a playground the board didn't really even know they were doing it they wanted being like penalties and fines for for S uh inspections not being done the board was like we didn't even know that the HSA was building a playground at the school so I think part of the board interacting with the hsas is knowing what they have planned what events we can support those events we can promote those events and we can provide maybe some assistance in some of those situations so I'm going to make a motion to to can we I I mean I don't know if we want to amend the calendar right now I like M nurse's idea about you know making the two HSA meetings back to board meetings um that brings us to 17 opportunities for the public to speak down from 22 um I'd still like to see two board meetings in June um I don't know my personal opinion is June is is a lot with graduation so I I would not want to have two meetings in June that's my personal opinion I do not speak for the board when we're up here um but so there's two options we could make the amendment to make the HSA visits actual meetings those two days and approve the agenda as then described give us the opportunity to review it in committee and if we want to make additional adjustments at the next meeting we can then revise uh the calendar at that point um what about November I think November's the the two HSA visits so so November would then not be 18th it would be 11th and 25th it would be uh there was something with one of those dates I can't remember as we were looking at that um wasn't do you remember what it was we talked about it [Music] in um well 25th is a half day does that make an issue the November 11th is a school day November 25th is a half day um so the proposal had November 18th is the board meeting and so if we go if we take that November HSA meeting make it a regular board meeting it would almost be like back toback so I'm saying that go back to the second and fourth Mondays in November so it would be November 11th and 25th you know were the holidays in that day can I can just ask are does everybody feel this way I know that some people haven't been talk talking a lot like I sort of I mean I'm trying to sort of meld everybody's thoughts together but I do like the idea of going out to a board meeting and I know that you said that we can do that on our own but like we also said it was it's we're all very limited with their time so I you know it's great to bring them here but I I do agree with um Mr vulfy and that we should be willing and able to go out and and and see what they're doing um as well like are we okay if we change maybe one of those meetings like one of those times to a regular meeting and keep one of like I would love to do the February HSA just because it's coming up it's quick and then maybe like you said June we only have one meeting you didn't love that but maybe we try to go back again in June to hear how the schools are tying up and what their plans are for the following year it might be a good time to add that to our meeting to have that type of Engagement if if you're looking for that so we don't need to put that on the calendar per se because that's not going to be a meeting then um so the only question here is I'd want to if you want to add the second February date for now to have two in February if that's something that the board wants um I'm perfectly okay with what's shown but if the if the board as a whole wants to move February back to two meetings um it's not much of a change from last year well I think the one of the reasons to to do that is that's coming up on budget season so that we continue to give the public opportunities to speak it also allows us to talk together about topics that have come up in committee that we want to hear everybody else's opinions on we do have two meetings in March and two meetings in April that conclude with the budget hearing so we do have a full two months of consistent meetings before that this St sorry you you are Lou you are loud enough but for some reason it sounds muel to me so I just want to clarify some things are you saying that you're possibly changing the HSA visits in November is that what was said I would like to start with February we can consider this and if we need to make an adjustment for November one we can revisit that we've got a lot of time before then so my immediate proposal would be to approve it with the amended February date to make that a meeting a second meeting in February so the second meeting in February will be a board meeting we can invite the HSA if we want that's separate okay that's I I I like how we're trying to you know work with everybody's idea the only thing is we're looking at it from the point of view of the hsas themselves I mean that's that's more of an intimate uh location within their family kind of school where they can discuss more uh casually as opposed to here uh presenting it's not like they're going to be conducting their meeting here you know but I I I appreciate how they we're trying to have a compromise but I don't know if that's really would serve what our goal was especially with respect to add February back if we can discuss separately the HSA meeting the discussion with the HSA at the next committee meetings we can have that discussion on how we want to address that maybe plan some meetings throughout the next couple of months they don't have to be in the same week for the same month but we can schedule those my only compromise at this point that I'm recommending would be to switch February back to two board meetings okay and then keep the rest of the schedule as is for now and we can approve it that gives us a couple of months before there's any impact to not two meetings a month we can come to some sort of agreement over the next month or two and then amend the calendar if we decide to at that point um I do like the idea of the community engagement night if we' have another one that'd be great um and as far as I know people keep talking about how busy June is um I I know that week of graduation is busy but it concerns me that we have three months in a row of just one meeting and nothing else so I think we got a couple months before that comes up so I think we those continued discussions no I'm with you I completely hear you I acknowledge that point I think for tonight we can amend that one date in the calendar approve it and then have discussions and then bring it up for another vote if we decide to change the calendar at that point that would be my recommendation so the next time where there wouldn't be two meetings in a month at that point would be I guess May with the community night but we we have a couple of months before we get to that point and there another recommendation to schedule at January the two meetings in January for the next board so we can also take that consideration as well with the amendment so you got all that I'm just for clarification Paul you are saying to make the febu February 12th we would be looking at I'm looking at the calendar right now so we're looking that would be consistent with second and fourth Monday right um I'm just looking at the district calendar just to make sure we don't have any the one in the middle is President Day is the 19 it is the 19th that's 24 feary 24 you're right yeah February 24th 19th the school is closed so so it couldn't be the 19th it could be the 12th that has to be the 12th yeah well it could be the 5ifth but we'll be the 12 so we'll make the adjustment to change the February date of the HSA visits change at the February 12th and every else would remain the same for the time being we need a motion to make the amendment the table I move to what I move to amend the calendar and instead of saying February board member HSA visits I would like to amend it to say February 6 2024 regular meeting February 12th February 12 sorry February 12th uh board member HSA visits at Aris cafeteria regular meeting regular meeting yes yes can I get a second on that second um we'll do take roll that are we excuse me point of clarification are we voting on the amendment only or just the amendment right now to change the calendar that passes any vote on the calendar Mr Davis yes M Jackson yes M Craig yes M Lanny beer yes Mr Lee yes Mr Marini yes Miss nurse sure miss stats yes and Miss Tria yes that motion passes now we take a mo we already have the motion to approve the calendar it's now been amended is there any further discussion before I move to roll on the calendar itself seeing none we'll take now Ro on the calend itself with the amend that one Mr Davis yes M Jackson yes Miss Craig yes M Ling beer yes Mr Lee yes Mr Marini yes M nurse yes Miss stats yes and Mr yes that motion passes we had a working meeting whether we liked it or not pass good education do thank you Mr President I would ask for the board's consideration of the following motions in the area of Education motion to approve professional travel related expenses affirming the superintendent harassment intimidation and bullying determinations authorizing the submission of the FY 2024 additional or compensatory special education and related services to students with disabilities Beyond age 21 application and accept the Grant and the award of the mount listed approve new course proposal for forensic science approve new textbook adopt adoption for forensic science approve new course proposal for intro to business approving new course proposal for investing approving a new course proposal for sports and entertainment marketing approving a new course proposal for AP photography approving a revised course proposal for selected topics in college math CP approving curriculum writing and approving a field trip destination can I have a motion and second so moved second any discussion Mr Hill I'm Sorry Miss DS well especially because of the points that were brought up via email today and and also during public comment I do have concerns about the professional uh travel um especially for the one to Hawaii well two to Hawaii I guess that and that's the what concerns me that there's two of them going um and I know it's not our own uh money that's going towards it but um I'm guessing there's a pot of money and if that money can be spent elsewhere to serve the purposes of that pot um that's something to consider not to mention um uh fair or not the uh Optics of having two people go to that location um when other times that is not permitted and just to clarify both individuals going to Hawaii are presenting or is that just one of them both pres they're both presenting Mr Hill so I agree with Miss stats and in addition my concern is about out ofate travel right it's we have in the tri-state area many opportunities to have professional development and I understand that where these conferences are located are out of our control however I mean Hawaii is it it's just Optics just it's bad that's number one number two the other um individual who's going to Denver same thing I mean it's like I'm all for professional development I think professional development is something that we should support for administrators and teachers but like $6,000 for Hawaii for two people and then the other question is it's coming up in like three weeks like that's a really good airfare right so like I'm just like I'm surprised like I guess it's part of the package but like I'd like to go to Hawaii for $659 so anyway so I I will vote no on those out of state travel um yeah I'd like to agree with Miss stats and Mr Gill I'm a no is there I guess I have a question I don't know if it can be answered now but in terms of a lot of these are happening in January does that mean they were preapproved by Administration so that air fairs have been booked hotels have been booked would that be a Dr F do you know that answer or no probably at this point but um all staff are advised to not um book their book their PD until the board approves it I guess it's it's hard and I'm glad the issue has been brought to our attention so we could talk about it I I hesitate to say no it is expensive I think that we need to watch what we're doing and and fairness um when we have two administrators going to the same place and I understand that they're co-presenting but it is very difficult if we can't approve as many I have not as a teacher I have not been anywhere in Forever um and it is hard to see when so many administrators get to go somewhere I think something that would help a lot is we have the names and where they're going but job description would be very helpful if we can include that so we can see and the public can see our teachers going our taas going our administrators going like that I think would help clarify to the public where we're sending people um sorry and who is yes and who is being sent is it always the same people and and I know that Administration has to meet requirements as well I will be saying yes um I think it would be nice to and I know it always can happen but because so many of these are in January my question for any staff member would be can we get this paperwork in a little sooner so we can see and so then there's plenty of time to prepare um because it is hard when somebody's waiting January 5th that's in two three days okay it was on were all of them on for December 18 you know okay that makes more sense if okay yeah so I I I think that's that's hard but it's definitely something like I will be voting yes but I think if we can just so the public knows so we know who's going what staff members are going that in terms of positionally um that would be very helpful M CRA um I I apologize since I am really getting acquainted here but um are is there any information about what they're actually presenting on I don't have that information with me Dr F do you it's about which which program is it about Community Based instruction program yes our community based instructional program okay um and is there any goals for them coming out of going to this conference that we're looking to have them accomplish aside from the presenting piece question as far as goals from the presentation well no for them uh get any kind of information that they're going to obtain from going as professional development on their part no they're they're presenting I'm sure while they're there is just that they're presenting they yeah it's kind of an honor to be brought to this International Conference in order to present I actually thought this was very good for Hillsboro um I'm not going to be removing my recommendations so honestly if people have further questions about it and want to separate it out that's um board's Choice yes I would um you use the word honor and I think this it's it's an honor for these folks to have been invited to participate in this event uh if it were Carlile Pennsylvania we wouldn't be talking about it we'd be celebrating it you know so there's there's a tinge of of not wanting someone else to to benefit uh in some sense that might be seen as unfair but the fact of the matter is it's an honor that these folks have been invited we're we're honored as a school district to have folks uh on our staff uh that's not necessarily on the lips of everybody walking around Hillsboro but you know in the long run uh the accumulation of those honors uh really does benefit the school district and the reputation that the school district has and and to let you know too and the board members have this note we have another we'll have to really talk about this I think in committee then too we have a staff member teacher who's up for an award uh if she gets the award she's going to be flown out to Colorado for a National Conference um so if we're going to start picking and choosing where we are sending people again is the International Conference in Denville New Jersey or is it out of state or is it out of country um that may be something we need to discuss deeply at a committee as to uh what are our parameters for these types of events that um just to let people know that there are we've had quite a few staff members that have been um honored with uh providing presentations um they haven't gotten attention maybe because they didn't go to a place like Honolulu um also not not to beat a dead horse but uh it sounds like um not having that meeting in December has created another problem with the the timeliness of approving this so [Music] true okay I just have a question in in regard to all of this and what's come up when people are invited out to present or to be given an award do any of the is travel included with any of this and this just happens to be a case where they're paying for everything on their own like do are there times when you're going to present that whoever is running the workshop or conference pays for the hotel for the presenters or pays to fly them out do we have any of that knowledge if you're a Kino often not if you're a presenter if if you get an award often like if you if you're given an award often but you submit to present so not often okay be really high up there okay and to be fair I know some folks would much rather spend a couple days at a casino in Atlantic City than go to Hawaii because they like to gamble so I mean it's all I Optics are Optics but um there may be certain locations where some people would rather go that may not be quite as expensive so all right are there any other comments before we move to roll on this are we going to separate it out or just I think on the vote you can call something out if you don't want to approve those individual lines on your vote okay if if you're gonna vote no there was just needing clarification they couldn't hear you if if you want to vote no on individual line items you can call them out on the vote I vote Yes except for line the two people going to Hawaii or going to whiy New Jersey there's some some guys sit next to me going to whiping all right so we will go ahead and take roll Mr Davis yes Miss Jackson yes with the exception of 13.1 no so you're voting on all 13.1 or just the if you want to exclude just those going to out of state or just going to Hawaii you can pick which ones you want to exclude um the no is for both trips to Hawaii but the Colorado on as a yes okay Miss Craig um I would be voting the same as Elaine I'm sorry I'm having trouble hearing yeah and she's sitting right next to me so voting the same as elen oh thank you m l beer yes Mr Lee uh yes Mr Marini yes Miss nurse yes Miss stats I'm going to make this a little complicated voting yes for everything except for um I approve all of 131 except for one of the the women going to Honolulu which one it is I guess it's up to administ you have to identify which one the first or the second one listed what if you can see if you can see the list you could tell us if you voting no for the first or the second one listed the first one is Lori Lopez Lopez and the second one is San radon you have to I you have I don't care which one I just think it should only be one you have to pick one I do yes yes because you have to vote I guess no for both no for both [Music] okay and Mr H I vote Yes for all except for out ofate travel so that would be for Miss Keel or Dr Keel for Denver Colorado um Dr Lopez Lopez for Honolulu and Dr radwan for Honolulu so no for those three out of state travels thank you but yes on everything else there is a New York one listed that that's $118 so yes for that tri-state area is okay as long as they're driving I'm I'm sorry can can you repeat that Jean because I know Paul and Jerry were talking about that so you're saying no out of state except Tri-State I I just listed the three that were no one for Colorado and two for okay all right and with that we just double check motion passes he in the area of Human Resources I would ask for the board's uh approval of the following motions resignations and retirements revise seven period coverage seven period coverage change of status leaves of absence approving appointments including Mr David stoker who's still in the audience approving lead school counselor stien position approving student teachers approving a buddy approving summer enrichment approving extra coverage originally scheduled on the December 18th agenda and approving extra coverage can I get a motion and second so moved second any discussion come on all right seeing n we'll move to roll Mr Davis yes Miss Jackson yes Miss Craig yes Miss laming beer yes m Mr Lee yes Mr Marini yes Miss nurse yes M stats yes and Mr H yes motion passes congratulations and welcome aboard Mr stoko now get some sleep in the area of operations I would ask for the board's uh consideration for the following motions uh accepting monthly financials accepting line item transfers accepting financial status approving monthly bills accepting donations approving the disposal and sale of obsolete equipment motion to designate the public agency compliance officer and motion to approve proposals from Huntington Learning Center and hey tutor can I get a motion in second actually I it's not actually a question but may I make a comment let's motion second can make com I get a motion in second second any comments by board members Mr Davis uh I just have some questions about some of the monthly bills and I think it'd be most appropriate if I just reach out uh to Jerry and we'll make an appointment to go over some of these things absolutely if we need to amend we can amend than that's all thank you any other comments seeing none we'll move to rooll Mr Davis yes Miss Jackson yes Miss Craig yes M lenning beer yes Mr Lee yes Mr Marini yes Miss nurse yes Miss stats yes and Mr yo yes motion passes thank you it ask for the board's consideration of the following policy a motion to approve policy reviewed by the education committee for second reading I get a motion and second so move second any discussion seeing none we'll move to roll Mr Davis yes M Jackson yes M Craig yes M Ling beer yes Mr Lee yes Mr Marini yes Miss nurse yes Miss stats yes and Mr yes motion passes we'll now move on to the second public comment period we very much welcome him from the public during the board meetings will'll be 2:30 minute periods of time the Mee will open public comment where members of the public are invited to comment which they may do if they're attending in person during the first public comment meeting period members of the public may make comments about items that are listed on the tonight's agenda before the board votes during the second public comment period memb the public May comment on any school or School District issue that a member of the public feels may have concern the residents of the school district through V 0167 appr your com you ask provide your name and address limit on public comment please understand that public forms not structur as question answer session but rather offer opportuni to share your thoughts with the board inance the board believes there's a misunderstanding or in accuracy the word president act superintendent will address the comment the member the public Mak comment ask a question about personal hiring decisions Canal public meetings Act and the Privacy right of public employees incompass their not the board to discuss personel issues in public session hi Amy singer still a teacher at Aon Road still AJ treasure and still freezing um I just you know now that you you passed the the professional travel um related um funds I just wanted to comment because I thought of this um you know while I was listening to all of you um I have a couple of things number one if they're going to present about the high school program I'm just and I know you can't answer these are just my thoughts I'm just curious whether not the staff that actually execute and plan and run the program we're asked to apply to present along with uh miss radwan and miss Lopez Lopez seeming as they would be able to give the most firsthand um acknowledgement of it and like would that have been approved also at the last board meeting um in December I actually spoke about a um agenda item where you appointed an interm um administrator to do evaluations and all but one of you voted yes for that that was $9,000 give or take of operational funds and the purpose of that my understanding was to to help with evaluation overload um my understanding from members who have reported back is this person has been doing a lot of those evaluations in the special ed field so again I can't help but wonder if we're so overwhelmed with evaluations and yet we're sending three administrators to conferences in January and again I know this is it's already happened so that's it is what it is but my final thought on all of that is um if those title two funds are what's used and it's not operational I respectfully request that moving forward that our members will see the same acceptance on those types of PDs as um others have been seeing thank you thank you for your comment Henry Goodhue Hillsboro Education Association um as I listened to the discussion I felt compelled to come up and address an overarching issue that seems to be um impacting the working environment for some of our members and that the the comment that SP this was actually in the discussion of perhaps we should look at staff member X who may be going somewhere and unfortunately that's becoming a trend when concerns are raised so when we do our job which is advocate for our members we're finding that the response often is okay well how do we then do something back towards them and that was really concerning for me that I heard that spoken at the deis um that because we raised concerns about inequity and a a disparate treatment for our members that the question was oh well maybe we should look at one of your members travel then not knowing whether or not that's paid for or anything else in that but really what that ties back to is the bigger issue that's taking place which is you saw that we sent two Communications you've all read that if if you were on the board at the time read the two Communications that we sent on the 18th you saw that uh the first one came in at 10:23 there was a response from the administration at 10:41 we responded to that message at 1211 noting concerns and then within seven minutes of our response the monthly meeting where we could have discussed these things was cancelled and that's actually the second time now this year that that's happened where we've advocated on behalf of our members and the monthly meeting where we're supposed to discuss things like what we talked about tonight was then canceled by the administration and we didn't have the ability to do that now at the end of the day that meeting isn't for us that meeting isn't for the administration it's for the staff it's for the students it's to make sure that we're addressing issues proactively it's to ensure that to the board's point which was why are we hearing about a lot of this now that you can hear about these concerns prior to but when we come forward to Advocate what we're finding is that the problematic issues of the past where people are now saying well we're just not going to talk then we're not there's no communication there's no collaboration that's now coming back and we expected that from the last iteration of the administration we do not expect it now but now that it's happened twice and now that a ment was made publicly at a board meeting I feel compelled to address that on behalf of my members and if you want to know what's the impact of that the impact of that is that doesn't stop us from doing our job but it forces us to do our job through means like ulps or you know unfair labor practices or grievances because we still have to defend our members rights in the 10 years that I have done this job the most number of grievances I have had to file was 11 it is now January and we have filed nine so we're well on track to pass that record and that honestly is rooted in the fact that we can't even discuss some of these concerns and proactively try to address them because when we do we receive comments about things like well then we'll look at what your members are doing or you know what now the meeting is canceled we're not going to have that so I think if we're truly going to move forward and we want to get past what has happened in the in the past we need to all commit to do that and we can't do that by modeling the toxic problematic behavior that pass administrations did so I hope that the board will join us in requesting that there be more collaboration that we can move forward and actually have more communication so that it doesn't have to be aired out once a month or twice a month whatever the schedule will be so that there can be more feedback coming to you because that is the means in which you should get it to avoid issues that you saw tonight to avoid our 10th grievance our 11th our 12th whatever that will be um you have responsibility to hear that and there is a means for you to get it but that means is currently closed thank you thank you for your comment all right seeing no others I will close public comment and open it up to the board for any comments or questions question Mr Davis listed on on the agenda are corespondence Community correspondence and one of those uh emails question the school calendar and brought up the question of Monday December 23rd and I don't have a solution I'm not offering a solution I just want to make sure that uh there's a light shining on that question uh because I think it's a worthwhile question and something that wants to be looked at uh I agree there is about seven carbon copies of that email that were also sent so there was a coordinated effort to communicate that to the board which is which is fine um there seems to be a number of staff that are and I think it was most of the staff that were in favor of that uh daing off um we we have the option to look at calendars at any point in time in committee and we can take that up at the next committee meeting I apologize because I I'm having a real hard time hearing you and I don't think it's a volume thing I think it's a tone quality thing but that's we saw at the point I don't know what you said okay I will be a little bit louder and I'll talk slower um we did receive a number of those emails that were carbon copies of that email so there was like seven or eight of them um that all have the exact same message um I believe most of them came from the staff so there was a an effort to make that point uh seen by the board which we we've seen um at a committee meeting we can review the calendar at any of the commit meetings and we can have that discussion on if we want to amend the calendar to make that a full day off that's something we can always do at any at any board meeting thank you Mr Hil on the point of the calendar while I I agree like education usually takes a crack at it um as we discussed earlier I think it would be good and helpful if the board we heard from each other maybe at the January 22nd meeting we could bring ideas um because I too when I first saw the calendar was not pleased with it that it was on a Monday um but since it had been vetted through education I didn't question it I think other other board members might have at the time and it passed but um so I I hope that people can think about it maybe have some ideas it is a challenging calendar but there was an email that gave examples of previous years so I and I think the difference though was that this year we have the schools closed for primary for the 2425 year we have the schools closed for primary election so that's one difference the other difference is um I believe um Dali is on October 31st and that's a close so those are two additional um variables we have added some additional days off from right so perhaps we can think although when I looked at when I looked at at the Google um there was multiple days for Dali so anyway um I do have two other things I wanted to thank the business office Mr eard um M Lefay that um I got my tax bill and I had printed out prior to the referendum what my actual assessed value was going to be and I was a little nervous opening the envelope but I did open it and it was exactly the same like to the penny I was like wow great job so I wanted to acknowled you um I thought that was phenomenal okay um the next thing was oh um I would like to mention can't find it hang on oh here we are um on the table behind with the board agendas I have placed some packet of resources for Youth and Family and so I wanted to remind the community of many free options in the state um namely perform care that perform care is a free service from the state of New Jersey and you can just Google it it's performcare nj.org and basically parent I'm just read it parents legal Guardians Of Youth 18 and under if wait and if the youth is 18 or older they have to call themselves but they can call perform care to access mobile response and stabilization services or the care management organization which is basically a free service if your child is in crisis they will come out they will assess your child um and and offer you and connect you to free services within the state um additionally in Somerset County there is family crisis intervention unit that phone number is 908 704 6330 and they offer immediate intervention assessment short-term family counseling and I believe they are also the ones who can help if there's truancy um with when a child is refusing school and so I encourage folks to take a look at those Services you never know when you're going to need them so just having that information um available I think is very important and that's all for me thank you I just want to provide an update on the action committee so prior to winter break Mr Doo and I alongside several other students part of the action committees me to discuss the final testing policies and some solutions we came up with were proposing various alternatives for seniors and students in AP exams to better reflect their preparation for the AP exam and to provide some uh consistency between final exams and uh AP exams which include um perhaps using a practice practice exam in place of their final grade and in terms of the bathroom policies uh or the bathroom rules I should say um we will we're planning to work on that as well as we're um getting into the new year thank [Music] you all right seeing N I have a couple of comments so hopefully you'll be able to hear me um first of all I just one for board members since this since this is our meeting for those of you that could not attend or did not attend the the conference recently Mr hio sent out the files from the presenters so check your inbox and you have the ability to review them so thank you Mr he for sending those out I appreciate it um and we did not have the last meeting of the year last year we were going to thank Mr kid for his service to the board he is no longer on the board but um for those of you who may or may not be aware he joined as a high school student which is a daunting task for somebody to have to sit in a room of adults um I'll call this that name adults and uh kind of serve the community in that way it's it was very very big of him to put his name in there and serve um created some weird situations I think with him while he was still in high school and what he could share and what he could not share but um I just wanted to in case you're watching you can watch us later thank you Ben for your service to the community and to the board and with that I will take a motion to adjourn so moved second all in favor I we'll see you in a couple weeks sh