all right I'd like to welcome you to the everyone to the 2024 Lacy Township Board of Education annual reorganization meeting I have you rise and join me for the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all adequate notice of the reorganization meeting was advertised in the Asbury Park Press and the beacon on January 12th 20123 and by posting the notice in the forkid river and L NOA Harbor Post Offices and by following a copy of the notice with the Lacy Township Clerk as required by the open public meeting law right we're going to start with the oath of office I got Mr B and Clause come to the table I'm GNA read and you guys say I do at the end okay raise your right hand I Kim Claus Daniel Bell do solemnly affirm that I 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 under the authority of the people so help me God do God I Kim Claus and Daniel Bell do solemnly affirm that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office of member of a board of education and that I faithfully and partially and justly perform all the duties of that office according to the best of my ability so help me God thank you [Applause] congratulations families like to come down and take pictures take a few minutes for pictures do you haveone don't shy away it's a nice shot every get in everybody get in between between changes in six months nothing help they take really good pictures though okay and now we're going to do the Roll Call of the new board just say uh here Mrs armado here Mr armado here Mr Bell here Mr conned here Mrs Claus here Mr Peters present and Mrs Walker [Applause] here okay now we're going to take nominations for board president a member move to nominate a uh president I'd like to make a nomination skip Peters I had to make a motion to nominations I'd like to um nominate salano okay motion to close nominations motion second okay all right we'll take the vote on uh skip Peters Mrs armado no Mr armado no Mr Bell no Mr conned yes Mrs Claus yes Mr Peters yes Mrs Walker yes right we have a qu a quorum for Mr Peters as board president hi I'm on the side of you congratulations thank you do you have your Slim walk no do you I have thank you good for now I like to call for nominations for vice president Hi to nominate Kim CL please and I'd like to nominate Cheryl armato like to make a motion to close nominations motion second we'll do the roll call for Kim for vice Mrs armado no Mr armado no Mr Bell no Mr conned yes Mrs Claus yes Mr Peters yes Mrs Walker yes okay that's a quorum for Mrs uh Clause to be Vice President [Applause] congratulations okay now I'd like to um introduce Mr padulla our um attorney to do the ethics training thank you um we're here for New Jersey school ethics training which is required by law which is a question why are we doing this it's one of the legal requirements of the school ethics act and that's where school ethics laws come from uh they come from the school ethics act which also includes the code of conduct for school board members um both are New Jersey state statutes and we'll discuss the differences between the two there's slight differences and there is some overlap between the two but who decides if there's 's a violation of the school ethics act um first if there's any questions about it uh any board member or Administration um can reach out to the board president and and reach out to me and and ask me or my office for advice on whether there's a violation or potential violation or how a you know potential conflict of interest issue should be handled but the ultimate Arbiter of it is the school ethics commission and they handle things in two different ways one if someone an individual files a uh complaint against any board member here or anywhere around the state the school ethics commission will adjudicate that complaint um sometimes it will be referred to the office of administrative law for a hearing But ultimately it's the school ethics commission and then that goes up through the commissioner of education and eventually the appell division and the Supreme Court if it goes that far but more importantly the school ethics commission also provides advisory opinions um so if we foresee a question coming up we could write to them and hopefully they could give us an answer sooner rather than later uh sometimes it takes them a few few months but that is another function they provide that they'll provide advisory opinions and what can they do the besides an advisory opinion if they're actually adjudicating a complaint they can censure reprimand suspend or remove a a board of education member for violations of the law so where does this body of law of school ethics um come from like I said it comes from the act the school ethics act the code of conduct from Schoolboard members advisory opinions and decisions from adjudicating ethics complaints so if there are ethical questions and we research it that's what we look at to research um what are the differences between the Act and the uh code of ethics for Schoolboard members the act itself applies to the board and to administrators any administrator in the district the code of ethics applies only to Board of Education members um the ACT is intended to uh encourage and instill respect and confidence of the public in in the board and the public education system and the district um but the intent is to avoid actual conflicts of interest avoid appearances of impropriety it does require some other things like this training for example um requirement of financial disclosures and really what you want to do is avoid any business and personal or familial interests in anything related to the board of education so if there's anything that the board is voting on like a contract with a local business that you might have an ownership interest in obviously that's something that you need to recuse yourself from um family members uh who might be employed here that's something that a board member cannot be involved in or anything that has a direct impact on someone's child that would be different than a general impact on the student body or a class in general um so what you want to look at is is there a relationship or the appearance of a relationship between some conduct and the board member outside of his or her role as a board member that's kind of your test now the code of ethics is a bunch of I statements I will do this I will not do that for example I will follow all laws rules and regulations I will not discriminate I will not administer the schools I will maintain confidentiality things of that nature um board members are obligated to act in a way that protects students and staff refer all complaints to the superintendent one important thing to remember is you cannot act as a board and you're not a board unless you're sitting here so no board member can make promises outside of this meeting room or do anything individually that can hurt or negatively uh impact the board now the other side of that coin is you're always seen as a board member whether you're out on the soccer field the football field on a Friday night in the supermarket so you want to be cognizant of that when people come up to you and you know say I got this issue or that issue or you know my son's being bullied Etc um when things like that happen you have to remember always to refer those complaints to the superintendent um I usually advise board members to advise that individual who comes up to you that there's a chain of command and to follow the chain of command but you as a board member M just to kind of as a you know double Insurance go back to the superintendent after the fact and say hey I ran into so and so and this is what they told me I just want to give you a heads up and I advise them to come to you about it um really this the superintendent is the chief School administrator that's her title besides superintendent um it's actually in the statutes and what you want to do kind of a way to encapsulate all this is think of the district as a ship and the board is the owner of the ship and sets the ship's destination but the superintendent is the captain of that ship and charts the course to that destination um where do these ethical issues arise they usually arise in negotiations um if someone has negotiations with the your various unions if someone has a family member business associate Etc in one of the unions uh in the district or if you have a family member who's a member of a a teachers union you know otherwhere in the state that could impact that and I know we've dealt with that before so we don't need to get too much into that social media is where a lot of Ethics cases arise and I've seen a lot of that lately all over the state um there's ethics cases arising out of board members posts on social media um from this point on when you post on social media you have to include a disclaimer that you're not speaking on behalf of the board or as a board member your opinions are your own and they're not intended to represent the opinion of the board or of any other board member um ethics issues arise during hiring and firing uh staff members if you have a Rel business partner or there's any relation whatsoever talk to me about it ahead of time and we'll figure out if it is an actual conflict that you should recuse yourself or abstain from uh hiring or firing of somebody uh campaign statements that comes up a little bit usually those are made in the context of social media so I don't want to um get too much into that but really the bottom line is ask for advice you know you know your relationships better than anyone so come to me come to Dr Pereira and let's get ahead of something uh before it becomes an issue so kind of now to summarize and really the takeaway besides the school ethics act the code of conduct for school board members I always say it comes down to four separate C's they're confidentiality conflict of interest chain of command and communication as board members you have access to a lot of information whether it's staff members or um a student issue you're not always given the student name but you know more details than the general public about things that might occur uh in the school um that's probably your biggest obligation is confidentiality not to discuss anything and you're going to be asked about it because the public assumes you as board members know information um and you do and you know knowledge is perceived as power but you have to maintain that confidentiality that's the of utmost importance conflict of interest we've mentioned that several times um tonight so just remember to avoid even an an appearance of a conflict let's talk about it first and get ahead of it make sure there's not any issues chain of of command I I mentioned that before that there's a chain of command that uh you know something that happens in a classroom doesn't necessarily become a board issue immediately it has to go through the chain of command the teacher the principal administrators and then if it's not resolved it comes to the board and that's not a a way to keep the board out of issues it's a way to keep you functioning and to stay in your lane the board has big picture issues to deal with and if something could get resolved at a school level it doesn't detract the board from you know looking at the big picture of where the district wants to end up lastly is communication everything I've talked about comes down to communication whether you're communicating here or with your Administration superintendent school business administrator or with my office um you know clear concise communication and open communication is really what keeps everyone out of ethical trouble and again we're here as a resource to help each and every one of you and the district so if you have any questions just please feel free to ask you make a motion show that now no mayor just you right now what okay as board president I'm going to make the announcement for um appointments for uh I'm sorry my apology stand by rookie move that's why I asked do we make a resolution okay we're making a motion for this correct resoltion need a motion for Resolutions 1 through five please motion I'll second who was first Jack [Applause] Jack good now I'm going uh Mrs armado yes Mr armad yes Mr Bell yes Mr conedy yes Mrs Claus yes Mr Peters yes and Mrs Walker yes noce do anything that or just go right to committees that was number five so part of the resolution okay gotcha so now you're on to your now I'm going to appoint committee members um first we have finance and operations committee for the chairperson I pick Miss Kim Claus on that committee I have Jack conned and Mr rato finance and operations committee Miss Claus will be chairperson along with Jack Connie conned and Mr armado and I will be the alternate for that group the next committee is policy committee Jack conned will be chairperson along that committee will be Kim Claus and Mr Dan Bell I again will be the alternate for that committee the curriculum committee chairperson Miss Linda Walker Miss Cheryl omato and Mr Dan Bell and I again will be the alternate for that committee child study team negotiations committee chairperson rer Amato Kim Claus and myself will be on that committee there is no alternative good referendum committee myself will be the chairperson Miss Linda Walker and Mr Sal will be on that committee with me the aate will be Mr Jack conned New Jersey school boards Association board delegate Miss Cheryl omato and Mr rato will be the alternate for that you guys don't have to write this down I have all copies to give you right Ocean County scoreboard Association I will be the delegate skip Peters the alternate will be Mrs Walker can you take them how many pass down can you pass that way now usually the board president on the finance committee and uh I'm going to lean on my chairpersons to get back to me on what's happening in those meetings and if you look I put myself as the alternative to fill in for those and the reason I did that was the referendum I'm going to be chairperson on the referendum committee that is huge we have air conditioners and H VC systems throughout these buildings that are almost 40 years old they need to be replaced we're not going to make it up with a 2% Max on the the tax game to try and repair those replace those so yes we are going for a referendum to bring the school up to date safety security and air conditioning heat and roofs is a big concern so uh some of you are probably wonder that are famar with the school boards that usually the board President is on some of the other committees and chairperson on that but not my concern right now is making these schools up to date safer newer nicer and cleaner okay and that is next we go to [Applause] meetings no public comment was where do you want me to go to now we're going to go into public comment an audience member wishing to make a comment will raise his or her hand and what called upon will state their name address or affiliation and intention to make a statement comments will be addressed to the board president comments will be made on one issue at a time comments will be limited to 5 minutes no audience member shall be recognized twice until all have wished to com comment and have been recognized this portion of the meeting is for public comments only and there will be no questions answered the purpose of this board meeting is to perform our business in public everyone is entitled to a public comment if there is a question for the board there's an established chain of command to follow do we have anyone for public comment please state your name and your address please when you get to the microphone so we can hear you thank you hi I'm Donna Neil at 101 South branchway in forkid River uh first I want to wish everyone here today A happy and healthy 2004 New Year what a great way to start out the Year by swearing in our newly elected Bo of Ed member Daniel Bell I hope and pray that this year will be a year where the board and families unite in making the safe environment for our precious children and grandchildren denouncing the wokeness and indoctrinations the njaa and the world so wants us to go with at the last njaa convention pictures were shown of the drag queens that attended along with pedophilia books they are pushing for our schools I give lots of cred credits to those Brave teachers who have left this ungodly Association now I would like to touch base on another extremely important topic that's quite alarming I'm not sure if you've seen this yet but you can look it up the US News week and World Report dated November 14th 2023 where they evaluated scores of 1,322 ele schools here are the three elementary schools in in Lacy Township lenoa Harbor came in first at 674 ranking Cedar Creek School came in 688 and forkid River School came in 629 I know that there's quite an agenda uh that you're planning but I have to say now is the time to take these statistics serious seriously the math scores and the reading scores are not good the reading scores have come up a little bit but they are still low the whole State's low the main priorities to begin increasing these scores our children suffered with the covid lockdown which put them behind money is an issue and and we understand that and we know that there's a shortage and it's hard to do things without money but I urge you to set aside money and figure out ways where we can increase these scores and help our children get through these tough times thank you very much thank you for your comment anybody else for public comment what's that you close it without a motion if you okay we're to close for a public comment now session or I no I do um so we're going to um adjourn to go into executive session for um Personnel matters uh when we come out we will um have a walk-on motion to um make a resolution on so it will be Max uh 20 minutes and there will be action yes after we'll be about 20 minute break thank you need a motion to go ex I have a motion to go in executive a motion to we're going to go we're we're taking a motion right now to go into executive session to discuss a Personnel matter for no longer than 20 minutes it may be shorter than 20 minutes and there will be action by the board when uh we come out of executive session can I have a motion to go into executive motion Peters fun part second okay at this time we're to go into uh superintendent comments no no no walk on oh got a walk on motion I'll get it okay we're going to do a walk on we're going to move that the board approve the following resignations uh id id number 857 961 effective 1524 and an ID number 85747 n effective 1524 I have a motion motion second so that was Jack and Linda yes yes thank you Cheryl yes I'm sorry Mrs armad uh Mrs Mr armado yes Mr Bell yes Mr conned yes uh Mrs Claus yes Mr Peters yes and Mrs Walker yes thank you used to be in the beginning at this time we're going to have Bo super superintendent comments and then board comments okay you'll get it may we'll be fun all right so first I wanted to uh wish everybody a Happy New Year um we have our regular January board meeting coming up on January 16th 18 18 18 18 18 18 um but I wanted to uh congratulate our uh newly elected board members uh Mrs CLA you're not new but congratulations look forward to our continued collaborations congrat ulations to uh Mr Bell I look forward to our new collaborations uh moving into 2024 and Beyond where is he all okay try I ready and even though he's not here I just wanted to thank Mr Pino for his years of service uh dedicated service to our students and our families uh and I'm sure he is home relaxing right now looking forward to not having to be here on January 18th uh and I would be remiss if I didn't recognize Mrs Downing for for her leadership as board president it was uh crazy year and a crazy start to the school year for for many reasons uh but thank you uh because working with you was uh fantastic so yeah than and now we turn our attention to Mr Peters to uh lead this board and uh to Mrs Claus to uh lead us as vice president uh looking forward to working with both of you and the rest of the board and that concludes my comments okay this time we're going to have board comments and we'll start with Mr Bell thank you sir well I just want to say thank you uh number one to uh everybody that voted for me 2750 votes I don't even know that many people but uh thankful that they voted me in and uh thankful for my wife um she prayed hard that I wouldn't run for the Board of Ed uh and so when I decided to then she began to pray for me uh and is obviously here to support me tonight um and there's going to be times I wish she was sitting here and not me um but uh I do thank uh the board and I want to thank I know uh Mrs Seaman isn't looking at me but uh she is one that spurred me on to run as well and I want to thank her and I want to thank the board um I I really honestly uh I know that Frank will watch this because I know he wants to hear what I have to say um and I I was really looking forward to working with Mr Pino uh and so I will miss that part of being part of the board uh but I'm looking forward to uh three years of service here in our community Right Down the Line Mr mod do you have anything to say oh just happy New Year everyone and welcome Dan congratulations Kim and Skip and um I look forward to a uh a collaborative year right down one yeah i' just like to thank everyone who came out to vote um I'll do my best to represent the students the teachers and of course the taxpayers um with every decision that I make um also I'd like to thank the board for nominating me for vice president and congratulations Dan we've spoken many times and I look forward to working with you too okay good luck skip being president thank you Mr conedy Happy New Year congratulations welcome Dan and and uh that's it thank you Mr hey yeah for me real quick um about a year and a half ago gentleman walked into this room and uh started speaking Bible verses and uh we became friendship grew out of that and it's very rare that you sit on a de like this and someone that you became friends with runs for it runs for a board position and wins so I'm very very grateful Dan that you're on this board I think you're going to bring a lot of calm influence um in trying times and uh it's good to have a friend on board and Kim congratulations I wish you nothing but success um wish you the next three years be the best three years that's it and Mrs walk I just want to um look forward looking forward to working with you Dan I'm glad you're on curriculum with Cheryl and I it's going to be a great committee and I think we're going to get a lot done Mr zinsky get ready for us um and I I want to wish skip a lot of luck in that position good luck thank thank you Linda um usually uh when you do something like this it's right at the beginning of the meeting um before we say a pledge but uh I'd like to have a quick moment of silence what happened Iowa today I if familiar what happened um we had a tragedy happen there where we lost two lives and five students were wounded all they did was went to school that day the teacher got hurt all they did was went to do their job that day so if we just have a quick moment of silence I'd appreciate it thank you um as far as my speech if you witness or not um as board president it can be tough and I know that I have uh someone to support me if you've noticed I already reached over and Whisper Earnie here once or twice the first time but I'll get it down that's that's for me to learn um I the crage you're late Kim and Mr Bell down there welcome um and everyone else we have a job ahead of us we're losing almost $6 million in the budget am I correct six million that's that's a lot of work to make up for so um I'm going to be politically going out to work cons sence and trying to get them to go to the state for us um do me a favor public if you're watching this don't take it out on us us we didn't cut it we need to go to the state now and work hard and you know we'll get you know 400 300 200 people in here sometimes when we're you know making cuts and whatnot people not happy but it's not us we need to go to the state now and help us out support us there only seven of us on the board up here working at it and uh you know Mr PR's working hard and ch's working hard on everything and it's uh it's going to be a tough year so um we're here I have a passion for students and uh I just want to move forward all right that's it and uh motion to rejourn do we need the resolution did we do that we did it oh I'll move to ajour Second motion have a good evening all in favor no all in favor it