##VIDEO ID:mfqNBI_-Vzo## good evening everyone welcome to the August 27th Montgomery Township Board of Education meeting thank you so much for your patience while we were in executive session um at this time we need a motion to reconvene an open session uh all in favor I okay and roll call before the roll call in accordance with the state's Sunshine Law adequate notice of this meeting was provided by mailing notice of meeting on January 8th 2024 and August 22nd 2024 notice was provided to Board of Education members Montgomery Township Clerk Rocky Hillboro clerk Public Library Township posting School posting PTSA officers Courier News Montgomery news Princeton packet Trenton Times And The Star Ledger it is the school board's intention to conclude this meeting no later than 1 p.m. now roll call yes Mr Carlson here Miss D here miss beac here miss frankco Herman Miss Harris here miss Lea Jan miss nargon here miss Spina pres Mr to thank you FL okay please rise FL United States of America stand Nation indivisible andice we will not have an MTSD student rep report until after the beginning of the school year so we have uh superintendent reports and presentation good evening everyone as summer comes to a quick end we're excited to welcome back our students and staff next week we begin on Tuesday and Wednesday with professional development phase for staff members and welcome our students on Thursday September 5th student schedules were released on Friday and we begin we have already began our fall athletic season season last Monday um just a little update from the last meeting the VA and business administrator Mr Trent and I have met with the township administrator and the recreation department uh director and regarding the monging High School tennis courts and we are working with them to create a shared service agreement that we are hopeful to have uh board approved at the September ever beting at the latest October for tonight there is no presentation we decided that we are going to wait for the presentation after the board retreat on the Strategic plan at this time are there any commit committee or representative reports the mtea report good evening Mr good evening everyone uh first we'll start off by congratulating Stephanie lockener she was the Somerset County teacher of the year so big applaud to her for winning that award Hopey we can repeat again next year taking that prize down you know big time um uh for mtda we're also are finishing up our Monty summer reads we delivered 712 books to 102 different students over the summer to make them be able to get different books that they can read throughout the whole summer so that's a big success uh we welcome the new staff at new staff Academy everyone getting them excited for the new year as it begins um and then the MTA will be hosting the convocation breakfast so we're getting ampt up for that as we welcome back all of our staff and all of our students thank you very much thank you are there any board member delegate representative reports at this time move on to our board committee reports it's the summer so we have uh uh our operations facilities and finance committee has met other so operations uh facilities and finance committee met on Friday August 23rd uh Mike O'Neil director of facilities reported on the maintenance work done in our district over the summer our meeting was dedicated to assess how much of the maintenance and capital Improvement product projects were completed during the summer um during the summer we completed the repair of the sewer line at ums the repair of the bathroom STS that have been bized at High School uh there was a replacement of the boiler pum at BS that still scheduled to be completed before the school year starts um cabinets ATS art rooms uh the parking poth holes were repaired the parking lot uh lot Lanes uh were painted uh we are still working on the repair of the seats in high school andag and the repairs to the transportation trailer are still in progress uh before the school starts uh the director of facilities will inspect at the girls sucker locker room at ums to find a feasible way to create privacy for the girls to change before the visit class the football field replacement has been completed uh everyone is welcome to join us on Thursday when we will all celebrate the kickoff to fall Sports at our beautiful new field the committee discussed the use of the school tenis sport by the community members just like super mention the Administration has initiated discussions with Township regarding the district uh how District can partner with the township committee to rent the tennis courts through the township web program The District uh uh the school district tennis courts were built to enhance our students education and allow our students to excel in sports these facilities must be always in the working condition and throughout the school year they must be available to all uh tennis practices and tournaments the district will have to discuss with the township they need for the township supervision and oversight during the times the school cours would be open to the public The increased interest in tennis presents an excellent opportunity for the fellowship leadership to improve the residence quality of life and add tennis courts in beautiful part we have in our town the residents would gain access to the tennis court seven days a week if the tennis courts were built in L Municipal Parks so as we initiate those conversations with the township that presents an opportunity for an excellent Improvement in that works out thank you board member filac does anyone have any questions and since like I said this is the summer so we don't have many committee reports we'll be right back at it in September though very long committee reports uh so at this time uh it is recommended that the Board of Education approve the minutes of the following board meetings the July 16th 2024 executive session meeting 1 July 16th 2024 executive session meeting 2 and July 16th 2024 business meeting is there a second all in favor I opposed extensions motion carries at this time we would like to acknowledge the corespondence to the board there are two emails Community m [Music] members one from August 5th from Miss Wilson and one from August 16th from this church at this time it is the time for Action agenda items public comment the Board of Education welcomes and encourages input from the public members of the public are allotted one opportunity to address the board regarding the action agenda items only for up to a maximum of 3 minutes per speaker all comments must be directed to the board before you make your comment please State your full name and address and enter both on the Chromebook provided being mindful of privacy rights regarding students board employees and board members and to avoid any liability on the part of the speaker the board discourages defamatory and discourteous Mar s the public comment portion of the meetings are not structured as question and answer sessions but rather are offered as opportunities for the public to share their thoughts with the board the board may need to refer an issue to the superintendent if the issue has not been handled through the appropriate chain of command usually starting at the school level responses may be provided at the end of this section at this time the public comment portion for Action agenda items is open seeing that there are no public comments for Action agenda items we will close the public comment portion and move on to our action agenda vote I is there someone who will entertain a motion to approve action agenda items 1.1 through 4.2 so someone needs a second second Mr D so discussion is there any any discussion on any of our action agenda items thank you Mr Carlson yes Miss D yes Miss filac yes Miss Harris yes Miss nargon yes Miss P yes thank you all motions carried at this time we will be hearing new business from the public the Board of Education welcomes and encourages input from the public members of the public are allotted the opportunity to bring any new business to the board for up to a maximum of 3 minutes per speaker all comments must be directed to the board before you make your comment please state your name and address and enter both on the Chromebook provided being mindful of privacy rights regarding students board employees and board members and to avoid any potential liability on the part of the speaker the board discourages defamatory or discus remarks the public comment portion of the meeting or anoun struction of this question and answer the board may need to refer an issue to the superintendent if the issue has not been handled through the appropriate chain of command usually starting at the school level responses may be provided at the end of this session is there anyone who would like to address the board for a public comment Karen Anderson Bel um there's been an email exchange it was noted up there um miss church sent an email about advisory opinion and the advisory opinion just for a reminder came from the New Jersey Department of Education school office of school ethics and there's been some discussion about sharing what that fil was about and what the result was and it's been multiple times asked it was asked several board meetings several emails and what I remember hearing from board member Spina board member Todd is you flat out couldn't tell us that it was IL legal I believe was one term and you flat out can't tell us you weren't allowed to tell us and based on the way this so we went and asked who's allowed to say what and as you see in the email from Janet you're allowed to so what's been said here isn't quite factual and I don't want to say anybody is non- transparent or not doing due diligence or hiding something but that's what it senses that's what it feels like we had to do the email we had to ask the questions and we that's how we found out what the facts were meanwhile you're standing here telling us we can't do this and I mean you were vehemently opposed to sharing this information so I know you're running for to keep your positions but keep in mind you know transparency that's what it means to be transparent is to tell us the facts and integrity you know you got to stand behind what the facts are and what these um you know we're talking about school ethics here and we're not I I think we're not being um truly transparent so thank is there any additional public comments at this time um the public Port comment portion of the school board meeting is now closed um does any of our board members do any of our board members have any additional remarks or closings before we adjourn uh I mentioned to uh uh board president and the superintendent on Friday that my family is a bought of house outside of the district um so I just wanted to say that I I've enjoyed the learning experience here and and some of the intense conversations that we have in executive and around the board table and and I I want to emphasize I think that's important it's good to see those um so I'll be resigning my seat as of tonight after this meeting and I want to uh take the opportunity to thanks thank the public for uh letting me serve here and then I want to I want to wish uh really the best to the school the district the uh the employees and and the customers thank you thank you Mar well thank you very much thank you for your service to the board and to our district for the last two years and eight months eight months um yeah thank you very much we would need a motion to accept the resignation I second do we need a roll call or thank you Mr Carlson you get to vote for your own so Mr Carlson yes m b yes M fak yes M Harris yes Miss nargon yes Miss I want to V vote no is there any other closing comments questions discussions at this time we have a motion to adjourn tonight all in favor I oppos okay motion carries thank you all for coming to the August 27th board meeting please uh we'd like to wish our faculty superintendent students especially teachers everybody parents whole Community a wonderful back to school I hope that everybody enjoys the last remaining days of summer you good night night