##VIDEO ID:jEOEX-avL10## thank you provided in accordance with the requirements of chapter 231 Public Law 1975 notice of the meeting was posted on the bulletin board in the lobby of the administration building 163 Mammoth Road Oakhurst New Jersey all Ocean Township District Schools transportation office and the school district website on January 3rd 2024 notice of the meeting was transmitted to the Asbury Park Press and the coaster newspapers on January 3rd 2024 and notice of the meeting was filed with Township of ocean on January 3rd 2024 could we all please rise with flag salute I of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all so we'll move on to the report of the annual school election the official results of the annual school election held for the town bosan Board of Education on November 5th 2024 first certification from the mammoth County Board of Elections are as follows candidate Jamie Stevens 8347 votes Miss Irene Gilman 8,865 votes Mr John McCarthy 8,466 votes and we had 307 right in votes at this point we'd like to swear in our members we'll go alphabetically uh beginning with Miss Gilman you mean I oh wher have you look do the after me or you want to grab your copy the follow on or I got one for you do you have a copy have it here too you need it okay you'll raise your right hand we'll make it official all I state your name you swear or affirm we swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States in the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and Allegiance I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same to the same and to the governments established to the governments established in the united states in the United States in this state in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people so help me God so help me I state your name I am Gman do you solemnly swear you solemnly swear that I possess the qualifications that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law prescribed by law for the office of member office of member of a board of education of a board of education that I am not disqualified that I am not disqualified as a voter as a voter pursuant to pursuant to RS RS 19 colon 19 4-1 nor disqualified nor disqualified due to a conviction of a crime due to a conviction of a crime or offense or offense listed in listed in njs njs 18a 18a colon 12-1 colon 12-1 and that I will faithfully and that I will Faithfully impartially partially and justly and justly perform all the duties perform all the duties of that office that office according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God congratulations all right I state your name I John McCarthy do somly swear or affirm do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution that I will support the Constitution of the United States of the United States and the Constitution and the constitution of the state of New Jersey of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and that I will bear true faith and Allegiance and allegiance to the same to the same and to the governments established and to the governments established in the united states in the United States and this state and this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people so help me God all me God I state your name I John McCarthy do you solemnly swear do you solemnly swear that I possess the qualifications that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law prescribed by law uh for the office of member for the office of member of a board of education of a board of education and that I am not disqualified and that I am not disqualified as a voter as a voter pursuant to pursu two rs19 rs19 colon 4-1 colon 4-1 nor disqualified nor disqualified due to the conviction of a crime due to the conviction of a crime or offense listed or offense listed in njs in njs 18a 18a col 12-1 12-1 and that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly perform and justly perform all the duties all the duties of that office of that office according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God congratulations that was like the best part right I state your name do you solemnly swear or firm do you solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution that I will support the Constitution of the United States United States and the Constitution and the constitution of the state of New Jersey of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith that I will bear true faith and Allegiance and aliance to the same to the same and to the governments and to the governments established in the United States establishing the United States and this state and this state under the authority of the people under the authority of people so help me God so help me God I state your name I do you Solly swear did I possess the qualifications I possess qualifications prescribed by law prescri prescribed by law for the office for the office of member of a board of education of member educ and that I am not disqualified and that I'm not disqualified as a voter as a voter pursu pursuant to pursuant to RS RS 19 col 4-1 19 col 4-1 nor disqualified nor disqualified due to conviction of a crime due to conviction of a crime uh or offense or offense listed in njs listed in njs 18a 18a colon 12-1 colon 12-1 and that it will faithfully and that I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly perform and justly perform all the duties all the duties of that office of that office according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God [Laughter] congratulations you might need to come this way you're gonna yeah yeah come come around this way wanted hey neighbor this point we'd like to take our roll call Mr Dalton here Mrs Dan here Mrs Gilman here Mr McCarthy here Mrs mcgoverin here Mr Schneider here Mr Stevens here Mrs tallo here and Mr Weinstein here thank you okay at this point we are going to move to the election of the board uh for president I'd like to just note in our policy 152 um the Board of Education shall organize at its first regular meeting by electing one of its members as president and another as vice president a second to a nomination is not required um election for each office will be conducted by a vote when the nominations for that office are closed when more than one person has been nominated for a single position the board will vote on candidates in the order in which they were nominated uh and also the person with a majority vote of all members of the board shall be elected so at this point I'd like to open the floor for nominations for president um I'd like to make a nomination for president so I'd like to nominate uh John McCarthy um who was for the last uh last year was our vice president and for three years has been my colleague on this board and uh I just want to also say that he is my um also my comrade in tear jerking the most when having to make emotional speeches and uh and has uh become one of my new friends so I'm honored to uh uh to nominate John for the position of president of the board thank you any other nominations this point we'll close nominations and we'll vote for Mr McCarthy as president of the board Mr Dalton yes Mrs Dan yes Mrs Gilman yes Mr McCarthy yes Mrs McGavin yes Mr Schneider yes Mrs Stevens yes M Tarico thank you Mr Weinstein yes congratulations I think I take it thank you app it's a long journey over here next seat at this point Mr McCarthy you can open nominations for thank you Mr hings thank you I would like to open up the floor to nominations for my vice president do I have any nominations Mrs mcgu um yes for vice president I would like to nominate um Mr Gerard Dalton if he will accept um I believe that even though some may say he's only been here for a year um Mr Dalton has served on other boards of education and is very knowledgeable and has proven his knowledge over just even this one year um serving with him he also um is a former educator as many know all the way up to superintendent and um is always put children first and understands and in a lot of ways can um have a good conversation with us to get us back to the track of what um we're here for so I would like to um nominate Mr Dalman thank you any other nominations seeing that we can close nominations for vice president uh the role will be called for vice president for Mr Dalton Mr Dalton yes Mrs is Dan yes M Gilman yes Mr McGovern yes Mr Schneider yes Mr Stevens yes Mr T Rico yes Mr Weinstein yes Mr McCarthy yes motion carries feel like I'm leaving Jamie alone oh that thank you Mr appreciate that thank you at this point we'd like to open the uh meeting to our public comment session think I got this you got this he that thank you the following are a series of uh reorganizational motions all motions discussed at recent public work session some motions have been approved at a public work session and the minutes for Approved items am I reading right sorry yes you're in the right spot I'm in the right spot yes at this point the in the meeting we will now conduct the first of two public comments sessions the first session will be open for public comments on agenda items only the second session will be at the end of this meeting and can be on any topic Board of Education bylaws 0167 public participation in board meeting states that the Board of Education recognizes the value of public comment on Ed educational issues and the importance of allowing members of the public to express themselves on school matters of community interest public comment is not a question and answer session specific questions can be directed to the administration and the superintendent's contact information is on the podium we encourage you to contact her with any questions that you may have public participation shall be governed by the following rules each statement made by our participant shall be limited to a five minute duration no participant may speak more than once on the same topic until all others who wish to speak on that topic have been heard the presiding officer May request any person to leave the meeting when that person does not observe reasonable deorum and would anyone from the public like to comment at this time I think we know this guy think you might know me Mr Mayor thank you for being here thank you for having me uh first of all I'd like to uh congratulate everybody here tonight what a breath of fresh air to see a cohesive board work together uh for the betterment of the township of ocean by the way for those of you that don't know me I'm John napatan I live at eight Old weatherfield Road Ocean Township New Jersey I appreciate your service to this community on the board of education it is a breath of fresh air to see an old friend of mine Jamie Stevens who I used to work with in Asbury Park my former business administrator Jeff Hastings and one of my former board members Gerard Dalton so it's really really nice to see this up here um I wish you the best of luck Mr President As you move forward this year um you know what this takes you know what it's going to be all about I wish you the best of luck and Gerard make sure you fill those shoes when he's not here in the right way good luck everyone have a great year thank you thank you and her daughter so so it's Jenna sirani uh 122 Franklin Avenue I just want to say good evening everyone and I would like to say a few words and congratulate the elected board members and a special congratulations to my mother Irene Gilman aka the Gil minator uh you've done such an incredible job at staying focused throughout the previous term and had such Grace and dignity through so much adversity you truly are a Class Act mom you stayed true to your first Passion which is education your service on the board of education has been an inspiration that even in retirement you've found a way to have a Bene beneficial impact on the community and in education I know you will continue to work on behalf of the students and staff at Ocean schools finally seeing a United Board of Ed as it should be looks great it's time to work together and keep the focus on our school system good luck to your fellow elected board members thank you anybody do we have any commenters online yes president McCarthy uh Alex Hayes please go ahead hi I just wanted to confirm that there will also be um a public comment at the end I don't have an agenda in front of me because I'm on my phone there is public comment uh at the end yes okay okay sorry so now I'll just um ceed um I have a couple of comments and some questions I'm just pulling up my notes here um um I'm just wondering if I didn't see an attorney on the deis and maybe it's because my screen is small and I just can't see um just wondering if the ethics um training is going to uh still continue this evening um and I'm wondering if there's any more status on the uh hiring of a new attorney um wondering if any information can be given about the lawsuits that the district is facing and if that has anything to do with why there is a new um board attorney being sought um I was also curious about the staffer who was injured uh in a high school in the high school before break um injured breaking up a fight so I'm just curious as to how that St is doing and I hope he is all right and recovered or recovering um I appreciate Miss Welden some flyers now being in Portuguese so that did not go on notice by me so that's really nice to see not just Spanish but also Portuguese um for our translation for our families excuse me m yep these are for agenda items right now I think some of the topics you're mentioning are for later you know probably in the next 10 minutes for the second session okay well I still have some other things then for um for this session um since you all just swore in some new people um I do find it interesting that the board last year didn't allow any of the new um members to be committee chairs so being that you just hired hired elected a awesome vice president and Mr Dalton who's only in his second year hopefully you all will see fit to have some newbies slash those folks under two years to be committee chairs and it was also very fitting in his first sentence as as president Mr McCarthy said I'd like to know who'd like to be my vice president when it's not really your vice president it's the boards and it's the community not your vice president thanks I'll say more later thank you thank you Mr jce do we have any other public uh comments or online yes president McCarthy We Have Allison Connelly please go ahead good evening and happy New Year and happy reorganization uh my name is Alison Connelly and I'm the president of the township of ocean Education Association I just wanted to take a minute to congratulate Mr McCarthy and Mr Dalton in their new roles um and let you know that the TOA looks forward to continuing the Amic amicable and successful relationship that we have been maintaining with the board in order to support our District so thank you Happy New Year and best of luck to both of you thank you Mrs colan do we have any other public commenters online no there are no further commenters thank you wonderful with that we'll move on to uh agenda items 4.1 through 4.4 Mr marthy Mr McCarthy I'd like to move items 4.1 through 4.4 um for the opening of the new year for us second we have items 4.1 through 4.4 can we take the role Mr Dalton yes Mrs Dam yes Gilman yes M McGovern yes Mr Schneider yes Mr Stevens yes Mr Tyler EO yes Weinstein yes Mr McCarthy yes motions carry public relations my acting chair right now is Mr wi would you please um I like to uh discuss up for discussion 5.1 I think we all have some forms in front of us is that right is there anything we want to discuss on this anything you want to say about it yes so uh each member has a copy of the um code of ethics uh our Q act requirement is to discuss ethics at our at our meeting here um you'll see you have a two-sided from New Jersey school boards Association code of ethics for school boards members uh there's about 10 items noted in the code a through J uh on the flip side is a signature uh page so members could please sign that this evening and return that to me we'll put that on file there's also a copy for you to keep as well um we've also provided with you uh to you a copy of the presentation done by uh Mr tayor uh for the board last year you have about a 100 pages of slides that go through each of the uh various items in the code of ethics and discusses those and give some uh Clarity to what those mean and and talk about some cases in certain points uh to give examples of of what those mean uh and as well we have a listing attached to the agenda agenda of the a recent um clarification on relative and what a relative of a board member means uh this was put out in a decision made by the school Ethics Committee uh to add Clarity based on a uh case that was before them so I would point you to that as well um the code of ethics uh um as it says here on the acknowledgement the code of ethics uh became a part of the school ethics act on July 26 2001 it was effective immediately um the board members should sign to acknowledge that they have uh not only received uh the copy but also that they understand and should adhere to the code of ethics um I would also note that um School boards and our own board attorney are available to board members for questions regarding ethics should uh members have questions that come up so those can be reviewed uh but at the end of the day it's up to each individual board member to make that decision for themselves so I would encourage you all to review the code of ethics to Polie sign the acknowledgement so that we can keep that on file especially this year since we have our qack coming up next month so that'll be great uh I would encourage you to go through uh the slides that were provided by Mr Taylor uh and to also review the statement of relatives it's rather extensive and and um page and a half basically of of of when you should vote Yes or when you should vote no or whether you should participate in negotiations based on uh the relationship so uh again uh thank you and um we'll turn it back to you Mr President and we'll discuss annual training in ethics at a later date make sure that that's on the schedule as a board absolutely we can ra that at this time I'd like to know if anyone on the board has any old business they would like to discuss Mr Weinstein uh thank you Mr President um well first I'd like to um just kind of congratulate uh John Irene and Jamie for uh for being on for your winning your elections and uh being on the board so and you know I've known YouTube for a long time and looking forward to working with you as well and just excited to have everybody here together um before we kind of you know talk about um you know the work ahead I do think you know I just want to take a second and just kind of say you know uh Den Denise and John did a great job last year kind of being the president and the vice president and just want to thank uh thank you for the work that you did last year I think um you know there was a lot that was accomplished last year and I think we really kind of jelled better as a as a team than we have in Prior years and uh I think that was a nice uh a nice transition we made so I feel really great about that um you know this next year as we're kind of coming into it there's a lot of things we have to do a lot of things that are going to be on the docket for us and uh you know a lot of eyes generally are on the board of education more than they've ever been and I think uh you know all of us have a nice responsibility to kind of do the best we can and having good discussions good arguments agreeing one appropriate disagreeing one appropriate and uh I'm just really looking forward to the to the work ahead and just appreciate all your uh um all your support as we kind of all work together and just great to be part of this team so thank you thank you all anyone else with old business thank you Mr Wy hearing that any new business yes Mrs McGovern I'm gonna say that that that would have been new business too but that's okay so well let me say it again then business section um no I just want to congratulate um John and Gerard you know um and implore you to know that you have three former presidents still sitting here um that are more than willing to help you if you have a question about anything um I know that Miss Wen is very knowledgeable and helpful as well and a guiding force um for our district um I think that it can be very tough sitting in that seat um especially when you can't comment back to anybody in a lot of the public comment I know you're you're good with that but um sometimes you know you you take some some comments and beatings on things that are very um they're not accurate comments or things to get take beatings for so there are are times they are and and you still take those as well but um to just keep a cool head and and know that you have support around you um support with dra but also support beyond that um sitting here I know you are very well aware that your position as the president is to preside over meetings and to kind of you know keep with Miss Welden so she has enough to call nine people at a time and and have and give out the information the way it needs to be or not needs to be because there are times where you will need to hold things until you get in front of all people um and I know that you know that that you have no more power sitting here than any of the rest of us and that you will um serve very well so I wish you both luck um and I Jamie welcome we haven't had too much conversation but welcome um to our functional group of people sitting here and Miss Gilman again welcome back um it's it's fun it's a good time over here and um you know I think we're going to have a great year certainly is here any other new business yes Mr McCarthy skilman please I couldn't be prouder I think about you in high school I think about you on our um trip to London Paris and I look at your beautiful family and there is no greater satisfaction to a teacher to see this kind of growth so I'm extremely proud of you and here you are as president of the Ocean Township Board of Education and no I'm not going to cry you're making you're making cry I mean thank you and and Gerard uh also so invested in education so invested in students that you in retirement like me decided to continue with helping children helping staff members in such a difficult environment but I know that we will prevail because that's what we do as Educators and uh Jamie welcome aboard I so enjoyed talking with you throughout our campaign and uh know that you're going to make a valuable board member and I think that this board of education the people that are sitting here now we are just going to accomplish great things and I'm proud to be a member good J any other new business from anyone in the group I'll I'll just add John I I appreciate all the positivity and the comments I'm looking forward to working with the board and looking forward to working with the community to you know make education a great place for our kids in Ocean Township wonderful thank you Jan you're welcome anyone else with new business from the bo I would uh I would just like to say to everyone um can't do this you know understood hold the G it's first time you know first time I officially get to touch um I'm a I'm a proud son of this District uh and it is an honor to be here right now uh sitting in the seat I think that uh it is my responsibility to ensure that my work speaks for itself um I I fully understand that there is no power Ved in Me Above any of you all and I appreciate that you point that out Amy I really do I think it's important that everyone understands that that I am only as strong as you all make us uh as a board and that we are a board of the whole and so with that I would like to say that I look forward very much to working with all of you Gerard I'm I'm thankful that you're sitting here next to me I I genuinely believe that if there's somebody who's going to keep me in check it's and I appreciate that and you're going to be a great person to bounce things off of and I think it's a great thing I think reflecting on how far we've come as a board in the past three years is a tremendous growth for this District um and we have a lot of work to do we have a lot of work to do there are a lot of things facing this district and a lot of unique problems that we have to put our heads together for and getting nine people to agree on anything is a very difficult thing I think that we have a great uh a great Community behind us and a great Administration and a wonderful staff in this District it's the staff that raised me to to care about my Spartan Legacy uh and I hope that we can continue to provide that for people like my children and all the children in this District it's something that I care about deeply and that's all I have to say almost made it almost almost made it KS yeah I should have looked at my children with that uh we will move to public comment our second public comment session as mentioned previously the Board of Education recognizes the value of public comment on educational issues and the importance of allowing members of the public to express themselves on school matters of community interest public comment is not a question and answer session specific questions can be directed to the administration the superintendent's contact information is on the podium we encourage you to contact her with any questions you may have public participation shall be governed by the following rules each statement made by a participant shall be limited to 5 minutes in duration no participant may speak more than once on the same topic until all others who wish to speak on that topic have been heard the presiding officer May request any person to leave the meeting when that person does not observe reasonable decorum would anyone from the public like to speak Mar Alani welcome back first first time was in regard to you guys now I will speak on behalf of the municipality as the mayor of this town um that I represent close to 30,000 residents here I just want to say to this board on behalf of the mayor and Council that we look forward to working with this board as we have done for several years now I you know applaud superintendent Welden for working so closely with this Council um we have had several meetings that we are looking to do additional shared service agreements with you guys to make sure that we run this municip IP ality in an efficient manner as we have done very well over the years and again I appreciate working with all of you John my door is always open to you just reach out call me if you need anything we're here for you guys and understand that we want to continue that hardworking relationship and I wish you know Jamie you're new but this is not new to you you know all about the board of EDS it's such a breath of fresh air to see Educators On The Board of Education that know education and know how a Board of Education Works and operates so we look forward to that working relationship to continue thank you thank you very much Tom hello Gino DMO uh on aasa I just want to congratulate everybody okay and like John has said um it's great to see a great board that's going to work together and do great things for uh not only our school district and our staff but our children which is the most important factor that we have here um one thing that I do want to mention is that I usually come up here and tell you about the complaints that I hear all the time throughout our school districts because I have teachers that tell me things I have parents that tell me things and then I have students that uh also tell me things and I have to say that this year I have not one complaint and what I do hear throughout um the different schools is that morale is up not only with students but with teachers and staff and it just goes to show that this board is doing a great job and I want to thank you for that and congratulations and we look forward to a great year thank you William garolo 7 Center Street Ocean Township being back in this room after 20 years brings back a lot of memories um I sat on this board for 10 years and I just want to relay to you the first thing that was said to me on my very first day in my very first meeting by a gentleman by the name of Carney vetrano who served on this board for 33 years very simply he said keep your eye on the mission and don't be distracted by the noise congratulations to all of you thank you bil would anyone else here in the room like to make a comment Mrs Conway do we have anyone uh who would like to make a comment on online yes Mr President Alex Hayes thank you go ahead M please go ahead hi I just had a few more things um to mention and to comment comment on and ask questions um I think it was maybe Amy who said in in her comments that you know sometimes you guys have to just you know sit there and and take what the public says and you can't comment back but you know as a reminder to some of the new board of ed members and even miss Stevens of course you can comment back um this was stated several years ago by the attorney um board members can comment whenever they want of course you guys will probably suddenly start implementing Robert's Rules a little bit more emphatically who knows but there is no prohibition on Schoolboard members talking um to comments uh you know if they have questions and such um it wouldn't be a Schoolboard meeting without some crying so um that's always interesting um I do have some questions I was wondering what the latest is on the Cindy Lane um guess you want to call it a co-development or whatever the plans are with the town um nobody's really been talking about that as I mentioned at a previous meeting it seems like it's like a secret um secret discussions that um nobody's having because the town folk are talking about it in public meetings but the school board has not really mentioned what the potential is happening on Cindy Lane so that is my question of what's the latest I'm also having a question on the Schoolboard attorney that you all put out I don't know if it was an RFP or what it was but I'm wondering how many applicants and where um this District stands on having a board attorney how many applicants there were and where you stand another question is um if there is ever going to be a update on the board building RFP or the request for ideas request for proposals um wondering how many applicant applications you guys got and what some of the ideas were that people want to do with potentially that building and that property um two other things um you know it's it's the the richness isn't lost on me that Mr Hastings talked about a 100 page ethics document from uh Mr Taylor you know it's super rich being that this board is facing two ethics cases with the school ethics commission and two lawsuits that's more of a comment though and then my final comment is uh again just to reiterate how last year the board decided not to have any of the new members as committee chairs that's the first time that's happened in years so I would love um and I think the public would love to see you know since you're all unified and such if any of the newer board members like Miss Dam Mr Schneider Mr Dalton and now miss Stevens could actually become um committee chairs you know particularly with other conflicts of other boards that might be a smart thing to do thank you thank you Mrs a do we have any other public commenters on line Mrs com no Mr President there are no further commenters thank you can I have a motion to adjourn motion second